Use Of IP Audits To Optimize Patent Life Cycle Management

The process of securing allowances of patents usually takes three, four or even five years from the priority filing date, depending on subject matter and the jurisdictions of patent prosecution. A great deal can change in a patent applicant's circumstances over these extended time periods. Patent applications with great potential value at the time of filing, may lose their corporate and/or commercial relevance over time. For the purposes of this article, patent life cycle management will be considered from the perspectives of institutions, start-up companies, and large corporations.

Most patent applications filed by institutions and start-up companies are exploitative, i.e., intended to capture and protect commercial monopolies for an invention's compositions and/or use and/ or related methods. Institutional goals in filing patent applications include attracting licensing interests from commercial entities, or securing assets that can be spun-out into a