Season 1, Episode 1: What Does it Mean to Win with Patents and IP?

02/18/20 • 25 min

In Episode 1 of Season 1 of Winning with Patents and (IP), we set out a new framework for the process of generating patents and other forms of intellectual property that are aligned with the desired business outcomes of your company. By "flipping the script" to put the focus on why your business needs IP prior to moving forward with the IP generation process, it is much more likely that any patents that you obtain will actually matter. Notably, it is likely that 5% or fewer of patents actually encompass strategically relevant protection; it follows that there is a whole lot of room for improvement. This episode is intended to help listeners gain awareness--perhaps for the first time--that patents and intellectual property are issues that must be managed first as a business issue, and only when the business relevance is determined, does it make sense for an entrepreneur or innovator to spend the money with an IP professional.

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Season 1, Episode 2: An Example of a Patent "Win": P&G's Successful Protection Strategy for the Swiffer Wet Jet System

For people who have focused patent protection on "an invention" (and this is just about everyone), framing of coverage in terms of the "customer solution" may seem like an abstract concept. Importantly, however, no problem is every new, it's just new to you. In this episode, listeners are shown how Procter & Gamble's successful patenting strategy effectively kept competition in its breakthrough (for that time) Swiffer Wet Jet(R) mopping system at bay for many years. This real-life and likely familiar example will help innovators, entrepreneurs, and business leaders who seek to do a better job in generating value from their patenting efforts by ensuring that they can obtain patent protection that does not merely protect the product that they are selling to their customers, but also the value that the customer is being provided.