For startups, innovation is more than a buzzword; it is the lifeline towards success. However, in a world of hyper-competition where millions of patents are filed every year, a great idea is not enough. A great idea is only good if it is enforceable and marketable. A patent landscape search is a startup’s secret weapon before any product or other technology is introduced.
What Is a Patent Landscape Search?
A patent landscape search provides a view of the universe of innovation. Rather than looking at one invention while completing a patentability search, a landscape search provides a holistic view of all existing patents in a specific technology area or market segment. A patent landscape search demonstrates who is innovating, where they are innovating, and how that area of technology is changing. For start-ups, landscape search is extremely important intelligence which helps in identifying competitors, identifying areas where technology is lacking, and signaling legal risk. Simply put, the patent landscape search is where business strategy and legal insight meet.
Why Startups Cannot Afford to Skip It
- Avoiding Infringement Nightmares: Launching a product without knowing the relevant IP landscape is, at best, like sailing blind in a storm: It’s risky. At worst, you’re sailing into the storm. A clearance search will reveal patents that could block your company’s path to market, so startups can create modified product designs or look to licensing agreements before you face an infringement lawsuit.
- Better Focus for R&D: A well-prepared clearance search will expose a couple of “white spaces” all areas where few patents seem to exist. If the patent landscape seems open enough to advance, your company can narrow its R&D focus on the areas where it can be truly innovative, without being tasked with rebuilding research or efforts that have previously been developed by others.
- Impress Your Investors: Investors want to see a reasonably prudent theory or expectation that the IP (or innovation) is, and will remain, protected and defensible. Conducting a well-done patent search can create a record of levered diligence, and the more diligence you can show, means a reduced risk of a suit, which the investor perceives as less risk.
- Competitive Intelligence: Getting a landscape search is not just about avoiding a high-risk situation you now cannot address. Your team will understand who the IP’s major owners are, so you can market your path forward and patterned strategy versus your potential market competitors both locally and/or globally.
Conclusion
In the startup ecosystem, knowledge means power and in IP that means protection and opportunity. Patent Landscape Search is more than a technical tactic; it is a strategic anchor for both growth, proactive risk management, and potential market dominance. At Logicize IP, we assist startups in navigating the complex waters of patents with clinical, deep-dive landscape analyses. Our decades of expertise in problems arbiter, empowers innovators to then advance confidently. Our goal is to create a landscape that assists the budding entrepreneur and innovator to thrive – legally, strategically, and competitively.
