Developing products that are patentable and therefore promise above-average returns is not a matter of luck. Rather, it is a matter of applying the right system to the development work. What is important here? How can an SME achieve success with its limited resources?
With his book “Creating innovations and protecting them under patent law”, Dr. Claudius Dietzsch provides those responsible for development in SMEs with an easy-to-read and clearly presented practical guide.
The focus is on the management of development projects and the dovetailing with patent searches and applications.
One chapter deals with a concrete, practical design methodology: How do you get from the requirements list to the functional structure to the concept and preliminary design of the new product? How do you evaluate the development results and develop them into a prototype using Quality Function Deployment (QFD)?
Patents are also considered from several angles. What can it achieve? At what point in the development process should patent searches be used? What purpose and what benefits do they have? What significance do Patents have for technology transfer? The morphological box is particularly useful for formulating strong Patents. It opens the view from the concrete prototype to the generalized protection of the underlying Intellectual Property.
The book also provides assistance for those who have little or no experience with patent specifications. How is a patent specification structured? What is the meaning of the different parts? What do you need to look out for if you want to know what exactly is protected by the patent specification?
Companies with continuous development activities and a positive patent strategy build up an entire Patent Portfolio over time. Maintaining this can require considerable resources. In his book, Dr. Claudius Dietzsch also deals with issues relating to the valuation of a patent or a patent portfolio. Anyone who does this work conscientiously will know which Patents are valuable and which have lost value over time and can therefore be given up or perhaps even sold.
If a company has a certain Patent Portfolio, it makes sense to set up a staff unit for Patents. Its task can be, for example, to support the development engineers when it comes to determining the state of the art at the start of a project, recognizing dangerous third-party patents, identifying ideas worthy of protection, preparing Patent Applications and forming the interface to the Patent Attorney.
Overall, the book is very attractively designed. It reads well and focuses on the essentials. Even SMEs with patent experience will be able to learn new things from the book and improve their processes.