Patent Landscape Search
The industry uses patent landscape to make strategic decisions on investments and research and development directions. It also utilises patent landscape to determine the activity part of the competitors, and freedom to operate in new product launch. As of now, the policy makers are progressively leaning to the landscaping to form a factual foundation prior to deciding high-level policy matters, in almost all fields.
Innovation in the marketing strategy, through research is a costly affair, and therefore if problems accumulate with the third party patents, it will thwart the commercialising of an invention, triggering heavy monetary loss to companies. In order to avoid such a blatant and vulnerable situation, most researching companies conduct patent landscaping studies to prepare for their future market plans.
A Patent Landscape Search is a widespread search for patents in a particular technical discipline, exploring what is not there, rather than what exists there. It is discovering a white space for doing research and then commercialising the invention hassle-free.
Essentially, a patent landscape search means, delving deep into analysing the State of the Art, revealing the big picture for taking informed decisions.
The Patent Landscape Search identifies the patent portfolios for acquisition or investment, and its results provide a graphical account of the patent relationships, based on keywords, citations, applicants, patent classifications, and many more. It unveils the past and present actions of an invention in a specified field of technology.
Landscape search can provide information about:
1. Trends in IP activity and how innovation happens in your field of technology
2. The geographical distribution
3. White space analysis, identifying problems and safe research areas
4. New potential areas of possible improvement
5. Present and future competitors
6. Other technologies the competitors are working on
7. Targets for merging/acquisition/licensing-in/licensing-out
8. The most productive inventors
9. Any mismatch between the companies owned patents and business strategy
10. Monitoring markets of interest
11. The patents currently in the public domain
12. The gaps in research & development
13. Determining the most valuable of your patents
14. Seminal discoveries and incremental improvements
15. Who benefits from licensing your invention?
16. Whose inventions can be licensed for your benefits?
17. The most densely patented and sparsely patented technology fields
18. Past and present activities of the different players in specified technology areas
Patent Landscape Analysis and Reports:
You cannot have a single or universal definition of a Patent Landscape Report (PLR), as it constitutes only a general idea of patenting activity in a particular field of technology that occupies a specific geographical area. A landscape answers precise policy questions to present composite information about patenting activity, clearly for various audiences from all backgrounds.
A Patent Landscape Report promotes informed decision-making and effectively answers the problems associated with high stakes decisions, increasing the level of confidence. With the introduction of patent analytics and PLRs, the critical decisions have become data-driven, mitigating the related decision risks. A patent landscape report is helpful for all organisations that process technology evaluation and its impact on society.
A patent landscape analysis will give you an overview of a technology field, listing the paramount competitors and the trending technological developments. It helps you greatly in assessing the economic value of a patent portfolio, and strives to identify:
The innovative focus of companies, industries, and countries
Technology
Technology leaders and their IP strategies
Technological positioning and chronological changes of companies
Unique selling points of companies
Strength and weakness of a patent portfolio