The generation of knowledge constitutes the capital of the intangible economy, which explains the great development experienced in one of the pillars on which this new economy is based: intellectual property. In that sense, the development of patents has been considered as a fundamental contribution to sustained growth since the beginning of intellectual property . Joseph Schumpeter, a renowned Austro-American economist, argued that changes and improvements in technology and innovation generate more dynamic impacts, which is why he called them factors or forces of economic evolution.

Accordingly, in a variety of rankings and methodologies to measure the competitiveness of a company, a region or a country, the number of patents is considered a factor to be taken into account and is related to the intensity of innovation. That is why, within innovation, the management of intellectual property is a key element that contributes to the success of the innovation process.

Furthermore, patents have historically been used as indicators to measure the degree of innovation. Today they are also considered as a valuable source of scientific-technological information for the competitive strategy of a company and/or institution.

In this sense, the way in which organizations can take advantage of the patent is not only as protection tools, but as a source of information is part of the philosophy - already commented on in previous articles - IP Thinking (™)

The patent with defensive / offensive tool of my technology

If we are talking about innovation, we are expressly referring to the market, and that is where patents are particularly important, since through this form of legal protection developed in the vast majority of countries, as well as their global management through World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Thus, it is during the innovation process that patents has an important role in achieving the sustainability of the innovation advantage (competitive advantage), by allowing a "quasi-legal monopoly" on the patented invention.

Patents, approached from the economic angle, are legal titles that allow claiming the value of "intellectual phenomenons”. In this sense, the patent system is presented as a tool aimed at improving the competitiveness of countries and as a measure of development of their economies. The current problem in Peru has at least two important causes: i) people do not have the necessary incentives, that is, they do not have the habit of researching, innovating or creating; and ii) even when you have the aforementioned, you may not have the tools or financial means to do it, which happens in most cases. And I would place greater emphasis on the latter, since as it is a system of intangibles and people cannot "see" it, they do not budget for it or consider that the "cost" associated with processing it does not justify it.

In this course, the idea of ​​patenting as an offensive route to competitors is not conceived if the defensive nature of the patent is not mapped as a value of competitiveness, which differs from other countries, where the culture of protection through of intellectual property tools, especially in patents, is more intensive; and it is there where protection strategies through patents are offensive and active in order to block or prevent the technologies of its competitors from reaching markets of interest to the company.

From Mertz, we try to suggest this point of perspective and in consequence we present IP strategies aligned with the core business of our clients. What is more, we have an unique non-legal in-house senior team to fully understand the technology to be protected, since if a technology has not been previously understood, it would not be viable proposing a protection strategy for it . Finally, this strategy analysis is accompanied by a legal team with extensive experience, as a result combining the experience of an entire multidisciplinary team.

The patent as a source of information for strategic decision

The patent analyzed from its "degree of use", that is, as a source of technological information, it could be considered as "certified knowledge" and constitutes an unlimited source of information by allowing access to new techniques adopted by the industry and representing indicators of the existence and transformation of technical capacities.

It is worth specifying that information on patents includes all the information that has been published in patent documents or that can be obtained by analyzing patent statistics, as mentioned by WIPO:

• technical information from the description and drawings of the invention;
• legal information from the patent claims defining its scope and legal status or validity in certain countries;
• commercial information obtained from the data corresponding to the inventor, the filing date, the country of origin, etc.;
• policy-relevant information that emanates from analysis of developments in patent filing and can be used by policymakers, for example, in national industrial policy strategies

How organize and/or obtain this information? This technological information is collected through "Technological Landscape", therefore, a specific report will be issued depending on the information i would like to obtain:

• If I am starting a new project and I would like to know the information related to sector in a specific technology, it is advisable to carry out a Technological Landscape report type "Prior Art"
• If I want to know if my invention would be protected by the patent system, it is advisable to make a Technological Landscape report "Inventive step and novelty Report"
• If I want to know to which potential countries I could internationalize my portfolio of patents/inventions, it is advisable to make a Technological Landscape report type "Report of Technology Market Interest "
• If I want to know if my final product or procedure -regardless of being patented- potentially infringes the intellectual property rights of third parties, it is highly recommended to carry out a Technological Landscape report such as a "Freedom to Operate Report".

As can be seen then, technological surveillance is a fundamental tool for efficient management of innovation, technology, new products/procedures that a company wishes to incorporate into the market.

This area has also been highly developed at MERTZ, having developed different products based on patent information and using technology landscape, such as freedom to operate reports, inventive step and novelty reports, and advising companies to implement Strategic Intelligence systems, which we make available to our readers and followers.

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If you want to know or go into more detail about it, you can contact the author of the note. Likewise, from Mertz Peru, with the experience of dozens of years of its partners, staff and consultants, on the use of various tools, we can implement or improve the management of innovation systems, having as a philosophy IP-Thinking and IP- Business.

Contact us at info@mertzperu.com to make a diagnosis.