For a business, the development of IP is an important part but more important is the efficient management of IP in the business. The business considers the IP as a strong asset for it and hence it is imperative to have a strong strategic portion for the IP to maximize the profit-making part. In the field of Healthcare and its greater reliance on the aspects of AI and innovation, it is necessary that there needs to be a strong strategy part and a wider IP consideration among such AI-driven HealthTech innovation.

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Through this IP strategy, we tend to talk about the coherent approach for protecting innovation and making the maximum use of the innovation either in terms of its execution or rather in terms of profit-making ventures. This strategy part is important since the aim is to support the strong development of business maximizing the IP potential. Nevertheless, this IP strategy not only supports the business to reach the aim but also helps the business to manage the risk presented by the third-party IP rights. It is important that the company must decide the priority issues with regards to the IP which needs to be kept at a higher pedestal.

Patents

Patent forms an important part of the healthcare industry. Patents are an important part and grant the proprietor a monopoly over the invention. They are a highly valuable form of IP and as a part of IP strategy, they must be put on a higher pedestal. The entity must be clear while framing the IP strategy that which invention is core to the business and hence requires more protection and efficient strategy part. If an entity has an efficient strategy in terms of its patents, it will help the company to provide a competitive edge over other entities dealing in a similar nature of the business. Strategy is important for the effective structuring of the revenue model of the business. In this way, the entity can work to have a strong revenue generation through various forms such as licensing, assigning, joint development, research collaboration, etc.

The patents in the healthcare industry are generally AI-driven. Therefore, it becomes another important aspect to understand the disclosure of the details that are required for a patent to be granted. In AI-driven technology, there are probable chances that the technology is implemented without making details of the algorithm. Therefore, it is very important to effectively decide and strategize the impact of such disclosure. Because, effective disclosure might not be beneficial for the company, therefore, the company can decide whether to go for a patent or just as a trade secret. In case, the application has already been filed by the applicant, one can withdraw the same if they feel that there might not be meaningful protection. A recommended approach is to combine patent protection with that of a trade secret. For an effective strategy, the entity must be clear with the determination of the fact that whether the competitor has implemented the entities’ claimed invention or not.

Trade Secret

Generally, trade secrets are often being thought of as weaker protection by various entities in the business but they can provide valuable protection if taken strategically. But in case, those inventions which are difficult to reverse engineer, trade secret can form a strong option for the same. If compared to that of patent protection, trade secrets might seem to be less protective. But this trade secret seems to be more important in the case, the competitor implements the invention. Such protection might not be available in case innovation is not kept confidential and these innovations are regularly published in journals or available to the public. For such a case, there must be a strong policy in the company which can make it very clear to the employees that the information must be put confidential.

It is important that the company must access the inventions and must decide accordingly concerning whether the invention is at a greater risk of reverse engineering or not. Accordingly, the company must strategize whether to go for patent protection or trade secret. Generally, those inventions which are difficult for the competitor to reverse engineer, are most suited for the trade secret and the rest for the patent protection.

The strong team at GPF has advised thousands of clients in their strategy part and to decide whether the invention can be suited with patent protection or trade secret.

Author: Saransh Chaturvedi an associate at Global Patent Filing,  in case of any queries please contact/write back us at support@globalpatentfiling.com.