The conduct of a competitor IP analysis involves searching through numerous databases for patents, products and claims that are close to your own technology. The importance and value of a competitor IP analysis will depend on where in the commercialisation process your technology sits.
COMPETITOR IP ANALYSIS & STRATEGIC RESPONSE
-
What Is A Competitor IP Analysis And How Can It Help With Technology Commercialisation Outcomes?
-
What Are The Benefits Of A Competitor IP Analysis?
There are numerous commercial and product-manufacturing benefits that can surface when a well performed IP Analysis is conducted. Upcoming market trends along with clear foresight into a competitor’s strategy can be obtained quickly by analysing the cumulative intellectual property in a particular technology space.
-
What Are The Necessary Steps To Perform A Competitor IP Analysis?
It is important to understand who your competitors are what they are doing from a commercial and intellectual property standpoint. Depending on your industry and technology we will look for similar products and importantly products that solve similar problems to your technology.
Searching through public databases Technology Outcomes will:
If similar IP is located it will be valuable to know whether this IP or patent is enforced or not enforced in your particular market.
-
What Happens If My Competitor’s Technology Patents Are Not In-Force In Australia?
If your competitor’s IP is not in-force in your chosen market, you are free to use any information contained within your competitor's patents to speed up and enhance your own technology package and commercialisation process. Note: this is best done earlier in the technology development phase before your technology parameters are locked in.
An estimated 50% of patents that are protected in other countries are not filed for coverage in Australia as either (1) these patents have expired (20 years is the time where a patent is allocated and after that everyone can use the information within it) or, (2) many inventions patented overseas are simply not pursued in Australia due for market reasons. -
What Happens If My Competitor’s Technology Patents Are In-Force In Australia?
If a competitor’s technology is patented and in-force in Australia then the information and reports that Technology Outcomes will provide will allow you to make numerous beneficial decisions.
Firstly, we can provide the next steps to find a patent circumvention strategy where you can use prior art knowledge without contravening prior art claims.
It may happen that a competitor patent covers markets that are important overseas, however viable Australian markets are not covered. You will never know until you begin looking!
Next you will be able to confidently abandon ideas that are unlikely to work by referring to prior art patent text as guides as to what will not work and thus avoid false trails.
If all else fails and a patent is found to block your technology in a way that can’t be avoided then we can show you who to approach for a license.
By analysing your competitor’s patents Technology Outcomes can:
When Is The Best Time To Conduct A Competitor IP or Patent Search?
This answer can vary depending on where your technology sits in the development process, however, this can be diagnosed with a quick consultation. More often than not the best time to conduct a competitor ip search is:
-
1. Before your first visit to your patent attorney
A competitor IP analysis to assist with patent protection is best attempted prior to your first assist with a patent attorney.
A competitor analysis provided by Technology Outcomes will make your patent attorney’s work more efficient and accurate and greatly reduce your own patent attorney costs in the process.
If your technology requires patent protection then a competitor IP analysis will locate your invention in the "patent space" of your technology.
The results of a competitor IP analysis will show:
-
2. In the early stages of product development
Roadblocks are easier to navigate around when a project has been defined but not completed, because it is easier to be flexible at this stage.
-
3. When new manufacturing equipment has been purchased
Manufacturing equipment purchases for many companies require a significant capital investment.
To get the most out of this equipment a competitor IP analysis will provide detailed suggestions on other high value products that can be made with this equipment.
There are great benefits from knowing what other products can be manufactured using your new equipment.
This process can be most useful for industries that utilise formulations, or processes for example in the development of new coatings, sprays, granules or antibody technologies. These are often used in the medical, food manufacturing, veterinary and agricultural industries.
Technology Outcomes' Core Expertise
-
Intellectual Property Auditing
Even if a patent is registered and paid for it does not guarantee that its contents are fit for your company’s market-entry purposes. Depending on the scenario a patent that looks to have secure claims may in face be easy to circumvent.
-
IP Due Diligence
IP due diligence in regards to patents is the process of examining the quality of a company’s patent or patent portfolio (this process can be extremely useful prior to buying a technology company or buying a license from a technology company). IP due diligence is also highly useful when planning to partner with a technology company.
-
Understanding How Patent Examiners Think
We understand the patent examination process and how patent examiners think. Instead of trying to push through patents that have no chance of being granted we will change the patent narrative to align with the patent examiners mindset. This leads to a greater over all rate of success in obtaining hard-to-get patents.
-
Increase patent attorney efficiency
Allowing Technology Outcomes to tailor your intellectual property package in co-operation with a patent attorney will reduce the overall costs of utilising a patent attorney. We will reduce the cost of tasks that a patent attorney does not need to do but would otherwise charge a much higher hourly rate to complete.
-
High level expertise in both technology development and IP procurement
Technology Outcomes has the unique experience to act as a technology-to-patent professional facilitator as our background is based in both early phase private enterprise technology development and end-to-end patent procurement. Our team draws on the following experience:
-
Technical Information Experts
A core expertise of Technology Outcomes is to investigate complex and voluminous technical information held by the client (in notebooks and lab reports and workshop reports) in order to develop a patent narrative with maximum distance from prior art.
Address:
1/49 Cooper St Essendon, 3040 Melbourne Australia
Email:
info@technologyoutcomes.com.au
Opening hours:
8am-5pm Mon - Fri
Request A Free Consultation
Contact Us Now
We are excited to find out more about your technology package and where it sits in the commercialisation pathway! Please don't hesitate to make contact so we can chat, zoom or grab a coffee!