Beyond the protection of innovations, the analysis of patent filings — or patent landscaping — has become a powerful strategic tool , revealing the major technological directions of your competitors, but also of potential partners, or 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 identify market and partnership opportunities , anticipate potential conflict areas and best protect 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 industrial secret), while keeping a close eye on the developments of your competitors.

LANDSCAPE PATENT: AN ANALYSIS OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY

What is the patent landscape?

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

By detecting trends , including the geographic evolution of filings and the technological areas targeted by competitors, companies can anticipate market movements and adjust their own Industrial Property (IP) strategy.

Why is patent landscaping important?

Patent landscaping is of capital importance for a multitude of reasons, well 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 globally, companies can detect recent filings that could encroach on their areas of innovation. This monitoring makes it possible to act upstream, either by contesting the validity of these patents on the basis of prior art , or by adapting filing strategies to avoid overlaps and strengthen the company's position in its key markets.

Understand competitor strategies

Analyzing and mapping the patents filed by competitors sheds light on their strategic orientations in terms of innovation and intellectual 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 requested.

Regular monitoring also makes it possible to decipher these trends and detect changes in tactics. It allows you to adjust your own R&D and patent filing strategies, accelerate certain filings or, on the contrary, opt for another form of protection (Soleau envelope, Secret know-how file, etc.).

Crisis management: identify the threat very early and trigger pre-litigation actions

In crisis situations, where a patent application or a competing patent presents a risk to the development or marketing of one of your products or one of your innovations, patent landscaping becomes an essential monitoring tool to try to anticipate the competitor's request . This involves finding evidence of anticipation which calls into question the novelty or inventive step of the claims, in order to prevent the grant of a pending application , or to invalidate the patent or even to reduce it. its scope.

This approach requires a careful exploration of existing literature, including 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 soon as possible and to act while the patent application or patent is still pending with a national or regional patent office. After this period, the appeals will be exclusively jurisdictional and infinitely longer, complex and expensive.

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

Identification of new areas of patentability

Furthermore, patent landscaping helps identify patentable areas not yet exploited, thus revealing new opportunities for innovation and protection . By analyzing gaps in the current patent landscape, companies can direct their R&D to less crowded and strategically promising areas, while securing strong legal protection for their innovations.

Defense of the value of its portfolio for a start-up

For a particular start-up (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, observing that patents filed over time ultimately no longer have any strategic interest, because they are completely surrounded by a multitude of other patents... allows significant savings to be made and re-injected into other areas of the business. R&D.

A start-up will also have to provide proof to future investors of the strength of its patent portfolio and patent landscaping is a very powerful tool for this, very appreciated by investors , because it provides an objective and easy to verify photo.

Fight against counterfeiting

Finally, patent landscaping plays a major role in the fight against counterfeiting , helping companies 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 could go as far as legal action) to defend one's rights, negotiate a license with the infringer or, failing that, attempt to obtain compensation for the illegal exploitation of its innovations.