Importance of intellectual property for business
In today’s competitive environment, innovation is the mainstay for every business that leads to development of intellectual property. Identifying, developing, and leveraging innovation provides competitive edge and aids in long term success of the company.
Intellectual property is not limited to technology companies, but is valuable for every business which invests huge sums in research and development for creating indigenous products and services.
A company should be proactive in implementing IP solutions to identify novel innovations and increase revenues. A well-defined IP goal can result in achieving business objectives and help position the business as a leader in the marketplace. With growth in business revenues, the IP strategy can include protecting the unique aspects of the assets and foster innovations to explore new geographies. This can be achieved through licensing or joint ventures to create novel solutions that satisfy the unmet needs in the market.
A company must evaluate its existing intellectual property to determine whether it is in line with business objectives. This helps the company to identify new ways to leverage the intellectual property through licensing opportunities. Successful companies must look for new avenues to expand their product offerings, increase their sales revenue, and foray into new markets.
An organization’s patent portfolio is vital for its future success along its various intellectual property assets as designs, trademarks, and copyrights. Thus, organization should ensure the maximum realization of its existing portfolio which can be done through effective portfolio management. Also, the organization should understand the patent portfolio in tandem with its competencies and market opportunities available. There is a need to identify white spaces where the organization can license its patent portfolio or divest to gain financial returns. A clear and effective patent strategy can aid the organization to manage its patent portfolio. An organization should keep in mind the following points while managing patent portfolio as mentioned below:
What are the patents in the organization’s existing patent portfolio?
Has the organization identified the gaps (white space analysis)?
What investment strategy should the organization undertake?
What steps should be taken by the organization to effectively manage and develop the patent portfolio?
A thorough understanding of the key components can help the organization to grow and manage the patent portfolio. It is critical to understand the patent landscape which begins with conducting an audit of the organization’s intellectual property assets. An effective market research is involved in understanding the strength of the patent portfolio in light of the competition and technology. It is also helpful for the organization to rank the patents and identify potential players who may be suitable for in-licensing and out-licensing. With a better understanding of the patent portfolio, it is vital for an organization to identify white spaces to drive more growth and revenues. Some of the few points that can help the organization to conduct gap analysis are:
Where can an organization increase research and development investment to build an effective patent portfolio?
What are the potential areas where the organization can license the patents to gain competitive advantage?
Does the technology pose a threat from the competition?
Is there any possibility of merger or acquisition?
Out- licensing patented technologies is a vital part of the intellectual management and to drive more revenues. Therefore, the organization has to conduct patent analysis to identify the technology and exploit it further for licensing purposes. A detailed patent analysis helps to identify the organizations patenting in the particular field of technology, and thus identify opportunities for out-licensing the technology and potential infringement issues.
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Tagged Business management, Intellectual property	
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