Lawyer Monthly Magazine - February 2020 Edition

Expert Insight By Ed White, Derwent 41 FEB 2020 | WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM DIFFERENT INVESTMENT INSIGHTS ADVANCED PATENT ANALYSIS MAY PRESENT: If you are setting your IP budget as your investment decision and are thinking to invest in filing new patents in 2020 or wish to maintain your current patent portfolio, why should you use patent analytics? The question to ask yourself here is: Are you getting bang for your buck? Do you know where potential disruptions lie and what possible market disruptions could occur that may impact your product or new invention? “R&D investment is probably the primary use of patent analysis today; if you are investing millions of dollars into a new research programme, you really want to have a lot of information on the directionality of that space and know exactly who you are going to be competing with, where the gaps are in that technical space so you can carve out a complete niche in terms of where your research will take you”, explains Ed. Then there is a level above that which is much more strategic, where you are looking at it from a competitive angle and from a big macro trend. The analysis will allow you to determine where new M&A investments are coming from so you can your foot in the door earlier than your competitors. “Having a list of candidates you may want to buy out, or maybe you wish to get your product on the market faster than others and have the space to merge or partner with another company – this data will allow you to make decisions from a competitive angle.” WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES INVOLVED WHEN ANALYSING PATENT DATA? “Logistically, patent research is getting more complicated to perform”, explains Ed. “This is due to a variety of reasons.” One of the reasons, he expands, is due to the volume of patents being filed every single year is increasing. “That means we need to evolve better methodology with dealing with bigger data sets.” Another growing challenge is that that volumetric trend is being driven primarily by high growth in patent output from Asian countries meaning that the respective documents are not in English. “This is another reason to why searching in google is insufficient, as you will be ignoring everything occurring in Asia”, shares Ed. Another challenge is due to a variety of industries and technologies fusing together, you now need different skill sets and different backgrounds. A lot of patent output is now also coming from smaller players, which also creates another new challenge. Ed states: “We are witnessing how patent activity around the world is fragmenting into more pieces; more players across different corporations and institutions are getting involved, which causes an issue because you don’t know where to look. You now have to look everywhere in order to understand what is going on.” Firm Profile Clarivate Analytics is a global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate the pace of innovation. Our vision is to improve the way the world creates, protects and advances innovation. Derwent™, a Clarivate Analytics company, powers the innovation lifecycle from idea to commercialization – with trusted patent data, applications and services including Derwent Innovation™, Derwent World Patents Index™, Derwent Patents Citation Index™ and Derwent Data Analyzer™. We build solutions for inventors, patent attorneys and licensing specialists at start-ups and the largest global innovators, legal professionals at the leading intellectual property practices, and patent examiners at more than 40 patent offices. Our solutions are used to monitor technology trends and competitive landscapes, inform FTO opinions, prosecute patents, monetize and license assets and support litigation activities. 50+ years ago we created the patent research industry and are still the leaders today. Contact Ed White, Director of Patent Analytics, Derwent www.clarivate.com/derwent