Design Patent Map: An Innovative Measure for Corporative Design Strategies

Abstract

:The design patent map is one of the essential strategic measures for formulating design strategies. Because the design patent is considered less definite than other patent categories, it is relatively difficult to create a design patent map. No study has been discovered in a worldwide search of patent documents or publications that is relevant to design patent maps, proving the innovative nature of this study. The authors have extracted 96 representative works for bicycle frame design patents that were published from 1992 to 2003 and have used them as the study samples. To ensure precise interpretation of the technical data of bicycle frames and to create the design patent map, the authors have interviewed 11 design patent examiners who have an average of 10 years of experience in patent examination, and are currently working in the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office. Based on the matrix for the available patenting capability and the degree of need for patents, the authors have further converted the design patent map into nine feasibly specific design strategies: (1) overall seizure, (2) expansion, (3) closing-in, (4) envelopment, (5) dispersion, (6) pincer attack, (7) division, (8) deviation, and (9) abandonment. As a result, enterprises will be able to employ the design patent map developed in this study to customize their own design strategies. Such a strategic measure will soon become a new competitive edge for enterprises with the arrival of the knowledge economy era.

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