Provides valuable managerial insights into patent management from a practical perspective
Analyses the most important current industry sectors and new technologies across the world
Written by established authors with an outstanding experience in management and academia
从实务的角度为专利管理提供有价值的管理见解
分析全球最重要的当前行业和新技术
由在管理和学术界具有杰出经验的知名作者撰写
关于这本书：
This book provides an overview of the common concepts and building blocks of patent management. It addresses executives in the areas of innovation, R & D, patent and intellectual property management as well as academics and students.The authors give valuable information on the characteristics of patent and intellectual property management, based on the collaboration with companies and organizations from Europe, China, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, India, Canada and the US.
本书概述了专利管理的常见概念和基础。它面向创新，研发，专利和知识产权管理领域的高管以及学者和学生。作者基于与欧洲，中国，日本，阿根廷，巴西，印度，加拿大和美国公司和组织合作，就专利和知识产权管理的特点提供了宝贵的信息。
A reference for managers who want to bring information technology innovation with a clear intellectual property strategy to the market. A very readable book.
Thomas Landolt, Managing Director, IBM
这是一本希望将具有明确知识产权策略的信息技术创新推向市场的管理人员的参考书。一本非常易读的书。
Thomas Landolt, IBM常务董事
A really comprehensive, all-in book about Patents – strategy, value, management and commercialization. And not forgetting what they are for – foster innovation.
Dr. Joerg Thomaier, Head of IP Bayer Group
关于专利的一本真正全面的全书，涵盖了战略，价值，管理和商业化。不要忘记它们的用途–促进创新。
Dr. Joerg Thomaier, 拜尔集团IP负责人
关于作者：
奥利弗·加斯曼（Oliver Gassmann）是圣加仑大学（HSG）的技术和创新管理教授，也是该大学技术管理学院董事会主席。除了担任20本书的作者和编辑，以及超过400篇有关技术和创新管理的国际论文的作者和编辑外，他还是多个高级MBA课程的主讲人。奥利弗·加斯曼（Oliver Gassmann）是瑞士联邦知识产权学院的董事会成员，数家国际公司的董事会成员，以及数家衍生公司的联合创始人。在2002年之前，他一直是迅达的研究与开发主管。他的研究专注于创新和商业模式的成功因素。
他的工作获得了许多奖项和荣誉，包括RADMA奖（1998年，曼彻斯特），并在2013年被评为德国顶级经济学家（2013年，FAZ）。他还被列为IAMOT研究人员50强之一（2014年，IAMOT），并获得了著名的学术影响力奖（2014年，管理杂志）。根据Google Scholar的说法，他是全球“研发管理”领域（2020年）中最常被引用的权威。
Martin A. Bader是欧洲和瑞士的专利律师。作为专业创新和知识产权管理咨询集团BGW AG St. Gallen的合伙人和联合创始人，他自2016年3月起担任英戈尔施塔特应用科学大学（THI）的技术管理和创业学教授。在此之前，他曾是圣加仑大学（HSG）技术管理研究所知识产权管理能力中心的负责人，直到2002年，他还是慕尼黑英飞凌科技公司的副总裁兼首席知识产权官。
他是世界知识产权组织（WIPO）替代性争议解决调解中心的调解人，根据《知识产权资产管理》杂志的IAM战略300指数，多年来他一直被认为是全球前300名知识产权战略家之一。他还是许多专业出版物的长期作者，并且是知识产权管理领域的国际知名演讲者。
马克·詹姆斯·汤普森（Mark James Thompson）是澳大利亚专利局（澳大利亚知识产权局）数据卓越中心的助理主任，也是推论性统计咨询公司ArêtéStatistics AG的首席执行官。他曾是奥地利专利局的首席经济学家，并在瑞士专利局工作了多年，担任专利改革立法的经济学家。
他专门从事统计学和计量经济学专利估价和竞争方面的博士学位，并利用该知识来进行多空股票交易。
1.2 Capturing Value by Protecting InnovationPatents Leverage Competitive AdvantageNumerous studies have found a positive influence of patentprotection on the company’s success (see Fig.1.3). This has shown that patent protection and thus patent management are of great importancefor the company’s success, with the quality of patents and patent portfoliosin particular being decisive for success (Gassmannand Bader 2017).Thus, a company’s patents and frequently cited patents havea positive influence on its market value (Deng et al. 1999). Patents with abroad technological patent claimalso increase company valuation (Lerner 1994). Companies withsystematic patenting behaviorhave proven more successful than companies with unsystematic patenting behavior (Ernst 1996), with significant salesincreases based on this showingafter a delay of 2–3 years (Ernst 2001). The probabilityof commercialization in the form of business start-ups or licensing agreementsincreases with the qualityof the underlying patents. The quality can be determined on the basis of thebreadth of claims and the citation frequency (Shane 2001).Amongst patents, the following trends are discernible:· The number of patents continues to increase.· The quality of patents is likely decreasingover time (Squicciarini et al. 2013), due topatent office backlogs under ever larger patentdocuments, and a relative erosion of fees in real terms (Thompson 2017).· Individual patents are attainingastronomical values, e.g., RIM for BlackBerry and NTP at USD 612.5 m.· Individual regions, like China, stillexhibit specific characteristics (Zeschky et al. 2014).· Patents are becoming increasingly likecommodities through pricing.The goal of patent management is to contribute to the company’s success by optimizing not only the simple number of patents butalso their quality and effectiveness—and to attain the strongest possible patent position.There are many ways by which to influence the success of a company with patents. Patents can have thefollowing effects on companies:· Securing market revenues for the invention: In practice, patent applications are often derived frominventions that arise as a “by-product” from in-house development. In this context,the desired legal protection through patents often concentrates primarily onsecuring market revenues: its own products are protected againstcounterfeiting, as in the example of Aventis, whose patents are often valid inmore than a hundred countries. The fields of activity of competitors then play a secondary role in theinvention generation phase.Nevertheless, companies are generally interested inachieving the broadest possible scope of protection for inventions in order tomake it more difficultfor competitors to circumvent them.