STRATEGIC IP MANAGEMENT
1. INTRODUCTION AND IP STRATEGIES
WHY IS INNOVATION IMPORTANT?
As a society, it’s a good idea to invest in innovation to stimulate the companies.
Innovation is about valuable change, valuable improvements.
By innovating, companies can differentiate themselves from their competition.
Innovation is important from a societal point of view as it increases economic output.
We need innovation to increase our living standards.
Example: Apple
They almost went bankrupt, but due to innovation they were able to increase their value.
Because of innovation, Apple really pushed up its market value.
Microsoft saved Apply by investing in them, they did so because they had issues with the anti-
trust authorities and investing in a competitor decreased their power.
On Interbrand’s ranking of the most valuable brands in 2022, Apple ranked first.
INNOVATION IS A DIFFICULT ACTIVITY
Innovation is characterized by three problems:
Uncertainty:
- Technical uncertainty.
- Market uncertainty.
- There is a big change of failure.
Large R&D costs:
- It is becoming more complex to further innovate, so it is very costly.
Example: Innovation in pharmaceutical industry
P(TS) = probability of technical success.
Lots of failure in this process.
Not only a risky sector, but also very expensive!
When you multiply all of the percentages you get
the probability of success, it’s around 3%.
Most of the new drugs fail.
On average, you need to start up 24 projects since 23 of them are likely to fail.
Spillovers and appropriation problems
- It’s extremely difficult to keep knowledge exclusive.
- Knowledge leaks out rapidly.
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,Solution: Intellectual property .
Societies want to stimulate investments in innovation, that’s why they invest in IP, this way it is more
motivating for companies to invest in this risky innovation process.
HOW IMPORTANT IS IP?
Polaroid vs. Kodak
Late 1960s: Polaroid has successful instant camera business.
April 20, 1976: Kodak launched its own line of instant cameras.
April 27, 1976: Polaroid filed a lawsuit charging Kodak with infringing 12 of its instant
photography patents.
1985: U.S. District Court in Boston ruled that Kodak had infringed seven of Polaroid’s patents
and ordered Kodak to stop manufacturing, using, and selling instant cameras and films;
Total cost to Kodak of its misguided IP strategy: > $3 billion.
- $925 million damages paid to Polaroid.
- $500 million to buy back 16 million cameras sold between 1976-1985.
- Shut down its $1.5 billion manufacturing plant and lay off 700 workers.
- $100 million court battle costs.
It took nine years until the final court ruling.
IP is a very competitive weapon for companies.
Your core technology should really be protected by IP.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF IP
Example: Apple iPad
Patent for the technology.
Design rights for the rounded edges.
Trademarks for the names Apple and iPad.
Copyright for the apps.
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,PATENTS
Definition: Patents protect technical inventions solving technical problems.
Patentability conditions:
Novelty:
- Not part of the public domain, it was not know before.
Inventive step
Useful: industrial application
Patents often protect very incremental innovations.
New if it does not form part of the “state-of-the-art.”
“State-of-the-art” means everything made available to the public before the filing date of the patent
application.
There must have been no public disclosure of an invention before the filing date of the patent
application.
Keep your inventions confidential!
First patent law: Senate of Venice (1474)
“Any person in this city who makes any new and ingenious contrivance, not made heretofore in our
dominion, shall, as soon as it is perfected so that it can be used and exercised, give notice of the same
to our State Judicial Office, it being forbidden up to 10 years for any other person in any territory of
ours to make a contrivance in the form and resemblance thereof.”
Today, it has been extended to twenty years to increase the stimulus.
Novelty is now not in the dominion, but it’s from a global point of view.
- US patents: someone can copy it in Europe.
A patent grants a right to prevent others from making, using, selling, or importing infringing products
in the country where the patent was granted. For up to twenty years from date of filing patent
application.
You can sell these rights or enter into licensing deals.
A patent is an exclusion right, it gives you a negative right. You can exclude everyone else.
A patent is a territorial right.
Structure:
Description, claims, and drawings,
if any, are on the following pages of
the patent.
Claims describe the invention, and therefore,
define the scope of the patent.
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, Make the claims as broad as possible
to strengthen the claim and to block more
products.
Example: a sugar cube
Where to register?
National patent application:
- For protection in the home country or a few countries.
- The initial patent filing will set the priority date for other filings.
- Each national patent office has its own rules and procedures.
Regional or international patent application:
- Easy way to file patent applications in multiple countries.
- Regional or international patent filings can be used for protection in a number of
countries at a reduced cost (EPO, PCT).
- European patent = bundle of national patents.
An international patent office does not exist.
The primary country is the first country where you file for a patent, then you have twelve months to
file in all the other countries you want.
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