Challenge
Despite systematically managing and maintain its 10,000+ patent portfolio assets, a global eCommerce business was not obtaining actionable strategic insight. Its incumbent approach merely facilitated basic tracking but failed to provide a clear understanding of how patents spanning multiple business lines, technologies, and jurisdictions aligned with core business objectives, particularly concerning licensing, litigation, or innovation.
The company needed to quickly shift from passive oversight to an approach that delivered ROI, transformed IP into a business-aligned asset, and informed decisions around R&D, market timing, and competitive positioning. Key hurdles included:
- Patent Complexity across a large, technically diverse portfolio requiring consistent, high-quality analysis at scale
- Gaps in understanding between legal, innovation, and product teams concerning the key aspects of particular assets
- Lack of a structured approach to prioritise patents by business value or market differentiation
Solution
Elevate implemented its proprietary F3 Analysis™ model, a business-centric framework for patent portfolio management. This model first reclassified the 10,000+ patents into three strategic tiers: Fundamental1, Fringe2, and Future3. It then evaluated each patent across three critical dimensions: technical strength, market relevance, and legal robustness. This comprehensive methodology enabled the company to distinguish core patents from peripheral ones and identify those supporting emerging opportunities. Key activities included:
- Surfacing Fundamental1 patents covering innovations like cloud-based order routing and last-mile delivery optimisation and then identifying assets with strong enforcement and licensing potential.
- Developing over 2800 structured claim charts for key Fundamental1 assets, providing litigation-ready materials and accelerating enforcement and licensing workflows.
- Flagging over 200 low-value Fringe2 patents, leading to their pruning through the customer’s Pay or Drop service and thereby reducing maintenance costs and decluttering the portfolio, while surfacing potential monetisation opportunities.
- Directing strategic prosecution of Future3 patents aligned with ongoing R&D initiatives, refining claim scopes, prioritising filings based on business goals, and enhancing visibility into long-term innovation assets.
- Applying consistent categorisation across the entire portfolio, accelerating strategic decision-making and improving alignment between legal, product, and innovation teams.
The project evolved into a core operational framework, with nine full-time Elevate professionals embedded within the customer’s IP operations, ensuring ongoing alignment with their evolving business and innovation priorities.
