Comercialización de patentes y manejo estratégico del portafolio de patentes

Josiah Hernandez

El proceso de patentizar puede ser clasificado en 3 fases:

ConcepciónIdea Radicación

SolicitudObtenerPatente

ExpiraPatente

Pre-radicación Post-radicación Post-patente

Comercialización de la patente

3

¿Porque Patentar?

• Proteccion de la propiedad intelectual • Licenciar la patente sirve como fuente de

ingresos– IBM– Texas Instrument

• Fuente de ingresos a consecuencia de litigaciones (por infringir patentes)

• Promueve y facilita el desarrollo de la economia

¿Por Qué las patentes son tan importantes?

• Incentivan a la investigación y desarrollo (R&D) • Justifica los altos costos de Investigación y desarrollo por medio de un monopolio temporero • Cuando se otorga una patente, se divulga los detalles de la invención. • Competidores pueden aprender sobre los que no pueden copiar y por lo tanto tienen la

opción de negociar una licencia con el dueño de la patente.• Aprendiendo sobre la inovación patentada puede fomentar la creación de otras

innovaciones, algunos que podran competir con el producto patentado y asi mejorar la competitividad.

• Why facilitate the buying and selling of patents? Because doing so made it economically feasible for ordinary worker or farmer inventors without the capital to commercialize their own discoveries to still participate in invention, earning income instead by licensing or selling their patents to enterprises that could.

• By 1865 the per capita patenting rate in the U.S. was triple that of Britain, and the vast majority of those citizen-inventors were what we now call “non-practicing entities,” or NPEs, who licensed their patents to others to commercialize into new products. Indeed, patent and legal records from the nineteenth century indicate that more than two-thirds of the 160 so-called “great inventors” of the Industrial Revolution, including Thomas Edison, were NPEs.

¿Por Qué las patentes son importantes?

• it can take an enormous amount of time and money to develop a new piece of information (like the chemical identity of an effective new drug, or the steps in a new process for hardening metal), but very little to use the new information once someone else has found it for us. This disparity between the cost of developing and the ease of using new information may deter people from making the big up-front investment in developing new information in the first place. To encourage such investments, we give people who come up with new useful inventions the right to exclude others from exploiting the invention, at least for a period of time; the right to exclude others helps an inventor recoup the costs of inventing, and perhaps earn a larger return (which fund more inventions).

Diferentes formas de comercializar patentes

• Licencias– In licensing– Out licensing

• Vendiendo patente• Donando patentes (deducible)• Patent pools y cobrando membresía por el derecho

de patentes dentro del portafolio• Litigación • Capital inicial para empresas incipientes “start-ups”

Licencia de propiedad intelectual

• Creando tecnología sin tener que crear nada físico

• IBM• Texas Instruments• Fuente seguro de ingreso• Se puede tener licencia con muchos entes

Licensing patents• A public research organization or SME may not be in a position to undertake the

direct exploitation of IP rights. Accordingly, assuming that the entity owns the intellectual property, in order to exploit the financial potential of an invention fully, it can consider finding an appropriate licensee for the IP. Licenses allow patent owners to share inventions or other intellectual property in a controlled manner and to receive revenue (e.g. royalties) or other benefits (e.g. access to another firm’s knowledge). A patent for example is licensed when the owner of the patent (the licensor) grants permission to one or more entities (the licensee(s)) to use the patented invention for mutually agreed purposes in a mutually agreed manner. In such cases, a licensing contract is generally signed between the two parties, specifying the terms and scope of the agreement. In some countries, intellectual property laws require licensing agreements to be registered with the national registry.

• Ownership of the IP remains with the licensor just as a landlord retains ownership when letting physical property. If a suitable licensee is found and the terms of the license agreement are properly drafted, such an arrangement can represent a secure source of income for the licensor while minimising costs and risk.

Types of licensing

• Exclusive license: a single licensee has the right to use the intellectual property, which cannot even be used by the owner. An exclusive license permits only the licensee and persons authorised by the licensee to exploit the invention.

• A sole license permits the licensee to work the intellectual property, prevents the grant of additional licenses, but allows the owner to also work the intellectual property.

