Could NPEs Stifle Innovation in Sustainable Energy?
Could NPEs stifle innovation? Patents owned by sustainable energy organizations may be at risk from Non-Practicing Entities.
Many companies are moving away from using fossil fuels to reduce the environmental impact of their business.
This has led to an explosion of research into alternative energy sources, with a large increase in the number of patents being filed in each of the last 20 years.
However, there could be a risk to organizations patenting in this area from non-practicing entities (NPEs), which could stifle innovation and development of sustainable energy technologies.
To analyze the potential risk from NPEs in this area, we used Cipher’s Universal Technology Taxonomy (UTT) which classifies every patent available into one of over 120 technology classes.
This contains six classes relevant to sustainable and alternative energy:
- Batteries
- Photovoltaics
- Nuclear
- Hydroelectric
- Fuel Cells
- Wind Turbines.
While this doesn’t include an analysis of sustainable technology areas such as biofuels, it still provides a snapshot of NPE interest in sustainable energy technologies.
Key findings from our report
- NPEs have the highest number of patents in the sustainable energy fields of Nuclear, Batteries, and Photovoltaics.
- The total number of active families owned by NPEs has generally decreased over the last 20 years, suggesting difficulty monetizing these portfolios.
- There has recently been a spree of litigations by NPEs against small companies in the sustainable energy industry, which could stifle innovation and slow the energy transition.
Use cases enabled by patent analytics
Become more effective at managing your patent portfolio, identify worldwide relevant patents and technology trends, assess the competitive landscape, and find partners and licensing opportunities.
R&D and innovation
Improve innovation with a clearly defined IP strategy that is connected to the business goals and alerts for new entrants and potential partners.
Competitive
intelligence & benchmarking
Base decision making on true patent portfolio strength and quality indicators while relying on industry-proven KPIs to track your competitors’ progress.
Portfolio optimization
Answer key questions to define international patent filing strategy, increase portfolio efficiency, and identify competitive strengths and weaknesses.
Disruptive technology scouting
Identify disruptive innovations and promising startups to help you gain a competitive edge.
Risk assessment
Stay one step ahead of your competition, disruptive technologies, important patent activity in China, and/or NPE threats. Efficiently assess the value or risk of acquisition targets.
Licensing & monetization
With analytics on all patent portfolios in all technologies, you can evaluate your most valuable patents for licensing and even identify potential licensees.