· Access trade goods to technologies: A company can also gain access to technology patent pools byowning patents that are relevant to them. This is playing an increasinglyimportant role in cross-licensing negotiations and technical standardizationprocedures. In the late 1980s, Siemens cleverly used its own patent portfolioto make the leap ahead at a relatively late stage to the already establishedGSM standard, which was protected by numerous patents.· Comparative competitive advantages by blocking competitive technology: From a policy perspectiveeconomically questionable, but often sensible from a business perspective,intellectual property rights filedwith the intent purely to block others. The Rheintal-based company Leica Geosystems, today part of the Hexagon Group, is active in the field of geomatics in about 25 fields of technology (e.g., laser distancemeasurement, GPS surveying, and microsystems). The international competitiveenvironment is also active on a similar scale. Leica Geosystems must,therefore, monitor and analyze more and more carefully so that its own productsare not blocked by the intellectual property rights of competitors havingperhaps only a very small market share, thus hindering its own furthertechnological development.· Direct revenue from external technology commercialization: In this context, own research shows thatthe thrust of legal protection strategies is directed not only at protectingintellectual property against counterfeiting but also at generating licensingrevenue through external marketing. Schindler has applied for over 20 patents during its development of an aramidrope for elevators. The total pre-development project costs of several millionSwiss francs have already been refinanced through the granting of licenses and the sale of patents in non-elevator areas.Today, one in two companies already markets intellectual property rights externally.Pioneer IBM generates over $1 billion in annual licensing revenue.· Image enhancement and marketing of innovation: Patents are often also used for marketing purposes. This isespecially the case in the Swiss watch industry, where technology and marketingrepresent the core of the product appeal. In the mechanical engineeringindustry, for example, patents are also used to emphasize the innovativeness ofproducts or that of the company. The textile fiber manufacturer Gore pursuesa consistent brand and patent policy in order to retain customers.Strategic Management of PatentsThe generation, evaluation, and commercial exploitation of patentsare part of strategic technology and innovation management. In recent yearsthere has been a strong, so far unbroken trend toward open innovation processesand external technology commercialization. Open innovation has meanwhiledeveloped into an established business model, which is actively used not onlyby multinational corporations but also by SMEs (Gassmann et al. 2020).The generation of a company’s own patent portfolio can take place internally through its ownpatent applications. In addition, a company can also obtain external industrialproperty rights or the corresponding rights through purchase or in-licensing.Joint ventures and cooperation in which internal and external generation mergeare a special case.An essential part of patent management is the evaluation ofpatents and patent portfolios. Already in the generation phase, an evaluationprovides the basis for necessary decision-making. The question is whether apatent should be filed foran invention, or whether the renewal fees for an existing patent shouldcontinue to be paid, or whether the license should be priced for an externalpatent portfolio. Due to their information function, evaluation methods canalso be used for the early detection of technology in order to pursuecompetitive activities.The company’s ownpatent portfolio can be exploited internally by directly supporting the company’s primary business, i.e., products, technologies, and processes.On the other hand, external exploitation aims at generating value through secondparties’ capacities rather through an own businessmodel, since an additional financialvalue creation arises. These include the sale and out-licensing of intellectualproperty; in the USA, tax benefits caneven be claimed (donation) by donating patents and other property rights to nonprofit organizations such as universities, anotherexample would be IBM’s donations to the open-source community. In addition,patents are often used by companies as trading goods to “buy” theirway into comparable or other technologies. When designing technology standards,it is often even necessary for companies to contribute their own relevantintellectual property (IP), such as trademarks or patents, in order to be ableto participate in the standard without license payments.Creation of Competitive Advantages With the help of patent management, competitive