Intellectual Property is one of the most valuable assets of a company or organization. It covers company names, domains, symbols, drawings, logos, images, designs, ideas or anything else that distinguishes your company from the competition. You can use the intellectual property to create new companies, diversify products, license/sell to other companies, and even as collateral for corporate loans.
To get the full benefit of your innovative ideas and concepts, you need to patent them. If you do not choose to patent, anyone can use your valuable IP assets without your permission. The patent application process and validity may vary from country to country. In the United States, the USPTO takes two to three years to grant an IP asset, and it is valid for 20 years. However, you can renew your patent if you wish.
Intellectual property means creations of one’s mind. It can be a one-time process/procedure to solve a problem, your company name, logo, artwork, etc. IP protection is covered in several categories, the most common of which are patents, copyrights, and trademarks.
To stay competitive in the market, you need to utilize your IP portfolio based on business objective and future trends.
Here are 6 useful tips that will surely help you manage your patent portfolio and reap all the benefits from it:
1. Determine your IP portfolio
Determine your portfolio (patents, work-in-progress and non-patent ideas), have a deep understanding of the markets belonging to each and their applications in different industries. Therefore, you can identify your core patents, which meet future market demands and customer needs, and create unique monetization strategies.
2. Get Patents
You may have ideas that are not yet patented, therefore there is potential for intellectual property infringement. Therefore, please file patent applications to ensure complete intellectual property protection.
3. Do a full IP investigation (prior art, market analysis, investor study)
Patents are granted for inventions that are unique and useful. Therefore, before filing intellectual property applications, you must verify patentability. But in addition to learning about proprietary technologies, you should also consider market analysis and investor research. This will help you obtain patents with marketable claims and learn about potential investment options and IP monetization opportunities.
4. Intellectual property licenses and start-up business plans
There may be patents in your portfolio that do not align with your current product lines and future business strategies. However, you can license these assets to other companies and boost your revenue stream. Another option is to design start-up business plans.
5. Do an analysis of the competition
Competitors are the main barriers to growth, and if you want to emerge as a leading player, you need to provide better products and services than them. So, keep track of your business activities and get detailed information about your latest and upcoming product launches. Also, try to find out what technologies they are working on and whether they partially or fully match their proprietary technologies. Therefore, you can invent advanced technologies and provide better services to customers.
6. Monitoring of R&D activities
The R&D department works to bring innovative technologies to help a company stay competitive and increase the customer base. You need to make sure your R&D team is working on the technologies that properly align with your business goals.
conclusion
IP is a key element of your business and you must use it properly. Identify the most promising assets and design IP strategies. Also, track customer needs and market demands to invent useful technologies.