Grafisch element EP&C header
Grafisch element EP&C header ingeklapt
Grafisch element EP&C header ingeklapt

Your Business First

OCTROOIEN | MODELLEN

Blog | Patent monitor­ing and alerting: to keep a sharp eye | EP&C

Patent monitor­ing and alerting: to keep a sharp eyeYour product developers work hard every day to come up with ideas for new products and technologies. It goes without saying that you will want to properly protect their ideas with a patent. Unfortunately, however, lots of good ideas are never protected. That is a missed opportunity. Many of the employees who perform technical work do not have a clue how special some of their ideas are. In their eyes only the egg of Columbus is good enough for a patent. They set very high standards for themselves. At one of my clients I recently discovered a good way to handle this problem.

IP strategy

In this blog you will have been able to read that patent monitoring and alerting is essential for your IP strategy. It gives you a clear picture of the steps your competition is taking. By responding to these in time, you can restrict their room for manoeuvre and keep the possibility to protect similar inventions yourself. You will also stay informed about any new players in the market.

Insight into opportunities

When I was visiting my client I noticed that there was a sharp increase in the number of patents being applied for after we had set up proper patent monitoring and alerting for them. It turned out that it had become clearer for everyone throughout the company, from management to makers, just what kind of processes are patentable. By looking at other people's patent strategy, they became aware of the opportunities they were not utilising themselves.

Strong position in the market

This is how we gained two benefits from monitoring and alerting. It has the obvious advantage of giving a clear indication of what is happening in the market, but it is also an eye-opener. Because the critical look was filtering through, lots more patents were being applied for. This strengthens the overall patent portfolio and therefore also the company's position in the market.

Two benefits?

Monitoring and alerting is an important part of your patent portfolio. These two benefits make it even more valuable than you might initially have thought. We have lots of experience in compiling alerts and would therefore very much like to help you with this step. It is a step that not only gives you a better indication of what is happening in the market, but also offers you better protection and strengthens your position in the market.

Topics: GENERAL, PATENT