Intellectual property strategy and support
Maximising return on your innovation investment
Background
The ideas, designs, systems and processes that Lucid and our clients originate and develop are intellectual property assets.
Well-managed IP is an investment that can help optimise margins, maintain exclusivity, makes a business more investible and can reduce tax bills.
Conversely, poor IP strategy can burden organisations with valueless cost.
With over 30 Years insight and experience of IP strategy and implementation, we know what’s possible and how. Creating brands, products, systems and processes we’ve helped plan, obtain and maintain trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, design rights and patents.
IP and working with Lucid
When Lucid is contracted to deliver design and innovation services we’ll normally assign resultant potential IP to clients.
In collaborative ventures we agree and maintain standard processes for allocating intellectual property such as Lambert agreements .
Underlying principles
Our experience is that intellectual property provides incentives to investors and tax advantages, but rarely provides inherent innovation protection.
To help determine the value IP could add, Lucid’s team start by balancing estimates of:
future market directions.
potential to obtain IP.
profit in obtainable markets.
potential to defend infringement.
IP costs.
timing and territorial issues.
potential tax advantages.
contribution to investment/funding readiness and attractiveness.
other barriers to market entry eg. regulatory timescale/cost.
We’ll use techniques including:
IP landscaping
Insights into competitors’ brands, products, analogous markets and patents for similar technologies, can help qualify where future growth is.
Freedom to operate searches
Searching for the barriers to entry in markets. Lucid considers factors including:
the relevance of existing IP.
territorial scope of rights.
remaining duration of rights.
the prospect of owners defending IP.
the dominance of incumbents.
impact of regulatory clearance.
Novelty searches
Investigating if “prior art” exists reveals if an invention could infringe the rights of others and if an idea is eligible for patent.
We’ll seek out evidence of prior patents, publications and products related to a concept.
Timing
Keeping ideas secret at the optimum time is critically important as IP applications and publication can significantly impact cashflow and publicise the methods underlying inventions. We can help optimise planning to suit funding cycles.
Licensing
Lucid’s team can help with experience of partnerships with organisations resourced to sell your product and motivated to defend your IP.
Scope
We work with specialist lawyers to ensure that the most relevant broadest and most valuable design intent is embedded into applications.
Working with Lucid can provide the best chance of exploiting and defending innovation rights.