On Marketing

Patent reform got a lot of attention in 2008. Depending on your point of view, the United States patent system is either badly flawed or just fine, thank you. Court decisions have forced inventors and their counsel to reconsider the way patent claims are drawn and even whether certain kinds of inventions - such as business methods and computer software - are patentable at all.

What does this have to do with marketing? Well, before you start to market a product or service you had better figure out your unique position in the marketplace. This may have nothing to do with technology; your unique market position may be more related to something like channel presence or pricing. But if you are marketing a first-of-its-kind product, one element of your uniqueness will likely be technical novelty. And one way to protect that unique position is through the patent system. (more…)