WHY I DON'T BELIEVE IN PATENTS ANYMORE

why i don't believe in patents anymore
very often we get the following request
lars, i have a product idea, but i don't want to go out with it yet until i have a patent...
this is an old fashioned approach
a patent costs a lot of time and money
but without a patent my product can be copied?!
maybe!
if it really becomes a success, it will be copied anyway.
or the patent will be used as a template to develop their own better versions of the product
but lars, isn't it important to have a patent?
today, time to market is much more important
what should i do instead?!
GOING AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE TO THE MARKET AND WHEN THE COMPETITION HAS FINALLY REACTED, WE ALREADY STARTING WITH THE SECOND VERSION OF THE PRODUCT.
the money for the patent is better invested in raising awareness of the product.
and then expand the market as quickly as possible.
lars, why has that changed so dramatically?
for decades the markets worked the other way around...
we focused on research and patents because the markets were...
..very slow reacting
can you give some examples?!
new car models were released every 7 years
NEW FMCG PRODUCTS WERE PRESENTED ONCE A YEAR ON A TRADE SHOW AND NEEDED 12-18 MONTHS OF DEVELOPMENT
even new software products were released once a year
but that has changed a lot right?!
absolutely!
but isn't there an easier way?!
yes there is an easier way
stop trying to be perfect
but-quality?!
THE NEW DEFINITION OF QUALITY IS TO REACT TO CUSTOMER NEEDS THE FASTEST WAY POSSIBLE, NOT HAVING THE MOST PERFECT PRODUCT IN THE FIRST PLACE.
but how do we find out?!
definitely not by market research!
so what's the better way?!
also save the money for market research and go out to the market immediately.
but lar, if the product is a failure, it can damage our brand?!
for this reason, we often build test brands that have no direct connection to the actual brand.
but isn't it very time consuming to develop a complete brand as well?!
in fact we are doing that within the context of an innoweek
but how is it possible? normally you need several months for it?
focus.
we focus on the weekly goal and set clear deadlines. in this way we avoid the over perfectionism that is very common otherwise.
this means that the money i would have normally spent on patents and market researchis instead invested directly in the market launch??
exactly.
and what's even more important:
if it really turns out that the product is not accepted by the market, we will have burned much less money and can either concentrate on an iteration or on the next product idea.
all this in just one week instead of the usual months or years.
it's your choice;-)