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IP Management Pulse #47
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Your inbox-insider from Prof. Wurzer every two weeks
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Here are the topics of this issue:
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- Industry-dependence of IP expertise
- Growing economic relevance of design protection
- Pruning bloated patent portfolios
- How to teach IP analytics
- How to leverage IP in partnerships
- Strategic networking
- The innovator’s dilemma
- New IP market data
- IP strategies for renewables
- How wearables build and defend competitive advantages with IP
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I wish you an exciting and informative read. I look forward to your comments and our exchange on LinkedIn.
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The most discussed LinkedIn post
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Industry-dependence of IP expertise
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The recent GTT case around Hybrid Access Network patents illustrates well how GTT aligned its portfolio with telecom industry dynamics. By anticipating the convergence of network access technologies, they built assets that others in the sector recognized as valuable. This is IP that resonates with the market, attracts interest, and creates leverage.
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Summary of the Discussion
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Companies don’t just need IP experts — they need IP experts who understand the industry they operate in. Only then can IP strategy match technological change, competitive pressures, and investment logic. Experience, context, and timing matter as much as the legal framework itself.
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The discussions below this post covered the following topics:
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- How to find the value positions in your industry
- How to draft narrow patent claims around industry-specific value drivers
- How to train IP experts holistically in business and legal matters
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And here are some useful and further links:
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Understanding Industry as a Patent Attorney: Key Takeaways from the Business Talk with Berd Boesherz
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Driving Innovation in Steel: How to Use Patent Intelligence for a Competitive Edge
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Growing economic relevance of design protection
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The visual design of products is becoming an ever more powerful differentiating factor in the market. Therefore, design rights and the resulting exclusivity are a cornerstone of modern IP management.
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And here are some useful and further links:
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Design Rights: Protecting Visual Innovation
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Dyson’s Bagless Vacuum Cleaner: A Case Study in IP Management
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Pruning bloated patent portfolios
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Studies show that most patents held by companies have little to no value. Patent portfolio pruning can be a way to free resources, which can be invested in value creation.
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And here are some useful and further links:
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Patent Portfolio Management
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Operational IP Portfolio Management
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How to teach IP analytics
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IP analytics is the foundation on which the competitive positioning in the market rests. If neglected, product developers may create innovations, which can never be sold, because the company lacks freedom to operate. One way how to teach IP analytics to IP experts and laymen alike are serious games.
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And here are some useful and further links:
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Combining human and artificial intelligence for patent searches
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How to leverage IP in partnerships
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Partnerships are in the digital and collaborative knowledge economy the main tool to accelerate growth. But long-term economic success is only possible through the appropriate handling of intellectual property in collaborations.
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And here are some useful and further links:
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Before the Dance Begins: Why IP Preparation Determines the Success of Partnerships
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Navigating the Evolving Landscape of IP Collaboration: Challenges, Solutions, and the Role of Digital Transformation
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Whom to follow on LinkedIn
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Simon Bradbury is patent attorney and partner at Withers & Rogers. On his LinkedIn feed he provides information about current court decisions and conferences in the biotech sector. If you want to keep up with those trends in the UK and the US, I suggest to follow him.
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Stephen Yang is managing partner of IP March and operates from both Beijing and Toronto. He shares on his LinkedIn feed the latest developments in China's IP landscape and what is important to know for foreign investors and companies. Additionally, he supports the IP business academy as a local ambassador partner. If you consider to enter the Chinese market, I recommend following him.
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Digital Marketing: Email Course Digital Marketing
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In today’s digital-first world, a strong online presence is no longer optional — it’s essential. This email course is designed specifically for IP experts who want to improve their visibility, attract better-fit clients, and communicate their expertise with clarity and confidence.
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Business Development: Referral Marketing for IP Experts
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This course covers all essential aspects of referral marketing, from the fundamentals of referral power in IP consulting to building a strong network, crafting an elevator pitch, leveraging LinkedIn, implementing referral programs, nurturing client relationships, collaborating with partners, and analysing referral sources.
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IP Management for Scale-ups
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Welcome to IP Management Voice, your podcast about Intellectual Property (IP) Management and our next big AI experiment. Listen to our latest episodes:
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#61 Operational IP Management for Industry about Per Wendin
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#62 Out-Licensing IP: Timing, Value, Culture about Sonja London
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Strategic networking: turning contacts into alliances
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By columnist Giulia Donato, Brand & Communication Consultant at people and brand strategies
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Since 2024, professional (online) communities have become one of the most effective ways to grow both visibility and business. They go far beyond traditional networking: they’re built around shared goals, content exchange, and mutual learning.
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For IP experts, this means joining (or even creating) communities where peers, clients, and innovators meet, such as LinkedIn groups, IP think tanks, or niche industry forums. These spaces allow you to demonstrate expertise in context and connect through shared purpose rather than self-promotion.
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Building a strong network isn’t about being everywhere or knowing everyone. It’s about being strategically present in the right places, and with the right people. When done consciously, networking stops being a side activity and becomes what it truly is: an extension of your brand.
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The innovator’s dilemma – Case study 5G/6G
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Featuring Sudeep Hegde, Senior Communication Systems Researcher at SHARP Laboratories of America
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"The innovator’s dilemma" was first described in 1997 by Prof. Clayton M. Christensen from Harvard Business School in his famous book with the same name. The innovator's dilemma describes the situation in which large, traditional companies suddenly fail when new, innovative companies enter the market. These new companies create new markets, which are destroying or disrupting old markets, bringing down the incumbent companies. This failure of traditional companies happens often although or because the companies just behave according to the best management practice. In his DU oral exam, 2025 graduate Sundeep Hegde used the example of 5G/6G in telecommunications to describe the phenomenon.
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What the new market data means for competition, expert branding, and digital business development in German patent practice
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Featuring Malte Köllner, Partner at Köllner & Partner mbB, Patent Attorneys
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The latest statistical portrait of Germany’s patent-attorney market is sobering — and clarifying. Supply has expanded far faster than the demand indicators most firms rely on. From 2001 to 2024, the number of German patent attorneys grew by roughly 115%, while domestic patent filings fell about 13% and utility models by 52%. Contested proceedings have dropped sharply as well. Meanwhile, European filings expanded overall, but German representatives captured that growth only under-proportionally. Layer on an accelerating wave of AI-enabled automation, and the competitive picture comes into focus: capacity is up, classic volume pools are flat or shrinking, and routine work is under pressure.
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The IP world in a picture
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IP strategies for renewables
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Renewable energy is a growing sector, especially in emerging markets, such as China, India, and Brazil. But also in western countries, energy companies are divesting from fossil energy production and are building new wind and solar farms. This shift can also be seen in the evolution of the IP portfolios of those companies. A prominent example is the Norwegian company Equinor, previously Statoil, whose portfolio was analysed by DU graduate Kenneth Bech for his oral defence. More information can be found in the following blogpost:
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University Diploma - Intellectual Property and Business Administration at CEIPI
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Master of Intellectual Property Law and Management (MIPLM) at CEIPI
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From wrist to ecosystem: how wearables build and defend competitive advantages with IP
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Wearables are a showcase for IP strategy because they merge hardware, software, design, and branding into one product category that fuels entire digital ecosystems. Competitive advantage comes from patents on sensors and algorithms, design rights on form factors and GUIs, and trademarks that build user trust in health data.
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