Challenges IP attorneys face while dealing with patent data and how external knowledge partners can help solve them

Over the years, patent data has been readily available for everyone to access. However, most decision-makers have no idea how to utilize and make sense of these bulks of information.

While it is possible to extract a bunch of data from various national and regional patent offices, it is hard to sift through thousands of documents and digest all information at once.  

So to help you deal with patent data, we have listed some of the challenges you might face and provided solutions to help you address it.

Different data structure for different patent offices

It is a lot harder for agents and attorneys to harmonize data and perform due-diligence because of the different data structures of each country’s patent offices. Although several government initiatives have already been implemented to overcome language barriers, it is still a complicating factor in the documentation and patent validity searches.

To overcome this issue, it is important to have a trusted team of IP analysts that are skilled in different languages and are familiar with the IP laws of the country. Having a trusted team of analysts is important because clients tend to file their patents in other countries as well.

Data management

Portfolio managers maintain the patent data and patent portfolio of the clients. Since there are no common standards for data preparation, it is not uncommon for data to get muddled up.

To prevent this problem, it is essential to have a knowledge management system that streamlines data entry and standardizes the process of obtaining information. By doing this, portfolio managers can effortlessly retrieve specific sets of data and can easily review the data performance.

Data visualization

Several studies have shown that visualization improves understanding. Data visualization is important to clients and portfolio managers. It helps portfolio managers easily identify patterns and trends, and it helps lawyers clearly present their findings to their clients.

However, with the increasing volume of patent data and the growing demands for portfolio managers, data visualization has become a challenge and an added responsibility for agents and lawyers.

Fortunately, there are several tools and software in the market that allows you to easily create visually-appealing reports without sacrificing the quality and content of the data.

Patent valuation

There are times when patent agents or IP attorneys must advise clients on how to extract value from their invention. But before advising them for the right patent monetization strategy, it is important to have an accurate picture of the patent landscape and understand how a certain patent portfolio fits the picture.

Given the huge amount of patent data readily available, it is difficult to determine the factors that are relevant to the patent value. In turn, agents and lawyers have a harder time coming up with viable roadmaps and strategic commercialization plans for their clients. 

To address this problem, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the inherent factors that usually affect a patent value. Portfolio managers can do this by simply observing several elements found in the patent data.

Data analysis

Choosing a more suitable type of data analysis for certain data sets can be a roadblock for patent agents and lawyers. These decision-makers mainly rely on data analysis and data performance. Hence, it makes perfect sense to constantly explore for better ways to use and interpret the valuable information found in the patent data.

Aside from the usual analysis related to patent filing that most agents and lawyers are quite familiar with, there are also several analytic techniques that will not only help your clients, but will also contribute to your business development efforts.

One of which is analyzing the emerging trends in the patent landscape. By doing this, agents and lawyers can have a better view of their competitors in the industry.

Understanding the different types of patent analytics enables you to come up with a more result-oriented and fail-proof approach to portfolio management. Patent analytics have become a crucial part of the patent landscape because it enables agents and lawyers to measure their success.

Importance of patent data

Patent data commonly contains information about the inventions such as the year it was invented, the inventors, a summary of the invention, country of origin, name of the agents, and so on. This type of resource helps agents and lawyers advise their clients on how to commercialize and patent their idea.

Understanding the information contained in the patent data helps facilitate the work of the portfolio managers. By doing so, agents and lawyers can assess a patient’s strengths and weaknesses and in turn, provide a more strategic approach to their clients.

Patent data has not only helped portfolio managers make informed decisions, but it has also helped inventors better navigate their way into the industry. Netscribes enables IP lawyers and portfolio managers to make sense of complex patent data so that they can offer strategic guidance to their clients. Contact us to learn more about our IP research and analytics solutions.