Patent research: the health of the landscape
Patent landscape research is the tree frog of the IP ecosystem. For environmental managers, the tree frog is a useful bioindicator of the underlying health of the environment because sudden changes in the population reflect underlying environmental trends.
Similarly, interest in patent landscape research by in-house counsel and business development teams correlates strongly with the general economic health of an industry and, more specifically, to the prevailing IP strategy in it.
In a patent research firm, work flows in and out, representing hundreds of different technology areas, on a weekly basis. Within strict confidentiality protocols, trends are analysed in the technology areas and the types of research requested. As these trends manifest themselves, they can be analysed in an aggregate manner.
One of the most evident trends was the sharp decline in landscape research beginning in 2007, which preceded the global economic downturn. During the next few years, little landscape research was requested as companies worked to maintain their IP positions. It was not until the beginning of the recovery in 2013 that landscape research returned to corporate focus. Since then, landscape research has resumed its former active state.
A research niche
In order to understand why landscape research has such a direct correlation with economic health, it is important to understand both the structure of landscape results and the eventual uses of the research. Landscape research fills a particular research niche. It is intensive, all-inclusive state-of-the-art research, pulling in the best and most current estimations of technological innovation in a given technology area to focus corporate research strategy, determine areas of licensing and gather industry information.
The results identify key areas where the technology is most heavily represented, who the main assignees are, and what facets of the technology are least protected.
In a proper landscape search, the most pertinent patent data are integrated into an accessible format for referencing and cross-referencing. Copious amounts of patent and bibliographic information, which is hand-curated by a researcher, is pulled from a previously unmanageable data-mined universe and incorporated into a manageable configuration. The format is designed to allow for serious and concerted analysis by corporations and counsel, with a focus on malleability.
These references, usually numbering in the hundreds, are pooled in a functional chart, which allows for the manipulation and filtering, slicing and dicing of the data for substantive use in determining the actual landscape of the target area. This flexibility, for both a bird’s-eye view of technology as well as a focused review of specific aspects of the cited art, provides a usable representation of the state of the technology, grouping the most important features and how they relate to the cited references.
The usefulness of landscape research is in its comprehensiveness and flexibility. At the outset, it provides definition and direction for initial corporate IP strategy formulation. General industry information is easily acquired through this research, as well as technological minutiae on a myriad of embodiments in a single technology area, depending upon the corporate strategy goals of the research.
Further along, the validity of the underlying white-space assumptions may be tested through further clearance and novelty work, providing a layer of validation to the initial strategy. As new patent applications are prepared, or new licensing agreements negotiated, plans for building or buttressing corporate patent portfolios then go into motion. In this, the functional and multi-tasked usage of the landscape data becomes evident.
Primary use
A primary function of landscape research is to provide an overview of a technology’s white space in a graphical depiction of the target technology that is both visually appealing and insightful. Insights into the underlying technology provided by white-space analysis depict easily manoeuvrable areas of entry into a given market.
The white-space analysis may identify technology areas in which one strong, general patent bars entry into the market. This is accomplished by highlighting an area based on quality, as opposed to the frequency of citations in the art. The white space may even be accounted for by a traditionally non-lucrative technology area, which can be assessed by a review of the key assignees and patenting history in the original dataset.
Landscape research is integral to business plan development, annual R&D reviews, budget planning, and product line release analysis. Universities and grant-recipient entities looking for new funding avenues or to renew existing partnerships conduct this research to provide weight to their applications with verifiable industry assessments.
Counsel, corporate executives and technology transfer officers gather around meeting room tables, eventually rolling up their shirt sleeves and calling for dinner, poring over the data and answering many questions regarding prospective strategy concerns, while finding many new questions to replace them. The review of landscape research results takes weeks, usually including at least one conference call with researchers and many times requiring some honing of the dataset.
As companies look to develop near and long-term strategies, they opt for ways to assess the state of their specific area of business. When R&D funds are being allocated for the year, or sweeping new product lines are being contemplated, these corporations look to landscape research to provide them the initial data to use as a basis for their analysis and ultimate decision making on how to proceed. When landscape research is an active part of IP endeavours, the corporate world is confident in its position and looking forward towards future development.
But when R&D funds are in short supply, or have evaporated entirely, as was the case during the recent economic downturn, rather than calculating how best to invest corporate funding, corporate executives might spend their time calculating how best to keep their businesses afloat.
The recent downturn correlated with a drop-off in landscape research that, for a research firm which commonly conducts multiple large-scale landscape searches a month, was significant and illustrative of the health of the economy. The tightening of the corporate purse strings as well as an internal economic focus caused the cessation of landscape research in favour of litigation-oriented research, or no research at all. In the most severe cases, IP concerns were postponed indefinitely until a more secure economic stance was determined.
Return to health
It was not until the beginning of the economic recovery in 2013 that landscape research returned to the forefront of corporate IP strategies. It heralded the return of forward momentum in the corporate arena. The cry of ‘innovation’ as the all-healing economic salve could be heard from many government mouthpieces. Patents, trademarks and copyright began to be re-assessed. Many governments considered IP reform, in some cases ratifying sweeping changes to their systems.
As these reforms took shape and practitioners were allowed, in some countries, to sample them in practice, coupled with a slow-growing economic stability in many countries, the resurgence of landscape research began. Over the past year, this resurgence points towards economic growth with an active pursuit of IP. The economic tree frog population is growing again.
The growth in patent landscape research signals an improved economy and a more stable IP environment. The frequency and complexity of this kind of research, particularly during the first quarters of 2014, can be translated into a clear indicator regarding the returning stamina of the economy. More and more companies from a diverse subset of technology arenas are looking to the future, planning new strategies and utilising new and innovative assets on an active corporate self-determination track.
Cristopher Flagg is president of Express Search. He can be contacted at: Cris.Flagg@ExpressSearch.com
