A patent strategy is important for every tech company that invents new products or services. For example, a well-designed patent strategy cancreate a valuable patent portfolio that protects your R&D activities. Your patent portfolio can provide a competitive advantage, attract investors, and increase company valuation.
Are you ready to plan your patent strategy for 2024?
As I discuss in my book, Cracking the Patent Code, including a few simple activities in your patent strategy can produce valuable results when implemented consistently over the course of the year.
Here are seven activities to help you create a 2024 patent strategy for your organization. You don’t need to include all seven activities in your patent strategy. Consider selecting the two or three activities that are most important to your company for the coming year.
- Review Your Current Patent Portfolio – What inventions have you already protected? Are there any “holes” in your patent portfolio?Be sure you have protected all of your critical product features that provide a competitive edge.
- Identify Upcoming Patent Filing Deadlines – Look for any inventions that have been disclosed publicly or inventions contained in a product released within the last 12 months. Consider an Invention Triage™ session to identify these important deadlines.
- Train Your Team to Identify All Inventions – Schedule training workshops for all team members and new hires regarding how to identify inventions. Also, explain the importance of inventions to the company and highlight your invention reward program.
- Schedule Invention Mining Sessions for Projects Approaching Completion – An Invention Mining Session is valuable to be sure you have identified every invention in a project before it is released to the public. Then you can decide which inventions are worthy of patent protection.
- Review (or Create) Your Invention Evaluation Process – Do you have an invention evaluation process to review all inventions submitted by your team? If not, creating an Invention Evaluation committee is an important goal for 2024. If you already have a process to evaluate inventions, be sure you have a detailed list of evaluation factors that help prioritize the most valuable inventions to your organization.
- Consider an Invention Contest – If you want to create an innovation boost throughout your team, try an invention contest. This type of contest is fun, stimulates creative thinking, and helps build a culture of innovative thinking.
- Map Out Your Patent Strategy for 2024 – What are your top goals and activities to grow your patent portfolio in 2024? Map out those goals and activities by defining steps for each quarter of the year. Then, at the end of 2024, you will enjoy a powerful patent portfolio that provides a competitive advantage, attracts investors, and increases company valuation.
For more than 25 years, my team and I have worked with the world’s leading technology companies to build high-value patent portfolios. If you want to discuss your patent strategy for 2024, I’m happy to help you map out a plan. Contact me to schedule a complimentary call.
Email me at: steve@stevesponseller.com
Or, schedule a call at: https://stevesponseller.com/call
