Making the Most of Your Patents
Patents protect and reward inventors willing to invest in new technologies and disclose them to the public. They offer inventors an upper hand by giving them the legal right to prevent others from making, using or selling a device or process for a given period of time. Given their power to help protect intellectual property portfolios, patents are universally recognized as having economic value, adding to a company's total assets.
Patents can add value by serving as a lucrative source of revenue through licensing agreements. For Example, IBM increased its licensing revenue from $30 million in 1992 to more than $1 billion by 2000. Patent licensing can also serve as a means of resolving disputes between competitors. Cross-licensing agreements can often be mutually beneficial for competing companies by allowing them to take advantage of each other's respective innovations while simultaneously avoiding costly litigation.
In the October 6 issue of Machine Design, Senniger Powers partner Michael Godar and firm librarian Donna Fisher discuss these issues in detail. Godar and Fisher highlight the benefits of patents and their key importance in the successful management of intellectual property portfolios.