Patent Portfolio Management

Definition

Patent portfolio management is the strategic approach to managing a company's collection of patents, with the goal of maximizing the value and effectiveness of the patent assets. It involves making decisions about whether and how to enforce a patent, as well as optimizing the overall patent portfolio to support the company's business objectives.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Patent portfolio management helps companies align their patent assets with their business strategy and maximize the return on investment in their patent portfolio.
2. Deciding whether to enforce a patent involves considering factors such as the strength of the patent, the potential for success in litigation, and the potential impact on the company's business.
3. Effective patent portfolio management can involve selectively enforcing patents, licensing patents to generate revenue, or even abandoning patents that are no longer strategically important.
4. Patent portfolio management requires ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the patent portfolio to identify opportunities for monetization, identify potential threats, and make informed decisions about patent maintenance and renewal.
5. The size and composition of a patent portfolio can also be strategically managed to support the company's overall business objectives, such as protecting key technologies, deterring competitors, or generating licensing revenue.

Review Questions

• Explain how patent portfolio management can help a company align its patent assets with its business strategy.
  • Patent portfolio management involves carefully evaluating a company's patent assets and aligning them with its overall business objectives. This may include selectively enforcing patents that protect core technologies, licensing patents to generate revenue, or even abandoning patents that are no longer strategically important. By managing the patent portfolio in this way, companies can ensure that their patent assets are actively supporting their business strategy and maximizing the return on investment in their intellectual property.
• Describe the key factors a company should consider when deciding whether to enforce a patent as part of its patent portfolio management strategy.
  • When deciding whether to enforce a patent, a company should consider factors such as the strength of the patent, the potential for success in litigation, the potential impact on the company's business, and the overall strategic importance of the patent within the company's portfolio. A thorough evaluation of these factors can help the company make an informed decision about whether to pursue patent enforcement, which may involve filing a lawsuit for patent infringement or engaging in other legal actions to stop unauthorized use of the patented invention.
• Analyze how the size and composition of a patent portfolio can be strategically managed to support a company's business objectives.
  • The size and composition of a patent portfolio can be strategically managed to achieve various business objectives. For example, a company may build a large patent portfolio to deter competitors and protect its core technologies, or it may selectively maintain a smaller portfolio focused on its most valuable and commercially important inventions. Additionally, the portfolio can be structured to generate licensing revenue, either by including patents that are not core to the company's business but have value to other industry players, or by actively licensing out certain patents. By carefully managing the size and composition of the patent portfolio, companies can ensure that their intellectual property assets are aligned with and actively supporting their overall business strategy.

Related terms

Patent Enforcement: The process of taking legal action to stop others from using a patented invention without permission, such as filing a lawsuit for patent infringement.

Patent Licensing: The process of granting permission to another party to use a patented invention in exchange for royalties or other compensation.

Patent Valuation: The process of determining the monetary value of a patent, which is important for making decisions about patent portfolio management.