Process collaboration: a strategic approach to IP

Companies that spend heavily on research and development activities aim to maximize returns on investment through strategic commercialization of their intellectual property (IP). To achieve effective IP management, companies typically focus on distinct processes, such as innovation conception, portfolio maintenance, licensing and infringement searches. Such established operations are central to the consistent, structured and predictable management of a company’s business, especially as other factors (such as the skill level of available personnel) may vary over time.

Process-driven companies usually aim to maximize the objectivity and consistency with which they carry out operational processes. This helps to achieve uniformity and managerial clarity across departments.

It is particularly challenging to develop processes designed to establish and maintain a healthy cycle of innovation, especially in an environment of increasing market competition and continuous introduction of updated and new technologies. The IP innovation cycle can be broadly divided into three phases: value creation, value protection and value extraction, although these are not necessarily carried out in that sequence.

TS Sharat is a senior patent engineer and leads the intellectual property support services unit at Clairvolex Knowledge Processes, a Delhi-based legal outsourcing firm.