Before you will apply for a patent, you will need to think about the way of your return on investment. When the application has been filed, then a lot of time is required for further development of the product and executing the decisions that have been made. Working on the furhter product design is as important as selecting the right choices about intellectual property protection. On the moment of filing a patent both design concepts and models as well as a business model for the product should be ready, with further choices, steps in time, required investments and expected earnings.
Monitoring
Important is also monitoring what happens with existing patents in your company. A patent itself does not do anything, the products needs to be developed to a success. That has not only to do with design, engineering and prototyping. The starting point of all further development will always be: what decision will make most profit? In order to answer that question it should be clear what earnings can be made by bringing the product to the market. There are several ways to determine the value of a product. A combination of cost based calculations, possible income from own exploitation of the product and market value give the best basis for a good investment decision.
IP management
In order to make such decisions, strategy on intellectual property (IP) and product design is important. IP should be managed like any other business activity or investment decision. Tasks and responsibilities should be clear and the company management should be involved in the IP strategy and support.
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