Issue:
A Project Manager at a large petroleum company needed to understand the Intellectual Property relating to the use of supercritical fluids (SCFs) in chemical processing. The specific technology they wished to patent was of high importance to the company’s future, and the Project Manager needed confidence that they completely understood this space before investing significant time and money.
Analyst Approach:
Nerac analysts skilled in chemical research advised the client of the high concentrations of patents as well as several opportunities which existed in the use of SCFs. The Nerac team also identified several competitor’s whose patenting strategies were intentionally obscuring their holdings from ready identification. Not recognizing the tactics and patenting trends could have caused significant problems for our client as they attempted to expand their own IP holdings in the future.
Client Benefit:
A client was able to develop a patenting strategy which would ensure that their competition would not be able to block further development of this technology. Through the Nerac analysis, they are now prepared to defend any attempts to invalidate their patents, also, giving them a strong position as they develop this highly-critical SCF method.