A holistic view means that you understand the reason for and value of each patent that you obtain or acquire. Further, you can articulate how you will attain or extract value from your patents. The value extracted from your patents can be the exclusive right to sell your patented product, or it can be from licensing for royalty payments or cross-licensing to others as “bargaining chips.” In other words, just as you can articulate how you extract value from your other corporate assets (e.g., new products, facilities, etc.), you can explain how each of your patents affects your corporate bottom line.
When you stress organization, you set up clear roles and accountabilities for strategy, IP and R&D. When you are a top player in IP, these functions operate as a team, where each function regularly has input into the decisions of the others. Significantly, your IP specialists must be part of product development teams, R&D and other corporate teams critical to value creation.
Put another way, your IP specialists are not just patent lawyers; instead they are critical to your patent asset realization team.As a top player in IP you will apply these 3 concepts consistently at all levels of the organization, namely, the company or business unit, the product line and the invention. The result will be a rigorous, highly strategic approach to IP management.
Of course, these really are not really “3 Easy Steps”. Indeed, successful creation and deployment of a value creation-focused patent strategy will require your organization to be exceedingly disciplined and to expend significant effort over an extended period of time. But when you are a top player in IP, you won’t have to trumpet your success the world—the marketplace will do this for you.