IP rights such as patents, trademarks and design registrations must be managed and maintained for the value of your company's IP portfolio to be realized. It's only when you actively use the rights that you get a return on your IPR investments.

When establishing rights, you should have considered in advance how you are going to actively use these rights to gain value from the investment. The actual establishment of rights is only a starting point, and it is the way you manage the rights that determines whether the investment provides lasting competitive advantages.

With IP management from Onsagers, your company gets an ongoing follow-up and management of the IP portfolio. To do this effectively, you should have a solidIP strategy in place. This includes not only a plan for active management of the IP rights, but also a strategy for handling the company's other intangible assets, such as license agreements, know-how, employment agreements and documentation of important knowledge and innovation processes. These are intangible assets that often cannot be protected through IP rights, but which should nevertheless be protected by other measures to ensure continued competitiveness.

Simplify your IP day-to-day

By letting Onsagers handle your IP management, you ensure a simpler IP life for your company. We request insight into all communications related to your company's established rights, including any conflicts and infringements, and handle the formal requirements for renewal and continuation of existing rights. In addition, we assist with:

documentation of the strategic basis for establishing an IP right
updating case data, such as bibliographic information, deadlines, status, etc.
document archive
reports, decision documents, status overviews and budgets
payment of annual fees and renewals
Portfolio development and strategic analysis
Updating information on ownership, license agreements and business data

Stay one step ahead

Companies that drive innovation need to monitor competitors and the market. This makes it possible to manage your own development so that you always stand out from the competition. By monitoring your competitors' IP, you can stay one step ahead.

The competitive situation for innovation companies is reminiscent of a chess game. Some play their own game and pay little attention to their competitor's moves. Others consider every countermove, and get a better basis for winning. With good monitoring of competitors and the market, you have the basis for a good strategy that gives you the opportunity to play a better game.

Knowing what technology or innovations your competitors are developing and protecting gives you better insight into what you're competing against. If you don't know what rights others in the market have, you can quickly run into challenges when launching your own projects or seeking exclusive rights to innovations.

Use your IP rights

If you have a solid patent, this can be a means of preventing competing products. But then you need to keep up with the times. With good monitoring, you can catch new technologies as soon as they are official from the patent authorities. If your competitor beats you to it, you can adjust your course in time and, in some cases, find a new and better direction based on your competitor's latest move.

Before setting up monitoring, it's important to define the competitive landscape. This applies to everything from different associated patent classes to specific companies and the risk of substitutes. With Onsagers on your team, you'll have a plan for how to use your rights, such as patents, designs and trademarks, based on good monitoring.

But even with solid monitoring, it can be difficult to keep up with disruptive forces. That's why we recommend regular roadmap meetings, to counteract any new threats that affect your monitoring and should be included in an IP strategy. A dedicated advisor who knows your technology, your rights and your room for maneuver will then be able to use surveillance data to come up with a "blueprint" for how you should meet new challenges.

Map the company's values and room for maneuver

Mapping the company's assets (IP due diligence) and analyzing its room for maneuver (FTO) provides a better basis for decision-making when planning strategies and making decisions on investments and acquisitions.

The basis for a competitive advantage may include exclusive rights to technical solutions, use of a trademark, a unique design, agreements on distribution and delivery of raw materials, good processes and unique networks. If the rights to these advantages are not in place, it will entail higher risk for the company. It can lead to reduced revenues and increased expenses in the event of a change in the competitive situation.

If you're launching a new product or brand, it's important to be aware of the room for maneuver you have in terms of marketing, further development and expansion abroad. A "freedom to operate" (FTO) analysis maps the competitive landscape, including competitors' IPR rights. This reduces the risk of infringing the rights of others.

An FTO analysis is good documentation and provides a basis for well-founded growth plans in existing and new segments. The insight can also be a useful tool in further innovation work, for example in connection with market openings and if you have several relevant product candidates.

Both an IP due diligence and an FTO analysis can help the board and management team ask the right questions and arrive at the right decisions. In addition, we can help you to:

assess the possibility of establishing patent, trademark or design protection
Assess the validity and soundness of rights
assess potential infringement of a right or application for rights

Create an IP culture in your company

In knowledge companies, it is natural and necessary to have a culture that safeguards and builds intangible assets. This means that employees are aware of their own IP rights and intangible assets, and have a conscious attitude to ideas and scope for development.

It also means recognizing the rights of others that should not be infringed. It's also important to be aware of IP you can't claim exclusive rights to, such as experience, knowledge and innovation processes. By building a culture in which you are aware of intangible assets and their management, you will, over time, establish a solid foundation for maintaining and increasing your company's competitive advantage.

In many companies, it is the employees and their knowledge that form the basis for value creation. Employees possess experience and in-depth knowledge that give the company a competitive advantage that is difficult for others to copy. If the company has been around for a few years, it has also built up a network and agreements that new players in the market can only dream of. It's important to protect this.

Routines and guidelines are important building blocks in a corporate culture. All employees should be trained in the company's routines related to IP so that they can help safeguard the values. This applies to everything from good routines for documenting knowledge and experience to securing formal documents such as customer lists, employment contracts and the like. Procedures and guidelines are the pillars of IP awareness, but must be actively used to integrate them into the culture. In this way, they become tools that safeguard intangible assets.

Onsagers can help your company strengthen IP culture and awareness through planning and consulting. Onsagers also offers customized courses to raise IP awareness in your company.

IP management