Patent Mapping
Current technological development necessitates conducting searches of patent information to avoid unnecessary investment as well as gaining the seeds for technological development and the applicable fields contained in the patent information. In order to accomplish this, visual representation of related patent information (hereinafter “Patent Map”) attracts the attention of the persons concerned. A patent map is produced by gathering related patent information of a target technology field, processing, and analyzing it.
In simple terms, patent landscape mapping (PLM) is a tool to analyze existing IP to determine the risks and opportunities of participating in a given technology and/or product space. It describes the technologies and alternative solutions that have been applied to a particular product category. PLM identifies competitors based on their issued and filed IP, and outlines their strategies, strengths and problem-solving approaches. PLM enables a company’s scientific and commercial management teams to identify the best opportunities for investment in a selected product area, to create a strategy to protect their IP, and to establish differentiation with respect to their competitors.
Also, in order to promote the use of patents, it is necessary for related institutions to deepen their understanding of patent information and strive to achieve efficient use of the information. The effectiveness of patent maps has also attracted attention with respect to this point as well. However, since experts are required for the gathering of patent information etc. and analyzing, it is not always easy for the production of patent maps to be carried out by venture companies, small and medium sized companies or universities and other research institutions on their own because they are unable to sufficiently invest human resources, economic resources and time.
The production of patent maps is conducted in the form of a joint project by experts on patent information analysis and specialists on each technology field. Twenty to thirty thousand patents are extracted for each technology field then analyzed using various methods in order to perform this work.
The overall image of a title technology field, relevant technology classification (categories), structures for related proliferating technology, comparisons between US and Japanese patents, structures of patent rights are introduced.
In simple terms, patent landscape mapping (PLM) is a tool to analyze existing IP to determine the risks and opportunities of participating in a given technology and/or product space. It describes the technologies and alternative solutions that have been applied to a particular product category. PLM identifies competitors based on their issued and filed IP, and outlines their strategies, strengths and problem-solving approaches. PLM enables a company’s scientific and commercial management teams to identify the best opportunities for investment in a selected product area, to create a strategy to protect their IP, and to establish differentiation with respect to their competitors.
Also, in order to promote the use of patents, it is necessary for related institutions to deepen their understanding of patent information and strive to achieve efficient use of the information. The effectiveness of patent maps has also attracted attention with respect to this point as well. However, since experts are required for the gathering of patent information etc. and analyzing, it is not always easy for the production of patent maps to be carried out by venture companies, small and medium sized companies or universities and other research institutions on their own because they are unable to sufficiently invest human resources, economic resources and time.
The production of patent maps is conducted in the form of a joint project by experts on patent information analysis and specialists on each technology field. Twenty to thirty thousand patents are extracted for each technology field then analyzed using various methods in order to perform this work.
The overall image of a title technology field, relevant technology classification (categories), structures for related proliferating technology, comparisons between US and Japanese patents, structures of patent rights are introduced.
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