It is universally accepted fact that a patent counsel’s job is not merely limited to a prosecution, litigation, and maintenance it’s much more than that. Apart from these above-mentioned tasks which are basic in nature, they are also required to envision the whole technological domain to ensure that their client remains at the top of the ladder.
In other words, we can say is that they need to formulate a patent competitive analysis that can help their clients get an edge. They need to create a roadmap that can help them improve their reach and penetration in various jurisdictions. They need to keep a vigilant eye on what their competitors are doing and how their patenting activities can influence its client.
Thus, it is evident that a patent competitive analysis is must when it comes to protecting interests of a client.
Describing how patent competitive analysis helps IP counsels make better decisions:
Growing a company’s portfolio in the right direction- IP portfolio generation in the right direction is one of the prime responsibilities of an IP counsel. A rich, wide, and strong patent portfolio helps a company/organization expand their reach both geographically and technologically. Whether a company should invest heavily on in-house innovation or should they acquire patents of third parties. In case a balance needs to be maintained between these two a counsel need to formulate a strategy accordingly.
What strategy their competitors are adopting for IP coverage- Finding and filling the geographical white spaces is another important task that an IP counsel is supposed to undertake while conducting a patent competitive analysis of their clients.
Which technology areas are of high interest to them and in which direction they are seeking more protection?
This is another important task an IP counsel is supposed to undertake while creating a patent competitive analysis for their clients wherein they need to determine which technology areas are of high interest to their clients and how they need to fill the existing gap.
In which regions competitors can restrict them?
While moving ahead with a business it is important to determine which regions their competitors can restrict them and what precautions they need to take to put their clients on the safe end.
How do competitors maintain their patents?
Maintaining patents effectively is one of the most important criteria for maximum revenue with minimum inputs. It is important for companies to phase out those patents that are irrelevant and obsolete as they can eat a lot of their revenue in the form of maintenance fees. Simply looking at these patterns of maintenance we can extract a lot of information about the companies.
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