Beyond protecting innovations, patent landscaping analysis has become a powerful strategic tool even application markets for an emerging technology.

Thus, understanding the patent landscape is not just a matter of legal certainty; it is a proactive approach to identifying market and partnership opportunities , anticipating potential conflict areas and best protecting your industrial and technological assets .

Discover in this article how to effectively map your patent environment and refine your protection strategy by choosing the most suitable vector (patent or trade secret), while keeping a close eye on your competitors' developments.

PATENT LANDSCAPE: AN ANANYSE WITH INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY

What is the patent landscape?

The patent landscape is an in-depth analysis of the patent field that provides an overview of patent filing activities in a given sector. This strategic approach allows companies to identify who is patenting what, where [1] and in which specific area.

By identifying patent filing trends anticipate market movements and adjust their own Industrial Property (IP) strategy.

Why is patent landscaping important?

Patent landscaping is of paramount importance for a multitude of reasons, far beyond its primary function of monitoring competitors.

Prevent the filing of similar patents

First, patent landscaping is essential to prevent the filing of patents that are too close to the company's strategic technologies . By systematically scanning patent databases worldwide, companies can detect recent filings that could encroach on their areas of innovation. This monitoring allows them to act proactively, either by challenging the validity of these patents based on prior art , or by adapting their filing strategies to avoid overlaps and strengthen the company's position in its key markets.

Understanding competitors' strategies

Analyzing and mapping competitors' patent applications sheds light on their strategic directions regarding innovation and intellectual property protection. This information makes it possible to identify not only the priority technological areas for competitors, but also their target markets , through the geographical analysis of the protections sought.

Regular monitoring also allows you to decipher these trends and detect changes in tactics. It enables you to adjust your own R&D and patent filing strategies, accelerate certain filings, or, conversely, opt for another form of protection (Soleau envelope, Secret Know-How Dossier, etc.).

Crisis management: identifying the threat very early and triggering pre-litigation actions

In crisis situations, where a patent application or a competing patent poses a risk to the development or commercialization of one of your products or innovations, patent landscaping becomes an essential monitoring tool for attempting to establish prior art against the competitor's application . This involves finding evidence of prior art that challenges the novelty or inventive step of the claims, in order to prevent the granting of a pending application , invalidate the patent, or reduce its scope.

This approach requires a careful exploration of the existing literature, including the non-patent literature [2] , to demonstrate that the innovation is not as unique as claimed by the patent in question.

It is essential to take these steps as early as possible and to act while the patent application or patent is still pending before a national or regional patent office. After this period, appeals will be exclusively judicial and infinitely longer, more complex, and more expensive.

• Read also — Prior art searches and patents: the guide

Identification of new patentability areas

Furthermore, patent landscaping helps identify untapped patentable areas, revealing new opportunities for innovation and protection . By analyzing gaps in the current patent landscape, companies can direct their R&D towards less crowded and strategically promising areas, while securing robust legal protection for their innovations.

Defending the value of one's portfolio for a start-up

For a start-up in particular (but in reality this case also applies to SMEs), patent landscaping helps to ensure that any patents on which the start-up's technology is based remain a real asset .

For an SME, realizing that patents filed over time no longer have strategic value because they are completely surrounded by a multitude of other patents... allows for significant savings to be made and reinvested in other R&D areas.

A start-up will also need to demonstrate to future investors the strength of its patent portfolio , and patent landscaping is a very powerful tool for this, highly valued by investors objective and easily verifiable picture

Fight against counterfeiting

Finally, patent landscaping plays a major role in the fight against counterfeiting , helping companies to monitor products and technologies developed by competitors or other market players.

This monitoring makes it possible to detect unauthorized uses of patented technologies, thus offering the possibility of taking action (which may include legal action) to defend one's rights, negotiate a license with the infringer or failing that, try to obtain compensation for the illegal exploitation of their innovations.