Since the first legal product protections were issued in 1421 to Fillipo Brunelleschi, in the Republic of Florence, for his invention of a novel river boat to help facilitate trade, intellectual property (IP) protections have allowed nations to accelerate economic growth, make advances in healthcare and support the general welfare of their citizenry. Technological advancements have also allowed countries to grow more powerful over time, fostering global competition for economic, scientific and technological advantage. In our current environment, where an invention can secure the viability of a company for several decades, or maintain strategic advantages on the world stage, it’s critical for public and private entities to have a clear view into the global patent landscape.

Fortunately, in 1975 the US Patent Office began digitizing paper patents, making the job of researching and analyzing patents much easier. Since that time, more and more patent data has become available electronically, both in the U.S. and internationally. So much so, that the amount of patent data is now stored in extensive, disparate databases and requires technology tools to access and analyze efficiently. This is where there is tremendous value in working with a third-party data provider that can aggregate patent data and provide tools to help you sort, visualize and analyze it based on your specific requirements.
 

Use different data types to tnform your patent strategy

Public and private entities need access to timely and granular patent data, along with firmographic information, ownership structures and information on company mergers, acquisitions and cross-border investments to understand the ins and outs of the patent landscape. In the private sector this will help you formulate your patent strategy and mitigate the risks associated with infringement that could lead to reputational issues. A well thought-out patent strategy, supported by third-party data and analytical tools, will help your company chart a clear IP investment path, whether that’s to support internal efforts to fund R&D and patent inventions, or to seek complementary relationships through joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions. Beyond helping bring clarity to your IP investment path, working with a third-party data provider can help you increase efficiency and minimize the costs associated with your patent research and analysis by providing consolidated and globally standardized data at scale, and the tools required to analyze that data quickly and efficiently, based on your requirements.
 

Track the movement of IP regionally and across borders

In the public sector, the integration of robust patent data, ownership structures, and M&A activity is critical to monitoring strategic assets and safeguarding against intellectual property falling into the hands, or ultimate control of other countries. Conversely, it is vital to understand patenting activity, transactional activity, and historical patent holdings of other nations and their affiliated companies.

Tax authorities also need patent and ownership data to monitor the transfer of valuable IP from one jurisdiction to another, to identify whether arms-length transactions are being reported appropriately. They also need current and historical patent data to report on the movement of IP internally from one region to another, or across borders. In both scenarios – the transfer of IP ownership to a foreign entity and the transfer of patents between jurisdictions – companies and governments need timely information on transactions that are rumored, announced and completed. And it can take years for patent offices to officially disclosure patent reassignments, which is not sufficiently timely for most decision makers.
 

Benchmark against your competitors

Having access to timely and granular data is necessary for benchmarking against your competitors’ patent portfolios. You will want to value your patents and look at the patents of your competitors through a revenue lens to facilitate an apples-to-apples comparison. Access to robust global patent information, detailed ownership structures, company valuations and other deal data, will assist you in assessing the value of your IP and help you to discover complementary partnerships, both existing and emerging.
 

Stay on top of patent activity and market trends to account for and protect strategic IP

In the public sector, understanding market activity and trends will help uncover new technologies being developed and allow you to stay at the forefront of activity in your country. And it will allow you to intervene in the potential sale, or transfer of strategic assets overseas. In this regard, it’s important to both monitor the assets themselves, as well as the companies that have them in their possession, and the owners and associated persons controlling those entities. A third-party data provider can be of great assistance here, by providing data that shows domestic and foreign patents, parent/child ownership links, mergers and acquisitions, and the people associated with those companies and transactions.
 

Conclusion

Since the birth of civilization, innovation has facilitated the rise and prosperity of various cities, states and nations. It’s only relatively recently in our history that it’s become apparent that securing those breakthrough innovations is critical to maintain industrial, scientific, and technological leadership. Knowing where to invest and what to protect can only be done with the rich insights derived by understanding and analyzing the current patent landscape and future trends. Moody’s Analytics can provide the data and analytical tools to help you create a patent strategy that will help you stay ahead of your competitors.