Patent Citation Monitoring: 3 Reasons It Strengthens Your Patent Strategy
A strong patent strategy depends on knowing how your technology shapes the market. Companies often monitor competitors, markets, and new publications, but many overlook one of the clearest signals of influence: who cites their patents. Gathering competitive intelligence (CI) is an essential activity for companies developing innovative technologies and products. That information can come from trade shows, customers, or regular tracking of patent and non-patent publications. For companies that hold intellectual property, there is an added layer of CI worth tracking: monitoring who cites, or refers to, their patents.
A Real-World Example: GE's Unducted Fan Engine
In 1985, General Electric debuted an unducted-fan aircraft engine, the GE36. There was no cowl around the fan, so it worked much like a large propeller. In 2021, CFM International, a joint venture between GE and Safran established in 1974, announced its intent to revisit the unducted engine program, now called RISE (Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines). A patent citation analysis could help determine how competitors built on the original technology, and whether those developments restricted the whitespace needed for the RISE program.
The Questel-Orbit patent platform was used to research GE's initial patents on the unducted fan engine, with keyword and assignee filters. The key General Electric patent, Unducted, Counterrotating Gearless Front Fan Engine (1990, US4976102), describes a gas turbine engine with an unducted fan section and a booster compressor. The unducted fan section also includes counter-rotating, spaced-apart, variable-pitch fan blade rows that connect to the first and second drive shafts.
A citing patent search on this patent identifies 89 patent families. Of those, 66 are still active and need further analysis. From this list, the assignees of those patents were identified, and the technologies within them examined. Excluding GE itself and its joint venture partner Safran, these patents represent six different companies, either competitors or clients of GE. Without first conducting a patent citation search, GE could risk infringing on existing patents or failing to make its new technology competitive. A patent landscape analysis supports this kind of work, helping organizations understand competitive positioning and emerging patent activity.
Three Reasons Citation Monitoring Improves Your Patent Strategy
There are three key reasons to monitor where, and by whom, your patents are being cited. Each one feeds directly into a smarter, more proactive patent strategy.
1. Identify Adjacent Uses for Your Technology
The first reason is to find adjacent uses for your technology. Pinpointing additional industries where your technology can be applied presents opportunities for expansion or additional sales. These insights can also help organizations identify licensing opportunities and new areas for technology commercialization.
2. Find Targets for Partnership or Acquisition
The second reason is to identify potential targets for partnership or acquisition. If your business is considering expansion, companies that are patenting technology that cites your patents may be worth pursuing. Reviewing the adjacent technologies others have created can also open the door to collaboration and business partnerships.
3. Stay Ahead of Potential Infringement
Finally, patent citation monitoring helps you stay on top of potential infringement issues. Citations can be made by either the patent applicant and inventor or the patent examiner. Those made by the examiner are considered higher-value citations because the examiner has experience with other patented technologies. Watching which patents cite yours, and who cites them, is a reliable way to spot infringement risk early and protect your intellectual property.
How Citing Alerts Keep Your Patent Strategy Current
Citation activity does not stand still, so a one-time search only tells part of the story. Setting up citation alerts lets you track new patents that reference yours as they are published, rather than finding out months later. Ongoing Critical Updates and automated alerts turn citation monitoring into a steady stream of intelligence, helping you act on adjacent uses, partnership leads, and infringement risks while they still matter. Pairing citing alerts with regular patent research keeps your patent strategy aligned with how the market is actually moving.
Why Use Nerac for Patent Citation Monitoring
Effective patent intelligence requires more than database access. It requires experienced analysis and the ability to connect technical findings to business strategy. Nerac combines patent research expertise with competitive intelligence insight to help organizations identify potential IP risks, uncover whitespace opportunities, and better understand evolving competitive landscapes.
Regular citation monitoring can also help organizations spot shifts in competitor activity and emerging technologies before they materially affect the market.
Whether you are evaluating competitive activity, exploring adjacent technologies, or assessing potential IP risks, Nerac delivers actionable intelligence to support informed strategic decisions. Contact us to learn more about our patent research and citation analysis capabilities.
About the Analyst
Miriam Efken, MSc, is an analyst at Nerac with expertise in aerospace engineering, mechanical systems, and aviation technologies. Before joining Nerac, she spent 12 years at GE Aerospace supporting aircraft engine design, testing, certification, and performance improvement initiatives across both commercial and military programs. Her work focused on compressor module systems, vibration analysis, lifecycle performance, and domestic and European certification activities.
Through GE’s Edison Engineering Development Program, Miriam gained cross-disciplinary engineering experience while earning her MSc in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Cincinnati. Her background includes supporting engine development programs from technology demonstration through full engine testing, while collaborating across engineering disciplines and customer teams to optimize system performance. Miriam brings a systems-level perspective that enables her to evaluate complex technical challenges, connect disparate data sets, and identify actionable insights for clients across a range of industrial sectors.
Academic Credentials
- MSc, Aerospace Engineering, University of Cincinnati
- BSc, Aeronautical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
