There are several possible strategies for businesses to monetize patent rights. Typical methods are listed below.
1, Licensing
Exclusive license: this is a method of granting a patent right exclusively to a specific company for a license fee. This gives the company an advantage over other competitors.
Non-exclusive license: a method of obtaining a broad license fee by granting a license to several companies at the same time. License fees tend to be lower than those for exclusive licenses, but it allows diversification of revenues.
2, Cross-licensing
This is a strategy of exchanging patent rights with another company to make the technology owned by both parties mutually available. This reduces the payment of license fees and the risk of patent infringement and encourages the development of new technologies.
3, Commercialization
This is a way of earning direct revenues by commercializing the patented technology in-house and offering it to the market as a product or service. This requires manufacturing, sales and marketing capabilities.
Offering the product, service or business model covered by the patent right to the market on your own (e.g. by implementing the product on your own, using the method on your own) is an inherently basic and core way of implementing a patented invention (the traditional way of utilizing the patent system).
Commercialization has the potential to maximize the value of the patent.
4, Sale of patent rights
Selling the patent rights in a lump sum is a way of obtaining immediate capital. It is important to estimate the future value of the patent rights and sell them at an appropriate price. Possible sellers include other companies in the same industry, patent brokers or investors.
These are some of the ways to monetize (utilize) patent rights, which will be continued in the next article.
(Maruhachi)