Welcome to the website about the book
The Patenting Paradox
A game-based approach
to improve patent management
by Arnaud GASNIER
You can order the book here.
About the new game on patents: here
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Welcome to the website about the book
The Patenting Paradox
A game-based approach
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The book is the outcome of a 3-year PhD research project carried out at the Delft University of Technology. This research has been sponsored by the Research Fund of the European Patent Organization.
What is the focus of this book?
Patent management (definition, current practices)
Its performance measurement (reporting, dashboards, benchmark, projection)
The "patenting paradox" (microeconomic analysis, what companies can do)
Use of game-based interventions to improve patent management (awareness, collaboration, strategy)
Who should read this book?
Executives, top management, strategists, business developers, research managers, and other stakeholders who deal with or need to understand patents
Patent managers and others responsible for managing patent portfolios
Patent attorneys and counsels looking beyond text books
Young practitioners seeking today’s patent practices.
This book also contains many patent data analyses carried out by means of Aureka from Thomson Scientific.
What are "game-based interventions"? More information available from the Center for Process Management & Simulation (CPS) at Technical University of Delft, Netherlands: click here
The price of the book is € 80 per print. You can order the book here.
The author is both a patent practitioner and an academic in economics. He is a European patent attorney with more than 10 years of international experience (France, Switzerland, USA and Netherlands) in the industry (Swatch, Philips) and the research sector (the Dutch organization TNO). He is also an Assistant Professor at the faculty of Technology, Policy and Management of the University of Delft, with almost 10 years of teaching on patents at universities and more recently at the European Patent Academy. More on the author below.
What is the Patenting Paradox?
Many companies, research organizations and universities are patenting more and more; however, little value is extracted from these patents. This behavior is called the Patenting Paradox.
Indeed, on one side, patenting growth has been observed by most patent offices during the last 20-30 years. Patent statistics show a significant increase since 1980’s. And, during the 90’s, an increase of almost 500% is recorded: more than 100,000 international (PCT) patent applications are filed each year since 2001, which corresponds to 13,000,000 national patent applications.
On the other side, many companies, research organizations and universities extract limited value from all these patents. A 2004 survey among 300 largest European businesses shows that the performance of patent management is limited to 69% on average and below 50% for 20% of the businesses. Another survey among 9,017 patents shows that 72.9% of these patents are “sleeping” (not used).
Why does the Patenting Paradox exist? What are its effects? How can this paradox be solved? This book addresses these issues. It provides models to better understand patent management and tools to help companies navigate in the competitive environment. Current practices are illustrated with pertinent patent information. This book also presents the results from a survey among more than 1,100 patent users. Finally the book explores new ways to intervene in the companies, based on gaming techniques. Three ways using “Patentopolis”, a game on patents, are described to remedy the paradox and resolve three current concerns: raise awareness, improve collaboration, and refine strategy. Experiments have been set up throughout Europe (Holland, France and Austria) among 160 graduates and professionals to show the effectiveness of such interventions. This book also advises how firms could use such methods in-house.
The book (of approximately 280 pages) includes seven chapters.
1. A patent drama is revealed
This chapter pictures the “dramatic” increase in patenting that has occurred during the last two decades. It quantifies this phenomenon, explains its drivers and describes the trends. It also presents the business relevance of the paradox (case study on the chemical group DSM).
2. A Pandora's box of concepts and practices
In this chapter the concept of patent management is defined. A new conceptual model named RMBV (Research, Manufacturing, Building, and Valorization) is presented to explain the current practices of patent management. Four business models are described with four types of patent strategy. Empirical foundations are given from an audit of 70 companies and from actual examples based on patent information tools (Aureka from Thomson Scientific).
3. The alchemist's room
In this chapter the performance of patent management is under review. A new measurement framework called “Patent power” is presented with key normalized indicators from direct measures (inputs and outputs of the RMBV model) and two dashboards to help managers navigate. Detailed methods for the positioning, benchmark, and projections of the firms’ patent management are given, with actual examples from patent databases and annual reports.
4. The plot of the wrongs
This chapter explains the “patenting paradox”: it describes the series of events and relationships in the firms that leads to this paradox. A second hypothesis is there examined: the attention process is at the origins of the paradox. This chapter also presents a survey among 1,110 patent users and its main results obtained from statistical analyses to validate the second hypothesis and to reply to the following questions. What do the firms actually know about patents? How do they perceive patents?
5. Where is the Deus ex Machina?
This chapter explores how the firms can remedy the “patenting paradox”. Three dimensions are at stake: education, collaboration and strategy. A third hypothesis is set: interventions in the firms, using a business game on patents, can solve the paradox. Such a game and three interventions using it have been designed: a 3-hour workshop to raise awareness, a 5-day course mixing theory and practice, and a 1-day strategic workshop.
6. The dice are rolled!
This c
hapter presents the efficiency of the three interventions which have been tested among 160 participants (under-graduates and professionals) in Europe. Experimental results from quantitative methods (pre- and post-tests) and qualitative observations are presented.7. The final stand
This chapter provides guidelines to help the firms use these interventions and the game for purposes of education, collaboration and strategy. At the end of the book, four annexes are added: (1) the operations of patent management; (2) detailed results from the survey among 1,106 patent users; (3) strategic workshop, a fictitious case in the gaming industry; and (4) results from the experiments in Netherlands, France, and Austria.
For a summary of the book click here.
You can find a presentation on the study behind the book here.
You can order the book online here.
About the services around the book
The author provides trainings, lectures and workshops on-site in companies, research organizations and universities.
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Titles |
Contents |
Durations |
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Introduction to patent management |
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1 day |
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Getting a patent |
Workshop with a
5-step method (directly applicable in daily practice) along with an
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1 day |
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Patent awareness |
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1 day |
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Integral course |
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3 days |
For further inquiry please contact the author: a.gasnier@tudelft.nl
Arnaud GASNIER has started his career in the field of patents more than 10 years ago. He currently works as Assistant Director for the patent department of TNO, the national organization for contract research in the Netherlands. His activities embrace strategy, education and quality. He started to work for TNO in 2003 as Licensing Associate. He is also a part-time Associate Professor at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TPM) of the Delft University of Technology since 2004. Before, he gained experience in patent drafting and prosecution when working for a law firm in France (1996-1997), later for the Swatch Group in Switzerland (1997-1999) and more recently for Philips in Holland (2001-2003) under the direct tutoring of Derk Visser, the author of “The Annotated European Patent Convention”.
In 2004 Arnaud qualified as a European patent attorney. He also holds a Master of Intellectual Property from Pierce Law, Concord, New Hampshire, USA, and a post-graduate diploma on patents from CEIPI, Strasbourg, France. He initially obtained a Master of Science in Physics from ENSPG, Grenoble, France, in 1996.
Further, Arnaud has conceived IP training products e.g. “The Visual European Patent Convention”, a hyperlinked flowchart of the granting procedure. Between 1998 and 2006 he gave patent awareness courses at universities (INP Grenoble) in France.
Full C.V. available here
For further inquiry please contact the author: a.gasnier@tudelft.nl
Last edited: 05-05-2008