The patent portfolio we are talking about is not a simple collection of multiple patents, but a group of patent clusters that are different from each other but interrelated and have certain internal relations. In this group of patent clusters, according to the relevance of enterprise technology and market, the structure and quantity distribution of patents are designed around different application effects, and relying on the synergy between different patents, the limitations of a single patent can be effectively broken and the adverse effects caused by defects in patent literature writing can be eliminated.
The technical protection of a single patent has obvious limitations. For example, it is obviously not enough to protect only the shape and structure of a product, but also the material, production technology and production equipment of the product and the new technical solutions that may appear in the application of the product in related fields. Otherwise, if only one aspect is protected, once the imitator or competitor evades the scope of patent protection by simply changing or evading the strategy, the patentee will lose substantial control over the innovative technology. If competitors bypass the patent protection scope of technology holders, they will inevitably apply for patents in other aspects of products, such as the secondary innovation results generated when products are combined with other technologies, new technical solutions generated in further research and development, application effects and new technical solutions and solutions formed in application fields. Then the enterprise that holds the original technology, because there is no patent portfolio, will be helpless after a single patent is besieged, and will hand over the technology and market to competitors in vain.
The advantage of patent portfolio lies in that a group of patents can cover the core patents of innovative technology and the peripheral patents generated by various new technical schemes such as optimization, improvement, technology portfolio and application expansion. The combination of core patent and peripheral patent is a common form of patent combination. Of course, the patent portfolio is actually dynamic, which also includes technological development, product upgrading, market demand and changes in the competitive environment. According to the actual needs, technology holders can apply for patents in the patent portfolio and adjust the scale and structure of the patent portfolio in time. Only in this way can the patent portfolio comprehensively and effectively protect innovative technologies, enhance the lasting control of enterprises over technology, improve the patent defense ability of enterprises, and prevent competitors from coveting and provoking.