| Today companies are being forced to cope with rising | | | | method is a very important complement to research |
| litigation risk because the business environment is | | | | that can be performed using a research platform. |
| simply more litigious. This increased litigiousness has | | | | Using the platform, you can see what companies are |
| produced a more rigorous due diligence requirement | | | | investing in which technologies, which can be very |
| that involves a greater focus on the way intelligence is | | | | good technology investment indicators. It can point you |
| gathered and the processes associated with it. Part of | | | | to materials that indicate which type of investments in |
| this rigorous protocol is to monitor the IP landscape | | | | future technologies are being made today. |
| generally and competitive targets specifically | | | | As the technology becomes well defined and is |
| (companies, products and technologies), before a | | | | deemed to be viable, you can rely on R&D Alliances |
| decision is made to pursue one or more candidates. | | | | and joint ventures such as open innovation networks |
| You can monitor technology in a variety of ways as it | | | | to understand the developmental progress. At this |
| is being developed. At the inception of a technology, | | | | point, the focus of your CI gathering should shift from |
| research platforms can provide only limited assistance | | | | understanding the technology, to a complete |
| because patents aren't typically filed until about | | | | understanding of the company who is investing in its |
| halfway through the product lifecycle. | | | | development. |
| The lifecycle of the product usually begins with basic | | | | Finally, as the technology comes online and patents are |
| research and progresses through a developmental | | | | filed and granted, you can begin to understand with |
| stage until it is mature enough to patent. After the | | | | greater clarity which of your CI targets represents the |
| technology is mature and protected, marketing plans | | | | best investment and least risk. This is where your IP |
| begin to emerge as it is applied to products and finally | | | | business intelligence platform i.e. patent software |
| introduced to the market. | | | | becomes critical. |
| Because results of patent analysis rely in part on | | | | You need to be able to overlay the IP data with |
| patent data, there isn't a way to use it to thoroughly | | | | business and legal data to give it a business context. It |
| evaluate the technology between inception and patent | | | | is important to know, for example, whether the new |
| prosecution. Innography can assist with evaluating the | | | | technology really is new and whether its patent is |
| company, along with its current product and patent | | | | similar to other patents held by litigious companies. In |
| portfolio during that phase. But much of the competitive | | | | such a case, they might already be aware of the |
| intelligence (CI) research must be performed in more | | | | patent and are simply waiting for an acquisition or |
| conventional ways. | | | | licensing deal so that they can sue someone with |
| In the beginning, it can be monitored using resources | | | | much deeper pockets than the inventor. |
| such as research papers and grey literature. This | | | | |