8 Strategies To Strengthen Your Business Using Intellectual Property

by | Sep 22, 2020

The intellectual property strategy you develop for your invention should be grounded in a business perspective — that is, if you intend on commercializing it!

For your IP strategy to be effective, it needs to address the marketplace for your invention and the landscape of intellectual property in the category at large, as well as the business objectives of potential licensees, investors, and buyers.

If licensing is your goal, it’s reasonable to wonder what you can do to negotiate your agreement from a position of strength. For startups, developing an intellectual property strategy that aligns with your business objectives is a must to attain needed funds.

Here are eight ways to use intellectual property to help you make a compelling case for your product.

1. File multiple provisional patent applications (PPAs). These applications should address your innovation, not just your invention. Your invention is literally what you originally envisioned which is novel and unique. But if you have a big idea — meaning your invention could possibly, with slight alterations, be made in other ways or used across other categories in many other ways — you are going to want to try to protect your right to own and profit from that innovation.

Practically, this means you need to brainstorm variations of your invention. Be thorough! Think about how you would steal your invention from yourself. Then file protection on those variations. This is how you protect yourself from re-engineering.

When you approach creating a patent portfolio this way, you create huge value by taking away fear that a competitor will easily circumvent your IP. This strategy is also essential to help dissuade potential copycats and infringers.

I also highly recommend that you consider filing provisional patent applications on ways your invention can be manufactured. Not just your preferred manufacturing technique. Consider high-speed technologies as well as low-speed, and don’t forget about manufacturing materials. Knowing how to produce the finest version of your invention as well as the cheapest is priceless.

Establishing this kind of technical know-how has great value because you’re that much closer to commercialization, warranting a higher royalty rate.

I successfully defended my patent portfolio in federal court using my knowledge of manufacturing techniques.

2. Become deeply familiar with the prior art. Prior art isn’t limited to patents, but you should start your examination of the history of your invention there. Prior art exists for everything under the sun. Your goal, as you dig through it, is to refine your point of difference. When you understand how your invention differs from patents that describe a similar invention, you obtain negotiation leverage.

Prior art is actually a great selling tool. Because, sooner or later, someone will share some patent numbers with you and ask, “But what about these? Don’t they describe the same thing as your invention? Why should we pay you when it appears your invention is not new?”

When you can respond thoughtfully by pointing out the distinct ways in which your invention is unique, you assuage their fears — and secure a path forward for yourself as a result.

Every startup should understand how to flip the script on prior art in this way.

In my experience, startups often begin and end their IP strategy with, “We have a patent.” This is not a box to check off when pitching. Do better by making it extremely easy for your audience to understand your point of difference in the IP landscape.

3. Continue filing provisional patent applications (PPAs) as you improve your invention. The benefits of filing provisional patent applications on variations of your invention — because you genuinely understand the landscape of prior art — extend beyond helping you build a ‘wall’ of intellectual property. Simply put, these variations may be useful to someone else. You can generate additional revenue by pursuing sub-licensing opportunities.

This strategy works because it sends a clear message, which is that your future is bright. And it will help you build a portfolio that is later acquired.

4. File patents internationally. This can become quite expensive. Study the business of whomever you hope to negotiate a licensing agreement or partner with first. How many countries do they currently sell their product or services in? Where? And in what kind of volumes? You must understand the business of whomever you are negotiating with completely.

If you obtain patent protection in those countries, you provide added value to your licensee or investor.

5. Don’t forget about design patents. Design patents can help you stop online sellers. This tool has had limited value in the past. But now, because copycats and infringers are so often making exact copies, these kinds of patents can be effective in your arsenal of defense.

6. Register copyrights. Copyright is an inexpensive form of legal protection for creators of artistic and literary works. It covers poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, architecture — as well as images. You do not have to register a work for it to be protected by copyright; however, registration is required to notify platforms like Amazon that infringement has occurred. Because counterfeiters often steal and repurpose brand owners’ images, copyright registration can be used to take them down.

According to Paula Brillson Phillips, managing partner at Digital Law Group, the benefits of copyright protection are often overlooked even by patent attorneys.

“The copyright has been spotted in numerous counterfeit and infringement lawsuits saving product owners significant losses by activating statutory (automatic and guaranteed) damages,” she published in a blog on her company’s website. “While patents and trademarks get all of the publicity for protecting brands and products, the copyright fights infringement more effectively than its intellectual property (IP) counterparts; making it the unsung hero of IP protection.”

7. File trademarks to round out your portfolio. Trademarks identify brands. Developing a strong brand that an investor or a licensee can move forward with is a great option to have on the table. Trademarks can also be used to stop online infringers and copycats.

8. Respect the value of trade secrets. The United States Patent & Trademark Office defines trade secrets as consisting of information that “can include a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique or process.” To qualify, the secret must be used in business and result in an economic advantage over those who do not know or use it.

Like the USPTO points out, some inventions are eligible for either patent or trade secret protection. Weigh how these different forms of IP support your overall goals.

The devil is often in the details, which is why trade secrets can be extremely important. For example, consider all of the time and energy required to develop a new manufacturing process. Keeping that secret has value, as it would be extremely costly for someone else to develop it from scratch.

Make sure your non-disclosure agreements are ironclad and consult with your patent attorney about the correct ways to protect your trade secrets.

I have personally employed the strategies described above many times when working on complex ideas that require robust intellectual property protection.

Ultimately, building a strong portfolio of intellectual property that aligns with your business objectives takes away risk for investors and potential licensees. They’ll appreciate that you have not only thoroughly protected their investment, you’ve also mapped out a forward-thinking plan.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com. 

Author

  • Stephen Key

    Stephen Key is an award-winning inventor, renowned intellectual property strategist, lifelong entrepreneur, author, speaker, and columnist.
    Stephen has over 20 patents in his name and the d...