Competing Patent Applicants’ Business Relevant Data Representation

Nissrine El Marchoum

Outline

Background Patent Application & Evaluation

Business-Relevant Competing Applicant Data Stakeholders Data Sources Relevant Data

Country of Applicants Commercial Potential Monopoly Power Patent Portfolio Competitor Monitoring

Competing Applicants’ Data Representation Back Office Data Search Representation Data Representation

Conclusion

Background: Definitions

A Patent: the right granted to an inventor -for a specific period of time- that forbids any other party from making, using or selling his invention without his permission (EPO).

A patent is a negative right Patent Applicant: entity who requests the ownership of a patent

via a written request.

Background: Motivation & Assumptions Motivation

Provide visual aids and decision making basis to decision makers

Assumptions Difference between European patent system and that of other

countries rather trivial. Stakeholders are mainly investors

Discard patent examiners perspective (matter of scope)

Patent Application & Evaluation

Applicants fill patent application documents and provide endorsing documents

Application evaluation takes place By Patent Examiners

Final Decision communicated to the patent applicant Grant, Rejection or suspension

Stakeholders of Patent Applicant Information

Patent Examiners are rather interested in the intellectual property aspect of the patent

Business stakeholders: Firms interested in investing in new technologies/markets

Contribution to background checks on potential partners Track competition

Patent Applicants’ Data Sources

Not easy.

Patent Databases hold limited information about patent applicants (e.g. name, address, date… etc.) Use them as a starting point for research

Large Firm Listing Databases (eg. IBISWorld) Interesting business information.

No direct mapping to the applicants Best Practice:

Investigate patent business-relevant information Combine results with data about patent applicants from external data sources

Business-Relevant Data About Applicants

1. Country of Applicants2. Commercial Potential3. Monopoly Power4. Patent Portfolio5. Competitor Monitoring

1. Country of Applicant

Use country of competing patent applicants to compare patent systems for a cost-benefit analysis

Patent fees Flow of returns

Is it economically viable to invest in the patents the applicants are holding (or apply for)?

2. Commercial Potential

Potential: ability or intent to commercialize the subject of the patents at hand How profitable is the commercialization of the invention/idea?

Applicants holding a patent for fairly long can be a proof of its commercial value

3. Monopoly Power

Does the fact that competing applicants hold some patents imply that these applicants own the exclusive right to monopolize the concerned inventions?

Frequency of Patent Renewal Owning a patent and frequently renewing it tells a lot about the

patentee.

4. Patent Portfolio

Approach revolves around what patent applicants & what they intend to do with it. Patent Portfolio Diversification Many patents of poor value vs. few patents of high value Patents in dead fields vs. patents in promising fields

Therefore, stakeholders can infer: Diversification Strategies Investment interests Competitive Potential

5. Competitor Monitoring Strategic Management

Track the competing applicants’ pool of patents and react accordingly

Holger Ernst (2003), Beisheim Graduate School: Use of indicators for monitoring competitors by assessing

their patenting strategy By extension define the key aspects and motivations

that drive their investment decisions.

Important Patenting Indicators for Competitor Monitoring

Patent information for strategic technology management, Ernst, H. 2003

Data Representation: A concept

Back Office Cloud Computing Technology

Consider Cost

Use Data Mining Algorithms

Data Search & Representation Process

Filter Search Display Results

Data Search & Display Process Explained

Selecting the search filter By Patent Applicant’s Name By Country By Field of Business By Inventors

Perform Search Algorithms Build a Model Clustering, classification, data analytics algorithms…

Data Search & Display Process Explained Display of Results

Conclusion

Gathering relevant data from a business perspective is not a trivial task Requires analysis & business background Already existing DBs do not explicitly hand in the information

Future Work Suggestions Data Repositories holding patent applicants data

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