Most businesses file for patents to protect their technologies. Just about every business – regardless of its size or industry – has some type of R&D (Research and Development) function. Every business is continually searching for the next product or service to take to market – a new product or service, or an enhancement to its current products or services – that will generate more sales and even greater profits, expand the customer base, and give the company a competitive advantage.
Regardless where the process resides or what it is called, the process is pretty much the same. Starting with the products and services the company presently sells, employees look into the future to see how current products and services can be improved or enhanced, or what the technology will be for the next generation of products and services.
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Benefits of Re-Thinking Traditional R&D
R&D is critical to the long-term survival of any business, but it is expensive and time-consuming. New product concepts have to be tested. Prototypes have to be designed and engineered. A source of parts and components for the new product has to be identified. Packaging, pricing, and promotion is needed to take the new product to market. In fact, traditional R&D is so time-consuming that it is not uncommon today – with the considerably shortened life cycle of most products – to have a new product come to market only to find that it is obsolete!
The company’s new technologies have to be patented. That means engaging a patent attorney and filing for patents. And since it currently takes on average about 30 months to receive a patent – from the date the patent application is filed to the date a patent is granted – it is not uncommon for invention to be obsolete by the time a patent covering that invention is finally granted!
Is It Alternative of Traditional Business?
There is, however, an alternative to the traditional in-house, home-grown, labor-intensive, and time-consuming process of developing and patenting new products and services: Acquire new technologies that have already been invented and patented!
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted 399,055 2020 last year. While most of the patents that are granted each year are to businesses and universities, a substantial share of the patents granted each year are granted to individual inventors. These inventors do not have the means to commercialize their inventions covered by these patents, so they are available for acquisition– often on very favorable terms – by a business that can commercialize them and take new products and services to market based on the inventions covered by these patents. Forget about the 30 months it takes to apply for a secure a patent. These are all granted patents that can be immediately used to launch new products or introduce enhancements to current products!
Final Words
IPOfferings will conduct a free search of the current patent database to identify patents. Active patent applications that could be a good fit for a business. We just need a thorough understanding of your current technology and where you plan to go with future product offerings.
IPOfferings is one of the largest patent brokers, and it lists patents for sale that is represents at its website.
In addition to being a patent broker, IPOfferings also offers patent valuation, IP consulting, and patent enforcement services.