If your business relies on bringing innovations to market that generate returns on investment, then a well-designed patent strategy is critical for realizing those returns. Patents help introduce new products to the market, secure investment, and establish your business’s competitive edge, all supporting and controlling the top and bottom lines. A thoughtful patent strategy simply helps turn innovation into long-term business value.
However, achieving this long-term business value requires you to consider patents as part of the big picture of your business; business goals, market dynamics, and product roadmap are all important. Patents are not simply a check-the-box activity or even pure costs; they are investments in the future of your business.
But how do you turn patents--powerful legal rights-- into business value?
Start With the ‘Why’
Before jumping into the legal process, consider what patents could do for your business. Do you need to:
- Protect the core technology that drives your revenue?
- Create barriers to entry for competitors?
- Support a licensing model or open new revenue streams?
- Make your business more attractive to investors, acquirers or strategic partners?
If the answer is yes to any of the above, a proactive patent strategy deserves a place in your broader business plan.
Timing is Critical
Patent law rewards those who act early in the innovation process. In fact, certain activities can result in the loss of patent rights. It is important to file for patent protection for an innovation before disclosing your invention publicly, whether through a sale, publication, presentation, or even a demonstration.
But timing is a balancing act. Concepts that are too general or have not undergone some level of technical and market vetting may not be ready for patenting, but filing too late, after public disclosure can be catastrophic. Aim to file for patent protection when you can describe a clear use case and the market can identify key technical features important for that use case and market, ideally before you raise funds or launch publicly.
Today, product development often requires engaging third parties early in the process. Two tactical steps can be used to bolster your strategy and provide some flexibility in timing:
- Use non-disclosure agreements with third parties you need to share your concept with to get help.
- File provisional applications if you want to secure a filing date while continuing to refine the invention.
Think Beyond One Patent
Your strategy shouldn’t stop with one patent application or even one type of patent. Patents grant you the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention as claimed. But patents often are not broad blocking patents. Patents are often focused on incremental innovations, and patent law generally limits one patent per invention. Often, several inventions are built into a product, and robust protection would therefore require multiple patents. You may need to:
- Protect multiple components or processes within a single product.
- File in international markets where you plan to sell or manufacture the product.
- Keep an eye on adjacent technologies and file follow-on continuation patents as your product and market evolve.
At least considering these options allows you to manage your patent strategy to your product roadmap, keep an eye on competitive threats, and help manage your patent more proactively.
Patents are Investments, Not Costs
Filing a patent isn’t just a line item on your legal budget — it’s an investment in your business’s future. Like any other asset, patents have the potential to generate returns, whether through increased valuation, market exclusivity, licensing opportunities, or strategic advantage. What makes patents more of an investment than just a budget line item?
First, delaying or forgoing patents gives your competitors a free pass to use innovations you developed for their own gain. Without patents, competitors will capitalize on what your business introduced to the market, leaving little recourse for you after the fact. Those competitors can then file patents that could hamper your ability to sell your products. This has a direct impact on the topline and undermines R&D investment. Proactive patent protection avoids this altogether and serves as a competitive deterrent.
Second, patents can help add revenue through licensing. However, licensing revenue is nearly impossible without legal rights protecting the products. Patents are an effective tool to support licensing or acquisition opportunities.
Third, patents attract and retain capital. Investors always ask if the technology has protection. The larger the investments you seek, the more scrutiny will be placed on your patent strategy and how it relates to the technology supporting your innovations. Investors often look for competitive advantages, and patents provide that. Patents are assets and can help support business valuations that facilitate investment. Related to direct investments, patents can also act as collateral to secured transactions, facilitating investment or debt for financing other parts of the business.
Without patents protecting your technology, you are forgoing an effective tool that drives investor confidence, which, in turn, drives investment in your business.
A well-timed, well-aligned patent strategy doesn’t just protect what you’ve built, it helps justify and maximize the investments you’re already making in innovation. Treat patents as part of your business assets and budget for them accordingly.
Encourage Internal Innovation
An intentional patent strategy doesn’t just protect innovation, it helps fuel it. When your innovators know there’s a process in place to capture and evaluate their ideas, they’re more likely to share them. Encouraging your team to share and disclose ideas that may be patentable unlocks potentially patentable concepts that can support your business goals. A great way to maximize patent value is to create an invention disclosure system that harvests innovations within your organization while rewarding disclosure among your team. This can form the basis for an engaged team oriented towards protection innovation. An excellent supplement, patent seminars can help educate your staff about the patent process and what it takes to be an inventor under U.S. law.
The Bottom Line
A strong patent strategy isn’t about legal red tape; it's about creating leverage, supporting your growth, and building real, lasting value. Treating patents as an investment—not a cost—unlocks their full potential as a driver of innovation, funding and long-term success.