• A non-exclusive license allows the owner to retain the right to exploit the licensed property as well as the right to grant additional licenses to third parties. Several licensees and the owner have the right to use the intellectual property.

Exclusive or non-exclusive licensing• The decision on whether to grant exclusive or nonexclusive licenses

hinges on the nature and maturity of the technology and on the licensor’s business strategy. If the technology can become a standard that is needed by all players in a specific market to perform their business, a non-exclusive, widely held license would be the most advantageous. If the technology needs one company to invest heavily to commercialize the product (e.g. a pharmaceutical product that requires investments in performing clinical trials), a potential licensee would not want to face competition from other licensees, and may rightly insist on obtaining an exclusive license. In addition to exclusive sole and non-exclusive licenses, it is also possible to combine some elements of these in a single licensing agreement, i.e. to grant some rights on an exclusive basis and others on a sole or non-exclusive basis.

Benefits to licensee

• Savings on R&D investment • Eliminates risks associated with in- house R&D • Reduces time to market • Ensures that products are leading edge • Adds new product lines to a portfolio • Strategic partnerships can be formed

Benefits to licensor

• Creates new revenue streams by realizing the full potential of the technology

• Expands customer awareness • Helps overcome the challenge of establishing the

technology in foreign countries and lowers costs and risks

• Provides savings on distribution and marketing expenses

• Provides a means of avoiding litigation • Strategic partnerships can be formed

Disadvantages to licensing• If an exclusive license is in place, the patent owner cannot grant licenses to other

parties and the patent owner cannot exploit the invention (unless the patent owner then obtains a license from the exclusive licensee): The drawback is that if the chosen licensee does not effectively promote or sell the invention, the patent owner cannot then do so, nor can the patent owner grant further licenses to others. Therefore, in negotiating an exclusive license, it is very important to be sure that the licensing agreement sets forth clearly the efforts that the licensee will have to expend, as well as minimum acceptable levels of sales and/or royalty payments to the patent owner

• In drafting a license agreement, one must take into account many conceivable events and influences that can affect the subject matter of the license so as to minimise future problems, costs and litigation. In drafting the license agreement, it is important that, as far as possible, all eventualities be anticipated and clearly defined, including both positive and negative changes over the course of the agreement’s term. For example, if the sales volume is either greater or less than anticipated, what options do the licensee and licensor have to react to the circumstances? In the event that the licensee becomes insolvent, does the license automatically terminate at the option of the licensor?

Disadvantage of licensing• The performance of a licensee (exclusive and non-exclusive) may be difficult to

monitor: Licenses (exclusive and non-exclusive) require constant attention and may be upstaged by other new developments. The performance of the licensee may be difficult to describe or monitor, but will need to be monitored by the licensor. It may be difficult for a licensor to satisfy a Court (if need be) that a licensee has not met a performance standard agreed to in the license.

• Ultimately a patent owner may end up negotiating with more than one party: A patent owner may have to negotiate license agreements with several parties, each of whom then has responsibility to exploit the patent owner’s invention.

• The up-front payment and royalty rate for a non-exclusive license is typically lower than for an exclusive license because others may also have the right to exploit the patented invention. For the same reason, the up-front payment for an exclusive license is usually lower than for an assignment.

• Non-exclusive licensees cannot start infringement proceedings (unlike patent owners and exclusive licensees): Therefore, in the case of a non-exclusive license where there is an infringing third party, the patent owner would normally be responsible for commencing an infringement action.

Vendiendo patentes

• When rights are assigned (other than partially), the recipient or assignee acquires ownership of all rights which previously belonged to the assignor, although the assignor may take a license back from the assignee

Advantages to selling patents• If a patent is sold for a lump sum, you get the value immediately, without having to wait up to 20 years to

realize that value progressively. You also avoid the risk that the patent may be invalidated in Court or superseded by another technology.

• In addition, assignment of the patent to a spin-off company may be a precondition for funding, if the patent does not belong to the company.

• The assignee assumes risk: After an outright sale of IP rights the assignor receives an immediate reward with no further risk or involvement or obligation to maintain the patent.

• The assignor only has to deal with a one-off transaction: The assignor will not have the burden of following up to make certain that proper royalty payments are made.

