What are the Different Ways to Reduce Patent Protection Expenses?

In India, Patent rights provide statutory protection to innovation and help in incentivising the attempts that lead to innovation. That’s why Patent protection is vital for product-centric industries. But, maintaining and protecting Patents can occupy a considerable portion of working capital. As companies or businesses cannot miss this essential Patent Registration Process, to reduce Patent protection expenses is a smart choice.

However, this Covid-19 pandemic has severely impacted the availability of resources of discretionary expenditures such as Patents. It’s no surprise that many entities are proactively looking to conserve cash by cropping their Patent portfolio. Scroll down to check different ways to reduce Patent protection expenses.

What is a Patent?

Before we discuss different ways to reduce Patent protection expenses, let’s first understand the meaning of a Patent. A Patent can be specified as an exclusive statutory right provided to creators & inventors to protect their Intellectual Assets in different technical domains. Without the protection of Patent granted by Patent rights, a product or service can be commercialised, used or distributed by competitors without the due authorisation of the Patent owner. This can acquire significant losses for Patent owners.

Different Ways to Reduce Patent Protection Expenses

Following are the different ways to reduce Patent protection expenses:

• Examine the Present Competition: This is the best way to reduce Patent Protection expenses. Since Patents hold economic value for businesses or companies, the present Patents of competitors should be examined. This is because when the product is delivered to the market, businesses or companies can be assured that it will not violate the competitors’ Patent rights.

For this, the present products of competitors within a similar technological domain need to be examined. This way, the Research and Development team can learn to twist their innovations or creations to avoid costly IP Litigation from such opponents. The examination should be done with respect to an extensive jurisdiction for minimising the risks of needless Patent protection expenses. The supervising process reduces the cost of Patent services such as prior art searches and landscape reports while innovating or advancing new technological innovations for Patents.

• Outsourcing: It is the task of Patent protection to experts who focus and excel in various domains is an essential step to reduce Patent protection expenses. It also enables organisations or companies to focus on their core competencies, save time and develop the tremendous experience of an external consulting service provider. Besides that, there are various other benefits of outsourcing Patent services that can aid companies to reduce Patent protection expenses in their companies.
• Patentability Search Before Filing a Patent: It is important to conduct a patentability search to find out whether creation or innovation is unique or not, and it is an essential step in the process of Patent Registration. Patentability search also plays an essential role in reducing Patent protection expenses, as it reduces the chance of application rejection at the stage of examination during Patent Prosecution, and this can be done by drafting the Patent application on the basis of the result of a patentability search.

Moreover, this search also aids in understanding the invention’s fate before commencing the inspection or prosecution stage. If one is aware of the present prior arts available in the domain, then based on that judgment, one can decide whether to go ahead with IP protection or not.

• Know the Types of Patent Protection: To file for a Patent, either design or utility, one has to know which category the innovation comes under. Having pre-requisite information on Patent protection can reduce these related expenses.

Knowing whether innovation or creation comes under the utility or design patent enables businesses to seek the correct type of protection. Not doing so can outcome in huge economic losses because the invention may not receive enough protection it needs to be commercialised.

• Select Jurisdictions Sensibly: Companies are highly competitive and always looking for different methods to surpass their opponents. Without any doubt, protection of Patents in the same market areas is one of the ways to do so. Businesses should recognise feasible jurisdictions for getting Patents and leave out the ones where they and their opponents have no economic interests. This can primarily help to reduce Patent protection expenses.
• Cropping the IP Portfolio: This helps to identify the Patents that hold maximum financial value. Companies that have an immense IP portfolio need to recognise Patents that hold no economic value. They may have numerous disused Patents which no longer require renewal and maintenance. Such Intellectual Properties^[1], which are either from an outdated technological domain or have become inappropriate in the present market trends, shouldn’t be renewed more to reduce Patent protection expenses. Once recognised, it is better to let them go to minimise protection costs. This helps organisations or companies to save high renewal fees.
• Search Licensing & Cross-Licensing Chances: Apart from filing for Patents, companies should always look for licensing & cross-licensing chances in appearing and new markets. This step permits them to lessen expenses in more Research & Development in fields where Patents already exist. In such an instance, it is more beneficial economically to get their license.

Conclusion

While safeguarding inventions or innovation via Patents is essential, it is wiser to lessen the cost linked with it wherever feasible. By reducing such expenditures, companies can turn away their capital and resource towards their core functions. It is beneficial for them in achieving their shot-terms and long-terms objectives and successfully accomplishing them.

Read our article:What are the Common Mistakes People Commit During Patent Licensing and Selling?