Patent Portfolio

Most companies have significant numbers of internally developed or acquired patents and Intellectual Property. As large corporations know, patents represent significant IP to an organization, and can also represent significant financial value to and organization, but only if they act on it.

Over the years, we have seen many organizations that have rooms filled with patents, but they do not enforce or use them after they are issued or acquired. In our experience, a healthy patent portfolio could have significant financial value for any organization. The key to maximizing your patent portfolio is understanding what it contains.

Case Study- The Secure Anchor team, led by Dr. Cole, had an international telecommunications client that possessed a significant number of patents that they had acquired over the years. We were asked to come in and complete an open source analysis of their patent portfolio. In this process, we thoroughly read all networking and cybersecurity related patents with special attention focused on the claims. Once we had the top patents ranked from most commercially viable to least commercially viable, our client looked at top three we had identified. Using those top three patents, we next put together list of companies that could have potentially infringed upon the technology during the enforceable life of the patent. This was done through research using open source materials. Taking this publicly available information, we then created claim construction charts to visually show how those products infringed on the client’s patents. Our client took the information we provided and determined their best course forward through either licensing, selling the patents in question, or litigation.

Through our process, we determined viable technologies, and based on our expertise, identified which patents companies could potentially be infringing upon in the marketplace. This information can be used for licensing, selling, or even potential litigation with companies that are infringing.

Patent portfolio evaluation requires a unique skill set, and is not something one without significant industry experience could handle. Only someone who has worked in large companies and understands how they work, understands the value of patents, and understands the power of these technologies can provide meaningful patent portfolio evaluation.