IXAS CONSEIL takes a strategic view on Intellectual Property. IP assets are viewed as business assets which need, directly or indirectly, to provide a competitive advantage to its owner, and to create value. This requires us to understand our client’s business and strategy. 

The strategic approach to IP can be done at different levels, in the extreme cases for a given innovative projet (invention, product as defined by its technical and marketing features) only, or for a whole company or business unit.

As an example, we will be able to draft a better patent (i.e. a more meaningful patent, having a grater impact on the market) if we know our client’s business strategy. We will also be able to advise the client on how to structure the patent portfolio throughout the innovative process :

• Understanding the overall strategy of the firm (or division) ; understanding the strategic role of the specific innovative project in its market ;
• Formulating a protection strategy by incorporating all possible options (meeting with the management team) ;
• Putting in practice this protection strategy by drafting an efficient patent application, proposing an adequate geographic coverage in line wiht the client’s present and future needs and taking into account budget constraints.

For clients having a regular R&D activity our firm can propose a regular follow-up (on the basis of adequate billing schemes, such as flat fees or upset limits) : 

• Help the client to structure the innovative process ;
• Periodic meeting with the research team to assess potential of innovative ideas ;
• Follow up, and possibly suggestions for reorienting the innovative project depending both on the possibility to obtain efficient protection and on the right-to-use situation ;
• Regular status meeting on project and support to strategic decisions ("IP committee") ;
• Follow-up of licensing and technology transfer. 

Our firm can also, on a higher level, advise its client’s on its IP strategy and policy on the corporate (or business unit) level : this will usually start with an IP audit, which will include :

• all relevant strategic aspects ; 
• an inventory of the IP assets (portfolio, R&D projects and results) ; 
• an inventory of the internal processes related to IP (awareness, decision making, use) ; 
• an inventory of IP related problems (litigation, infringement, counterfeiting) ;
• an assessment of IP related risks.

The full assessment of IP related risks will require (possibly at a later stage) a full inventory of the right-to-use situtation of the client’s products and production processes.

These approaches are based on specific methodologies developed by IXAS CONSEIL and its (former and present) senior attorneys when working in big industrial companies ; these methodologies have been sharpened through many case studies in various fields of technology.

For certain clients IXAS CONSEIL is operating like an in-house patent department, with partly "embedded" patent counsels (by means of regular meetings, integration in the internal communication circuits, regular stays at the clients’ premises) ; different fee schemes are available for this approach.

The following publication contains a few ideas that have been developed in this framework :

"Patent strategies in the process-related industries : outline of the problems" by Martin P. Schmidt, published in R&D Management 43 (3), 2013, p.242-251

We can send you a complimentary copy upon request.