Patents mean moneyPublished on 4 December
In summer 2001, as part of NKT’s focus on technology, a new strategy was adopted towards the handling of patents and trademarks. Since then, the product and process developments continuously taking place within the NKT Group have been supported by a pro-active IPR team.
IPR, which stands for ‘Intellectual Property Rights’ is a commercially interesting asset because intellectual property in the form of patents, trademarks and copyrights represents significant economic value in modern-day companies. If we take technology-based companies, we find that patent-based IPR assets in particular constitute a significant share of the total value of these enterprises.
At NKT, whose IPR team comprises one Patent Manager, one Patent Agent, and one Patent Administrator, the focus of attention is therefore on patents in business-strategic contexts. Patent Manager Anette Hegner, who has a number of firm views on the world of patents, explains:
“In the last 30 years the number of patents and patent applications has increased exponentially in industrialised countries. US and Japanese firms in particular are registering huge numbers of patents. US companies take out relatively more patents in Europe than European firms do in the USA - a situation that has aroused political concerns: Does it mean that the Americans will control future technology development?"
“However, I do not see the number of patents being taken out by US companies in Europe as worrying in itself, and I would not recommend small and medium-sized European companies to jump on the bandwagon.”
