OVERVIEW
A patent audit entails an in-depth examination of the intellectual property a business owns, utilizes, or has acquired. The purpose of patent auditing is to uncover assets that are either unused or underutilized, spot any risks to a company’s financial health, and empower decision-makers to develop well-informed strategies for both business and intellectual property.
Reckoning the significance of patent auditing, Ingenious e-Brain has introduced a groundbreaking tool that helps clients navigate through the intricate world of Intellectual Property while enabling organizations to maximize the utilization of its value. The insights & strategies derived by IP experts based on the outcomes generated by the tool are intended to uphold and improve the company’s competitive position in the pertinent markets.
Patent Audit Navigator Model
The stage-gate process of our novel tool encompasses a comprehensive assessment and analysis of a company’s intellectual property portfolio to evaluate its strengths, identify potential weaknesses, and optimize its strategic value. The tool framework is bifurcated into five modules—Patent Benchmarking, Risk Management, Patent Infringement/ Enforcement Assessment, Patent Monetization, and Merger & Acquisition Assessment—to thoroughly assess, catalog, and maximize the value of the client’s intellectual property assets.
Investigation
Understanding the patent portfolio is imperative prior to assessment. The investigation includes a systematic review of the patent assets owned, used, or acquired by a business to understand/identify undervalued patent assets, infringement risks, invalidity challenges, licensing/ enforcement opportunities, and other patent monetization opportunities.
Patent Benchmarking
Customized patent benchmarking is conducted to provide valuable insights for strategic decision-making, identifying associated risks and opportunities while helping businesses effectively utilize their resources while ensuring compliance with industry standards. The process comprises the identification of the engagement objective for conducting the patent audit and, accordingly, recognizing the key performance indicators for the benchmarking process.
Apart from this, the process covers assessing the preferred patent filing route, jurisdiction, patient success rate, patent vs. product mapping, gap analysis, etc. Also, it includes custom-based detailed analysis and benchmarking of the patent portfolio using bibliographic, subjective/objective parameters to identify key patents/undervalued patents, etc.
Risk Management
Our Patent Audit Navigator conducts a thorough risk assessment to identify potential risks associated with the patent portfolio and other IP activities, such as infringement risks, invalidity challenges, gaps in protection, or outdated IP strategies. The tool identifies the need for collaboration with technology developers/academia to ensure comprehensive IP protection aligned with business priorities. Moreover, the tool helps prevent patent litigation risks and identify collaborative approaches/ requirements.
Effective patent risk management is essential to safeguard intellectual property, mitigate legal challenges, and ensure business continuity in a competitive landscape. The tool is adept enough to identify:
● Regulatory Risk: Challenges related to changes in the regulatory framework
● Competitor Risk: Threats associated with competitors’ activity
● Technology Shift Risk: Challenges associated with advancements in technology
● Gap in Protection: Inadequate measures to protect innovations
● Litigation Risk: Damage to the brand image
● Patent Non-usability Risk: Additional cost for patent maintenance
Patent Infringement/ Enforcement Assessment
Our novel tool can identify and assess patents or trademarks for potential infringement by external parties, and recognize potential infringers via detailed adjacency assessment, competitive assessment, marketplace investigation, jurisdiction coverage, etc. The tool’s patent infringement/ enforcement assessment feature is used to evaluate the strength of the patent assets and the probability of successful enforcement. Also, the tool can evaluate a company’s effectiveness in identifying and capitalizing on its potential patent portfolio, employing a strategic approach to maintain competitiveness within the industry.
Patent Monetization
Our innovative analytical tool supports monetizing patents by identifying high-value patent assets and assessing their market relevance, product vitality index & potential. Besides this, other monetization routes, such as licensing (exclusive/non-exclusive), enforcement opportunities, and sale/technology transfer opportunities, are identified by leveraging the tool. It also assists in developing a licensing strategy that aligns with business goals, highlighting the unique selling propositions and potential benefits for potential licensees or buyers.
Merger & Acquisition Assessment
The tool supports identifying gaps in the patent portfolio by assessing innovation and market trends and identifying potential companies for M&A opportunity assessment. Also, it facilitates the assessment of financial performance, profitability, key operations, product portfolio, processes, customer base, ESG practices, current & future industry trends, and supply chain to explore the target companies’ growth potential.
Our Patent Audit Navigator stands as a beacon of reliability and expertise in navigating the landscape of patents and intellectual properties.