The paper is publishing this week and someone asks have the IP team looked at this.
In most organisations, that moment triggers a scramble. Who knows what we have already filed? Are there any trade secrets here? Before anyone can deal with the real problem they need to assemble a jigsaw and the clock is ticking.
The moment doesn’t have to play out like that. In another universe the IP strategy for the portfolio is already mapped. The filing positions are already understood in commercial terms, not just legal ones. The IP team has been in the room along with the rest of the business while the project developed. They understand the game. The IP team may have to pull an all nighter to get a patent application filed but there are no decisions to be made, just work to be done.
There is a huge difference between decisions under pressure & work under pressure. Decisions under pressure are expensive, work under pressure is just work!
The unglamorous work of IP strategy is slowly building the picture before the urgency arrives. Knowing the commercial logic of the product. Knowing which gaps are acceptable and which aren’t. Having the relationships so that when something moves fast, IP can move fast with it.
You can’t compress that work into the moment of pressure. But if you’ve done the strategy work, pressure looks very different.
