Rohit Singh Gole Clarivate Analytics Patent Evaluation

Patent Evaluation

Introduction Explicit monetary valuation of patents is not straightforward, nor likely absolute However, patents must be viewed through a commercial lens How do we evaluate patents based on their commercial impact?

Patent Strategy for Maximizing Business Value Aligning commercial strategy with IP protection IP and business sense IP is useless if it does not support a viable business strategy Many assume patent are necessary step for business Could be waste of resources, money and time Many assume that patent not necessary to create business value Often wrong and lose exclusivity in successful business model

What is Patent Evaluation? An estimation of the value of an IP asset or a set of IP assets Many valuation techniques, ranging from the simple to the extremely complex But, none of them are full-proof

Why Do You Need Evaluate IP? Negotiations to sell/license IP rights Merger, acquisition, joint venture or bankruptcy To support decision-making in patent disputes Fund raising/loans/venture capital For accounting purposes

Patent Evaluation Based on Quantitative Analysis

IP Analysis Techniques Traditionally Typical patent analysis largely driven by measurement of patent (or patent family) volumes, or changes in volumes

Not all Patents are Created Equal Same applicant, same year, different results Which is more valuable, which is more important? Individually, provides information on strategy of applicant, notable pieces of IP requiring more intense review Aggregating the information, the totality of outcomes becomes quite powerful.

Increasing Usage of Derived Metrics Filing breadth analysis of an individual patent correlates to the level of investment the applicant has made Therefore, follows that broadly filed patents are of higher strategic relevance to the applicant Conversely, patents protected lightly in terms of geography represent lighter levels of investment and are more speculative

Quantitative Analysis – Potential Use Cases Competitive Intelligence Understand the activity and decision making by your competitors Technical Intelligence Discover emergent trends not just via volume changes, but volume and impact/quality/commercial proxies Informing strategic direction/evaluating Compare your IP strategy to a group of selected competitors/ benchmark entities

Case Study 1 – Competitive Intelligence Review of filing breadth in aggregate across a portfolio, broken down by product or technology, uncovers the outcomes of individual patent family filing decisions Outcomes may be unknown even to the applicant – useful for portfolio auditing on its own Allows direct mapping of IP strategy to the wider business Provides insight on IP/R&D strategy of competitors or the market as a whole

Case Study 2 – Technical Intelligence Patent strength trends are applicable not just for competitive intelligence, but also technical insight Small but important technology movements can be difficult to spot when measuring volume alone Incorporating quantitative strength metrics into a technical analysis highlights where multiple players are moving towards the same goal Emerging fields of interest

Case Study 3 – Benchmarking Outcomes Assess quantitative strength in depth of your historical patent portfolio versus your competitors (or a selected group of entities with desirable IP performance) Is your historical way of protecting patented innovation working for you in the market? Does your IP strategy align to your market position?

Aggregated Quantitative Metrics

Patent Evaluation Based On Qualitative, Subjective Analysis

Qualitative Measurements Less statistical and more subjective, but can include elements such as: There is evidence that quantitative and qualitative measures strongly correlate

Going Much Further... For individual patent cases, the level of research involved can ramp-up considerably, and encompass measurements such as: Technical Attributes: Impact of the invention (major breakthrough, major improvement, minor improvement) Impact on end users (visible, invisible) Implementation (overlapping products, ease of finding evidence Financial Attributes: Size of the impacted market Evaluation of direct and indirect impacts: royalties, monopolies, stock price, brand, PR Legal Attributes: Patent validity Regulatory environment per country

Implementing Patent Evaluation Techniques

How Do You Do It?

Why Do It?

In Summary Patent evaluation methods are evolving Quantitative techniques probably more advanced at this point Modern IP analytics output strongly tied to commercial insights based on patent data Requires commercial proxies and evaluation of patent on commercial terms More work needs to be done on regression testing of these types of metrics Difficulty of finding a control

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