Learn in the textbookManagement of Technology (MOT), Intellectual Property Strategy, and the Two Basic Types of Innovation
DefinitionPatent strategy (特許戦略) turns a company's inventions into rights as patents and uses them both defensively, to block imitation, and offensively, by licensing their use, to gain a business advantage.
ExplanationFor example, cross-licensing (クロスライセンス), in which patent-holding companies let each other use their patents, is a way to bring in technology a company lacks. A patent portfolio (特許ポートフォリオ), which groups the patents held or pending and analyzes how they relate to the business, also feeds into patent strategy. Analyzing IP information together with business and management information and reflecting it in strategy is called IP landscaping (IPランドスケープ).
AnalogyIt is like building a fence around an invention to keep people out, while opening the gate for a toll or letting the neighbors cross each other's land.
Memory hookThe word patent comes from a root meaning "open." In return for disclosing an invention to the public, the holder gets exclusive rights for a set period.