{"id":20669,"date":"2022-06-10T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greyb.com\/?p=20669"},"modified":"2022-06-10T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T05:30:00","slug":"patent-landscape-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greyb.com\/blog\/patent-landscape-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Patent Landscape Study: Strategy against Tech Companies’ Invasion"},"content":{"rendered":"

About ten years ago, traditional watchmakers<\/span>\u2014<\/span>companies like Tag Heuer, Swatch, and Timex<\/span>\u2014<\/span>entered dangerous waters. Tech companies were preparing to introduce the modern smartwatch<\/span>\u2014<\/span>a grave threat to the watchmakers\u2019 bottom line. Of course, most companies are vulnerable to tech disruption. But the watchmakers\u2019 position was especially precarious for another reason: They didn\u2019t seem to have any idea what was about to happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Had the old guard been attuned to what was coming, they could have tried to take advantage of the changes. Instead, they mostly kept their heads down, sticking to what they knew<\/span>\u2014<\/span>and, in what was apparently a crucial error, <\/span>over-relying on traditional methods of market research<\/b>. As a result, many traditional watchmakers now find themselves playing catch-up, trying, belatedly, to get a piece of a $22 billion smartwatch market<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The watchmakers\u2019 mistake was understandable. After all, in 2011, before modern smartwatches had been conjured into existence, no one knew quite how the public would receive them. That meant that even the most expertly deployed market research strategies wouldn\u2019t have been very effective: If a consumer didn\u2019t really know what a smartwatch <\/span>was<\/span><\/i>, how could s\/he possibly have been expected to gauge whether or not s\/he might want one?<\/span><\/p>\n

But there was another way of staying ahead of the curve, which the legacy watchmakers appear to have ignored. At GreyB, one of the services for which our clients rely on us most is what\u2019s known as <\/span>patent landscape study<\/b>. It\u2019s a specialized, research-powered process that gives an overview of all the extant and pending patents in a given sector. Taken together, the resultant data provides a detailed overview of the innovative landscape. <\/span><\/p>\n

Using a machine learning-enabled approach to patent landscape analysis that we\u2019ve fine-tuned over a decade working with some of the world\u2019s largest companies, GreyB helps CEOs understand what\u2019s happening now, what\u2019s likely to happen next, where they stand, and how to proceed. <\/span><\/p>\n

We believe that for most companies<\/span>\u2014<\/span>any company that might cross paths with emergent tech<\/span>\u2014<\/span>patent landscape analysis is no less important than market research<\/b>. To illustrate that view, in this article, we\u2019ll share a case study we recently conducted on the smartwatch industry, which saw an enormous spike in new patents beginning around 2011. The vast majority were filed by tech companies, putting watchmakers at a tremendous competitive disadvantage in the soon-to-explode smartwatch market.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Note:<\/i><\/b> If you want one of our patent experts to see if and how this could apply to your company, <\/span><\/i>you can contact us here<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The Challenges Companies Face When Mapping the Smartwatch Patent Landscape<\/span><\/h2>\n

Despite the deficit of data on potential demand, if a legacy watch manufacturer had looked, seven or eight years ago, at the watch-related patents being filed, they would have learned that large, powerful tech companies were pouring tremendous resources into preparing to disrupt their industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

When businesses like Google, LG, and Apple all suddenly start focusing on smartwatches, it\u2019s a pretty clear indicator that industry players should ready themselves for tectonic shifts. And in order to do so, executives need to understand as accurately as possible exactly what the landscape looks like: <\/span><\/p>\n