Business Models and Patent Strategies in Multi-Invention Contexts

Increasingly, commercializing new technological innovations means drawing on multiple inventions spread across various firms. In multi-invention contexts (such as smartphones), a single person or company rarely invents and patents all the components of a commercially viable product. Success requires that companies choose the right business model, manage their patent strategies, and align their business model and company strategies. Firms must choose between integrated business models (assembling as many complementary technologies and commercialization assets as possible within the firm) and non-integrated business models (combining inventions with those of others through component or licensing market relationships). <br><br>After selecting a business model, firms need to implement a patent strategy, which can be broadly categorized as either a) proprietary, where the firm seeks to stake out and defend a proprietary market advantage; b) defensive, where the firm may not wish to use patents to gain a competitive advantage, but needs to not be put at a competitive disadvantage by other firms’ patents; and c) leveraging, where the firm relies on using a patent’s power to prevent others from using the invention, thus enabling the firm to collect revenue, influence a technology, or close business deals. The article concludes by highlighting the importance of firms developing and aligning patent strategies with business models from the beginning, not merely on an ad hoc basis.

• Technological Innovation
• Patent Strategies
• Business Models
• Competitive Advantage
• Smartphones