Advanced Patent Analysis: Is It Needed?
To answer the question above in short: yes. This month we speak to Ed White, Director of Patent Analytics at Derwent, who expands on how advanced patent analysis has changed the commercial sector and how innovators and companies can use such analytics to get ahead of the game.
What is advanced patent analysis?
By using patent data as their primary source, advanced patent analysis (APA) allows Ed and his team to answer technical and competitive intelligence questions for his customers. This curated data and patent research allow those who are curious to know what their competitors are doing, in order to stay ahead of the game, and what direction their own business should be heading in.
From patentability searches to analysing and sifting through thousands of patents and their related documents, the masses of data collected must be simplified in order for it to actually present effective results.
Nowadays, data sources need to answer more questions which in turn provoke new questions; it is a lot closer to real world commerce and real-world technological direction in the IP patent world.
How has patent analytics changed?
“I have witnessed changes over the past 15 years”, Ed tells us. “One of the biggest changes is that patent analysis has moved from simply counting the number of patents filed per year, into much more advanced metrics that lean on some of the complexity that exists within the international patent filing system.”
Take virtual reality (VR) as an example here. Previously you may have noticed ‘Google has filed 25 patents in VR’ which was useful information 15 years ago, but today, the questions that will remain are: ‘So what? Does it matter? Is it good?’, but we wouldn’t know what the answers to those questions are. Now, we are able to dig a little deeper and unveil that Google, for example, has filed 25 patents in VR, 15 of them were filed in the US in optics and software, two of them were filed in seven different countries and are getting cited three times a year, each of those being military VR headsets. Now you have suddenly worked out more about VR and Google using a public data source.
Nowadays, data sources need to answer more questions which in turn provoke new questions; it is a lot closer to real world commerce and real-world technological direction in the IP patent world.
Any analysis is about distillation and by using google, you do not get simplicity, you get complexity
Why not just ‘Google it’?
The first thing that may prop up in your head is that trusty Google may be able to guide you and your business in the same direction. After all, we all have been victim to Googling almost anything and everything. But why is Google not enough here?
In order to get the correct guidance and answers to questions about your business’ innovation, you need to get your hands on the data itself. As Ed told us: “Just looking at a few patents on google does not go far enough when it comes to patent analysis, especially when the average number of documents we look typically at is at least a few thousand patents. We have even answered questions looking at a few million records.
“We need access to the data as we want to curate it, model it, structure it and manipulate it into data structures in terms of answering questions about it. We also want to present it very clear to the customer. Any analysis is about distillation and by using google, you do not get simplicity, you get complexity.”
How long does an advanced patent analysis take and how valuable are the results?
The search itself takes around four to eight hours; more complex searches may take a few days. It would take two to three weeks to analyse and pick valuable insights from the search that will help your business on its next venture. The information produced is pretty valuable, as it can help you determine whether your next investment move is as clever as you think.
Expanding on our previous example using VR:
“Let’s pretend a cutting edge company wants to know more about VR, so if they ask us what is happening in the industry. The data we collect will present where the patents are being registered in the world and will allow us to determine all the different ways the industry is developing. Perhaps it is the optics, the software, the uses of VR (for gaming or military purposes), or the way the headset is structured and attaches to our head. If we can pinpoint what is changing, our clients will then be able to figure out what area of VR is worth honing in on.”
The analysis will allow you to determine where new M&A investments are coming from so you can your foot in the door earlier than your competitors.
Different investment insights advanced patent analysis may present:
If you are setting your IP budget as your investment decision and are thinking to invest in filing new patents in 2020 or wish to maintain your current patent portfolio, why should you use patent analytics? The question to ask yourself here is: Are you getting bang for your buck? Do you know where potential disruptions lie and what possible market disruptions could occur that may impact your product or new invention?
“R&D investment is probably the primary use of patent analysis today; if you are investing millions of dollars into a new research programme, you really want to have a lot of information on the directionality of that space and know exactly who you are going to be competing with, where the gaps are in that technical space so you can carve out a complete niche in terms of where your research will take you”, explains Ed.
Then there is a level above that which is much more strategic, where you are looking at it from a competitive angle and from a big macro trend. The analysis will allow you to determine where new M&A investments are coming from so you can your foot in the door earlier than your competitors. “Having a list of candidates you may want to buy out, or maybe you wish to get your product on the market faster than others and have the space to merge or partner with another company – this data will allow you to make decisions from a competitive angle.”
Another growing challenge is that that volumetric trend is being driven primarily by high growth in patent output from Asian countries meaning that the respective documents are not in English.
What are the challenges involved when analysing patent data?
“Logistically, patent research is getting more complicated to perform”, explains Ed. “This is due to a variety of reasons.”
One of the reasons, he expands, is due to the volume of patents being filed every single year is increasing. “That means we need to evolve better methodology with dealing with bigger data sets.”
Another growing challenge is that that volumetric trend is being driven primarily by high growth in patent output from Asian countries meaning that the respective documents are not in English. “This is another reason to why searching in google is insufficient, as you will be ignoring everything occurring in Asia”, shares Ed.
Another challenge is due to a variety of industries and technologies fusing together, you now need different skill sets and different backgrounds. A lot of patent output is now also coming from smaller players, which also creates another new challenge. Ed states: “We are witnessing how patent activity around the world is fragmenting into more pieces; more players across different corporations and institutions are getting involved, which causes an issue because you don’t know where to look. You now have to look everywhere in order to understand what is going on.”
Ed White
Director of Patent Analytics
Derwent
Clarivate Analytics is a global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate the pace of innovation. Our vision is to improve the way the world creates, protects and advances innovation.
Derwent™, a Clarivate Analytics company, powers the innovation lifecycle from idea to commercialization – with trusted patent data, applications and services including Derwent Innovation™, Derwent World Patents Index™, Derwent Patents Citation Index™ and Derwent Data Analyzer™. We build solutions for inventors, patent attorneys and licensing specialists at start-ups and the largest global innovators, legal professionals at the leading intellectual property practices, and patent examiners at more than 40 patent offices. Our solutions are used to monitor technology trends and competitive landscapes, inform FTO opinions, prosecute patents, monetize and license assets and support litigation activities.
50+ years ago we created the patent research industry and are still the leaders today.
