2.9 million patents were filed in 2015, of which 1 million in China. An increasing number of companies that file patent applications wish to sell them or license them in order to finance their R&D. The market is imbalanced with a lot more sellers than buyers of technology, high transaction costs, and a “Not Invented Here” syndrome that does not encourage companies to analyse and acquire solutions developed elsewhere.
In spite of that, what can you do when you want to sell your technology to set yourself apart from the competition and to make your patent interesting to potential buyers? Christophe Saam gave a talk on this subject during the deuxièmes journées stratégie PI et Innovation au Miles Davis Hall à Montreux, (second IP and Innovation Days at the Miles Davis hall, Montreux) organized jointly by the Centredoc and the l’IEEPI. He shows that efforts have to be made right from the preparation stage of the patent application, by writing a text that is aimed not only at the examiner but also at a potential buyer. This can reduce the asymmetry of information between a seller who already knows his technology and a buyer who has to make a special effort. It is also essential to segment the patents depending on the buyers and the targeted markets and to think carefully about the countries covered by the patent.
The Powerpoint presentation is available under Creative Commons license (in French) : ieepi-2016-2