advantages are aimedto be attained by optimizing the patent portfolio. The way in which companiescan systematize and implement patent management can be analyzed using five categories, namely: strategy, processes,methods, structure, and culture.Does a company’smanagement and do its employees use intellectual property as protection, or, togain access to new business domains? Are actual property rights strategiessystematically combined with patent and trademark protection? Are alternativeways of securing freedom to operate being examined under cost–benefit considerations?Are patents actively commercialized externally? Is there an intellectualproperty strategy that is closely linked to the business and innovationstrategy?Does a company rely on only a few singletons or is it able to useits full network for patent management? Does a systematic idea and knowledgemanagement take place, which is joined with the patent management? Are thereclear milestones for drafting invention announcements? Do inventors andengineers systematically coordinate with patent attorneys? What otherinterfaces exist, for example to the marketing department, and are these keptup?Are systematic methods used to generate patents? According towhich evaluation criteria are patents selected? How is the value of patentsdetermined? Which software is used to manage patents? Which portfoliotechnology is used to evaluate patents?Are patent applications handled by a separate patent department oroutsourced to external patent attorneys? Where is the patent departmentorganizationally located? Is the organization of the patent management systemstructured top-down or bottomup? Does the broad organization have access torelevant information regarding patents? Is the creative potential used in thecompany?How are routine processes and change processes handled? Whatdegree of willingness to share knowledge early and to file strategic patents is there? What is the interaction between theinventor and the patent department? How much does the company valueintellectual property?Capture of Competitive Advantages The realization and utilization of competitive advantages aresubject to numerous business conditions specific to the respective companies. In this context, the followingcharacteristics of patent management must be taken into account.In which industry does the company operate? How fast is the rateof change in the industry in question? Is temporary monopolization throughintellectual property rights feasible or is there a high degree ofstandardization? How mature is the industry? What are the barriers to entry inthis industry? What is the competitive structure of this industry (duopolistic,oligopolistic, polypolistic) and what are the power and market share ratios?Is the company a global corporation or a small or medium-sizedcompany with a strong niche focus? What resources are available within thecompany? What is the degree of complexity? Can a patent also be defended in adispute if the legal costs, as in the USA, have to be borne by the patentholder?The type of products affected plays an important role, especiallythe question in which stages of the value chain the company is active. Is theproduct highly diversifiable? Which technological alternatives exist? How attractive is the product at themoment (fashion, trend products)?Depending on the maturity of a technology, a product, or aservice, the so-called first-moveror second-mover advantages are decisive when it comes to taking advantage ofemerging trends. How many basic technologies are already protected by patentrights held by competitors? Does the company have technological core competenciesin the potential area?The scope within which the company and its competitors operate orintend to operate is crucial for the necessary preventive and relevant measuresto be taken. Is there a market, and if yes, is it perhaps a key market? Do thecompetitors have production capacities in the respective country? How strong isthe enforcement of patent law, for example in China?
Aligning with Products, Technologies, Services, and Business ModelsWithout aligning the intellectual property generated to realproducts, technologies, services, and business models that create direct valuefor a company, the best patent portfolio is a toothless tiger. In other words,the competitive advantages created by patent management must also be used bythe company.This is only possible if the patent strategy is consistentlyaligned with the corporate strategy and actively supports it. In innovativecompanies, intellectual property must be consistently integrated into R&Dand marketing strategies. Gore demonstratesthis particularly well, as IP is the company’s core value driver. A portfolio of lucky hits may be successfulin individual cases; however, this is usually cost-intensive and lesseffective. The patent strategy must be aligned with the strategic directionsand existing core competencies of the company. Especially R&D-intensivecompanies typically achieve major competitive advantages via patents.
