1. Competing Patent Applicants’ Business
Relevant Data Representation
Nissrine El Marchoum

2. Outline
 Background
 Patent Application & Evaluation
 Business-Relevant Competing Applicant Data
 Stakeholders
 Data Sources
 Relevant Data
 Country of Applicants
 Commercial Potential
 Monopoly Power
 Patent Portfolio
 Competitor Monitoring
 Competing Applicants’ Data Representation
 Back Office
 Data Search Representation
 Data Representation
 Conclusion

3. Background: Definitions
 A Patent: the right granted to an inventor -for a specific period
of time- that forbids any other party from making, using or
selling his invention without his permission (EPO).
 A patent is a negative right
 Patent Applicant: entity who requests the ownership of a patent
via a written request.

4. Background: Motivation & Assumptions
 Motivation
 Provide visual aids and decision making basis to decision
makers
 Assumptions
 Difference between European patent system and that of other
countries rather trivial.
 Stakeholders are mainly investors
 Discard patent examiners perspective (matter of scope)

5. Patent Application & Evaluation
 Applicants fill patent application documents and provide
endorsing documents
 Application evaluation takes place
 By Patent Examiners
 Final Decision communicated to the patent applicant
 Grant, Rejection or suspension

6. Stakeholders of Patent Applicant Information
 Patent Examiners are rather interested in the intellectual
property aspect of the patent
 Business stakeholders:
 Firms interested in investing in new technologies/markets
 Contribution to background checks on potential partners
 Track competition

7. Patent Applicants’ Data Sources
 Not easy.
 Patent Databases hold limited information about patent
applicants (e.g. name, address, date… etc.)
 Use them as a starting point for research
 Large Firm Listing Databases (eg. IBISWorld)
 Interesting business information.
 No direct mapping to the applicants
 Best Practice:
 Investigate patent business-relevant information
 Combine results with data about patent applicants from external data
sources

8. Business-Relevant Data About Applicants
1. Country of Applicants
2. Commercial Potential
3. Monopoly Power
4. Patent Portfolio
5. Competitor Monitoring

9. 1. Country of Applicant
 Use country of competing patent applicants to compare
patent systems for a cost-benefit analysis
 Patent fees
 Flow of returns
Is it economically viable to invest in the patents the applicants are
holding (or apply for)?

10. 2. Commercial Potential
 Potential: ability or intent to commercialize the subject of
the patents at hand
 How profitable is the commercialization of the invention/idea?
 Applicants holding a patent for fairly long can be a proof
of its commercial value

11. 3. Monopoly Power
 Does the fact that competing applicants hold some patents
imply that these applicants own the exclusive right to
monopolize the concerned inventions?
 Frequency of Patent Renewal
 Owning a patent and frequently renewing it tells a lot about the
patentee.

12. 4. Patent Portfolio
 Approach revolves around what patent applicants & what
they intend to do with it.
 Patent Portfolio Diversification
 Many patents of poor value vs. few patents of high value
 Patents in dead fields vs. patents in promising fields
 Therefore, stakeholders can infer:
 Diversification Strategies
 Investment interests
 Competitive Potential

13. 5. Competitor Monitoring
 Strategic Management
 Track the competing applicants’ pool of patents and react
accordingly
 Holger Ernst (2003), Beisheim Graduate School:
 Use of indicators for monitoring competitors by assessing
their patenting strategy
 By extension define the key aspects and motivations
that drive their investment decisions.

14. Important Patenting Indicators for Competitor
Monitoring
Patent information for strategic technology management, Ernst, H. 2003

15. Data Representation: A concept
 Back Office
 Cloud Computing Technology
 Consider Cost
 Use Data Mining Algorithms

16. Data Search & Representation Process
Filter Search
Display
Results

17. Data Search & Display Process Explained
 Selecting the search filter
 By Patent Applicant’s Name
 By Country
 By Field of Business
 By Inventors
 Perform Search Algorithms
 Build a Model
 Clustering, classification, data analytics algorithms…

18. Data Search & Display Process Explained
 Display of Results

19. Conclusion
 Gathering relevant data from a business perspective is not
a trivial task
 Requires analysis & business background
 Already existing DBs do not explicitly hand in the information
 Future Work Suggestions
 Data Repositories holding patent applicants data

20. References
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overview and analysis. Research Policy.
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 Ernst, H. (2003). Patent information for strategic technology management. World Patent Information,
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Patent Office. (2012). Glossary. Retrieved June 10, 2013, from: http://www.epo.org/service-
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 Webster, E., & H.Jensen, P. (2011). Do Patents Matter For Commercialization?. Journal of Law And
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21. Thank You 