• The assignor does not have to monitor the assignee’s exploitation endeavours: The assignor will not have to determine whether or not the assignee is adequately exploiting the invention. In contrast, a licensor may be required to verify that a licensee is exploiting the invention in accordance with the license agreement.

• Circumstances may dictate assignment rather than licensing: Assignment rather than licensing may be appropriate if a patented product has been brought to market and it is doing very well but may have a relatively short remaining commercial life. Similarly, assignment may be appropriate if a customer wants a patented product to round out a line of its own products and portfolio of patents.

• Negotiations are typically simplified because they only involve two parties (whereas negotiations with several parties may be required in the case of non-exclusive licenses).

• The assignor may be able to negotiate a larger up-front fee for an outright sale as compared with the up-front fee for granting a license.

Disadvantages to selling patents• It is difficult to negotiate a sale amount: Since an assignment usually involves an outright sale of

intellectual property rights for a fixed amount of money, it can be difficult to negotiate the terms of the sale.

• Assignment does not provide an opportunity to partake in additional profits if the invention turns out to be more valuable then anticipated: Once the transfer of rights is complete, the assignor will not profit further if the invention turns out to be more valuable than anticipated. An assignor must be prepared to accept the fact that the purchaser of its patent may make a substantially higher return than the sum the assignor received for the sale.

• There is a risk that the assigned patent may never be properly exploited or may not be successful in the market place because the assignor will be unlikely to be given the opportunity to be involved in the commercialization process, but may possess knowledge critical for successful commercialization. If the assignor has an interest in subsequently using the invention, a solution can be to license back the IP rights from the assignee.

• Part assignment: The assignee must be aware that joint ownership holds many pitfalls. A joint owner, regardless of the size of its interest, has full use of the patent. The joint owner may use or sell the patented invention for its own profit without concern or consultation with any other owner[s]. It may also sell its interest to any other party – but only with the agreement of the other owner[s].

• If an assignment involves the sale of a business then government duties may apply to the sale. • Sale may affect existing license agreements and may have to include conditions guaranteeing

maintenance of existing license agreements.

Capital inicial para empresas incipientes

• Cuando la empresa no tiene ningun tipo de bienes ni activos y solo tiene activos intangibles

• Se puede valuar la empresa basado en sus activos intengibles

• Se puede usar patentes como colateral para poder pedir prestamos (debt financing)

Manejando el portafolio de patentes

• Es importante saber como manejar el portafolio ya que en muchos de los casos los portafolios consiten de miles de patentes y las patentes tienen un “maintanence fee” cada 3, 7 y 11 años

• El portafolio se puede usar para ver tendencias tecnologica e identificar oportunidades potenciales en el mercado a explotar

• Las empresas pueden maximizar su competitividad con el portafolio de patentes

• Entrar en otros mercados sin tener que invertir y crear logisticas en la creación de productos tangibles nuevos

Analisis de patentes para la competitividad de la empresa

• Patent mapping – identificar “white space” y areas de tecnologia pioneras, en desarrollo y saturadas y asi entender bien como dirigir el R&D

• EOU (evidence of use) analisis – identificar productos en el mercado relacionado con una innovación/patentes

• Evaluación de patentes en el portafolio – se considera las fortalezas: 1) legales, 2) tecnológicas y 3) comercial para ver si la patente se puede comercializar

Herramientas para el manejo del portafolio de patentes

• Indice de importancia “patent ranking” y vincularlo con diferentes areas de tecnología y departamentos de la empresa

• Auditar el portafolio – analizar patente por patente y organizar segun: fechas de expiración, valor estimado de patente, potencial para comercializar, segun la tecnología que le corresponde, entre otras cosas

• Identificar patentes vinculador directamente con un producto de la empresa

• Formar muro de patentes alrededor de las patentes claves vinculado directamente con un producto (fencing)

• Bloqueando (patent blocking) con patentes la tecnología de los competidores para que la competencia no pueda patentar mas innovaciones relacionada con la patente del competidor

• Dividir patentes en el portafolio dependiendo en si las patentes se usara con el fin de licenciar o crear un producto tangible