Is There a Role for Patent Analysis in Competitive Intelligence?
Bruce made a number of good points with regards to the use of patent analysis in traditional competitive intelligence exercises. Since patent data is not normally available until, at least 18 months after the patents have been filed for some industries this lack time is an eternity. It is also true that some industries do not rely on patent protection as much as they do on other forms of protection such as trademarks and trade secrets. Bruce also made a point of demonstrating the use of Porter’s Five Forces model for looking at the competitive environment surrounding companies. Patent data can be used in helping to represent some of these forces but are not useful for others. For the most part Bruce down played the importance of patent analysis with regards to other methods used to analyze the the competitive landscape and challenges for some companies and industries. He also used Procter and Gamble and Lucent as examples of companies where a Five Forces model could possibly help expla
