Significant resources are involved in research and development and conceiving patentable inventions, and the journey to commercialising an innovation is an equally large and involved task. Intellectual property (IP), and the management of the IP throughout the product development process is a critical factor in successfully commercialising products and services.
Once the provisional patent application is filed, however, applicants often turn their attention to other projects that have taken a back seat during the patent drafting process, with the expectation of continuing their research into the invention in the immediate future. The promise of continuing research into the invention can often be put on hold for many months, or even most of the 12-month priority period, with the applicant sometimes scrambling at the 11th hour to conduct additional experiments and investigations that were originally planned in the research phase. As discussed below, this can be a missed opportunity. If the research is continued, and new developments are made, some management and strategic considerations of those developments is required. Continue Reading