When most people think about mitigating corporate risk with IP and patents, long, drawn-out court battles often come to mind. All too often, companies begin considering how patent information can help them avoid risk when they’ve already encountered that risk. Let’s get in front of the problem.
Possible Risks to Watch For
The first step in mitigating risk within your organization is to understand where those risks might occur. Without awareness, you expose the entire company to potential litigation and expensive settlements.
The most obvious risk potential, and probably the only one you’ve considered, comes from your competitors. These may be companies already in existence or those that are preparing to enter the market. Your research and development teams can avoid patent infringement only if they’re aware of the patents already on file.
Independent third parties, such as IP holding companies, patent assertion entities, and non-practicing entities, can also present risks to corporations looking for expansion and innovation opportunities.
Believe it or not, risks can also come from within your own company. It’s not unheard of for departing engineers to take intellectual property to their new employers. Consider the expensive and very public litigation between Samsung and Apple over IP used in smartphones. It happens more often than one might think, and the results are often devastating.
The risks don’t stop there. You must also be prepared to deal with:
- Other entities partnered for innovation
- Government entities
- Illegal activities and organizations
Looking Ahead with an IP Landscape
Ensuring that your company understands all related intellectual property risks is what managing IP risk is all about. Pro-active mitigation by understanding the full scope of these risks is the only way to avoid the inevitable patent litigation. Whether you’re looking to protect your current patents or avoid infringing upon other companies’ intellectual property, an early foray into the IP landscape could save you a lot of heartache and money later.
Because innovation and creativity are often tightly tied to the emotions of those who are innovating, the subject of patents and intellectual property may often be postponed or ignored altogether. Instead, the subject should be approached early and often, with the care and consideration that innovation and creativity deserves.
What if you knew months or even years before another company launched a product or service that infringed upon your patents? By taking an offensive stance rather than defense, patent counsel and product developers can identify companies that have applied for patents that could possibly infringe upon currently held intellectual property.
Understanding what patents have already been filed also guides your own company during research and development. Through advanced patent analytics, your product development teams can fully evaluate the technology and innovation landscape.
Additional Benefits of Patent Analytics
Avoiding IP litigation is a big benefit of pro-active patent and intellectual property analysis, but there are other benefits to enjoy. With your understanding of the patents that have been filed, you can more accurately guide your product development and innovation to regain market share within your current product lines.
Examining the IP landscape also gives your company the chance to investigate patents filed from potentially disruptive businesses that could interfere with your share of the market or, as seen in some extreme cases, drive your business toward bankruptcy. These are risks outside of the realm of litigation that you can also avoid.
Our proven patent and intellectual property analyses will change the way you do business. To learn more, contact us now.
