Patent Monitoring

Strategic competitor monitoring and analysis

With more than 85 Million published IP rights nowadays not their acquisition but their selection has priority. Developers regularly have to inform themselves about the state of the art - a duty which, due to lack of time, is often only fulfilled on the side. The consequence: unwanted and costly patent disputes with third parties.
On the other hand, competitors could use your inventions which you already own patents for. In this case you should protect your investments and take the respective measures.
Avoiding double developments, using free inventions and by doing so saving time and costs is obviously a strategic goal in any company. Therefore you always have to know which inventions are used by your competitors. Before developments can begin, the state of the art needs to be inspected.
Naturally you know your competitors. But do you really know them all? Identical technologies are often used in different products. How good is the technology of your company in comparison to the competition? Which patent strategies are pursued by your competition? These and other questions can be answered with the tools of the Invention Navigator. Here are some examples.

Who are your competitors?

Researches with Invention Navigator Professional for key words and IPC classes will provide you with the IP rights of the applicants active in your field of technology.

You can analyze the bibliographic data of these patents with the help of the analysis and statistic module of the Invention Navigator Portable Premium. The tendency of development activities of your competitors will instantly become visible. You can find all applicants active in your field of technology. These could also include cooperation partners, licensors or new colleagues. With the help of automatic and manual applicant grouping you define the applicants you would like to keep an eye on in the future. With regular patent researches or patent monitoring / alerts you always stay informed which new applications were filed by the competition.

Which emphasis on research and development do your competitors have ?

The number of patent applications your competition is filing in a specific field of technology can give you an indication about the inventive activity of a company in this field and therefore serve as a strategy.

Carry out a name search with the help of applicant grouping and you will receive all patents the competitor has applied for. With large applicants these can then be allocated to technological segments. Based on the number of publications and taking into account the time frame you will receive a picture of rising, stagnating or declining numbers of applications in specific technology fields. Recognize the international filing strategy through analysis of countries applied to.

Predefined analyses in the Invention Navigator Portable Premium support your assessment. Receive convincing diagrams at the touch of a button. 

Patentmonitoring/Alerts

With Ad-Hoc researches you can grasp the current situation. In order to find future trends or specific IP rights critical for you, regular monitoring of the competitions’ activities (patent monitoring) is a crucial step. 

The Invention Navigator Portable Professional or Premium (for the patent professional) and the Invention Navigator Portable R&D in the Invention Navigator Knowledge Network offers a patent information system perfectly suited for patent monitoring.

In the Knowledge Network patent professionals create automatic monitoring profiles/alerts (with the Invention Navigator Professional or Premium). These alerts deliver automatically new patents in designated folders/segments of the Knowledge Network on a weekly basis. These results are regularly pre-selected by defined users (patent professionals, patent scouts) and distributed for review to R&D colleagues within the Knowledge Network. If you go without the pre-selection, then colleagues in R&D can directly access the folders with the included monitoring profile (alert).

Colleagues in R&D who assess the competition from a technical perspective use a software optimized for their needs - the Invention Navigator Portable R&D

Monitoring changes in the legal status of competitors‘ patents

Relevant or even critical applications of the competition were found during a search. These are important for the state of the art but do not pose a threat to your company, as they have not yet been granted. These applications have to be monitored regarding their application or grant in a country interesting for your market. This is done with the legal status and family monitoring. As user of a company specific Invention Navigator Knowledge Network these documents can be filed in active folders and you will be informed via email once a change in legal status as defined by you occurs.

As a user of the standalone version you can use the input pages on our homepage for monitoring changes in legal status and family.

Patents do not live forever. Often, they will be dropped or lose their validity for other reasons. Then the patent is free and you can use the inventions in your own products. Legal status and family monitoring will also inform you about this.