In the United States alone, an average of 12000 IP cases are filed in the federal courts every year. The number is enough to show that with growing innovation, the risk on Intellectual Property is rising like never before. If we talk about China, the number of IP cases has doubled from the year 2013 to 2017. The trend is not just limited to the countries like the United States or China, but it is pretty much the same around the globe. It is pretty apparent that when the number of Intellectual Property rises, the risk associated with it will also increase. IP risk management will only be more prevalent in the future with a growing number of threats on Intellectual Properties all around the globe.
Don’t you think it shows the potential in the IP litigation industry in the coming future?
Sure, it does. But that does not mean that everything is as easy as it sounds. The same potential is also going to bring various new challenges to the future of the IP litigation industry. We can already see some of those challenges arising in the industry and taking shape for the future.
History has taught us, “if you do not transform with time, you become irrelevant with the changing time.”
We have thousands of examples of how industry leaders came to a position where they had to file for bankruptcy. By the way, the litigation industry was lucky enough to be involved in all such cases, at least during the filing of bankruptcy. We have a lot to learn from all these instances to avoid such situations in the future.
Technology has enabled the world to transform a complete industry faster than ever before. The introduction of the iPhone in 2007 gave birth to the smartphone industry, which has become a part of our daily life nowadays. Nokia was the market leader in the feature phone market at that time, and soon they lost their glory, and we know what happened to them after that.
We have another great example from a recent time when Indian business tycoon Mukesh Ambani launched his ambitious project Jio to completely revolutionize the Indian telecom sector. After the launch of Jio, more than 15 telecom companies operating in India had to shut down their operations. There will be only four telecom operators in India in 2021, including the government-backed BSNL. The data used in India rose by a whopping 4160% after the launch of Jio in India.
That is more than enough to show how important it is to follow the trends to never get out of the game. Now that we know the importance let’s move to the challenges of the IP litigation industry.
Impact of technology
The impact of technology is the key reason that is transforming not only the IP litigation industry but the litigation industry in general too. The story remains true for other industries as well. The biggest challenge about technology is that you never know what is going to be the next thing in the industry. People are there trying to find innovative ways to disrupt an industry every single day. Being defensive is not a great idea in this case. The only way you can counter the impact of technology in your industry is by innovating for new ways yourself.
You need to make sure that your innovation remains in the sink with the other things going around the litigation industry. How can you expect to protect someone else’s invention if you cannot innovate yourself? You should always be looking for new advancements in technologies and how you can leverage them to do something better for your industry. You can never get kicked out if you are the one who is making a move to a better future. It is easy to get kicked out if you are waiting for someone else to make a move and then follow their path.
The evolving role of patent attorneys
The role of patent attorneys has evolved a lot in recent years, and there is a lot to expect in the future. If we compare the role of patent attorneys today from just one or two decades ago, we can already see a lot of changes. Earlier, patent attorneys had to go through various books and patent offices just to research about a patent which is easily available online these days. With the advancement of technology and artificial intelligence in the IP litigation industry, most of the common things are automated these days. It has allowed the IP attorneys to focus on the things that are more important to them.
IP attorneys can also use the advanced software that allows them to track all the updates on their patent application without the need to be there physically. These are just a few examples of how technologies have affected the role of IP attorneys over the years. The potential is endless as technology is still getting better every single day. The third decade of the 21st century will bring advancements in artificial intelligence like never before. The IP litigation industry will surely not be left out from the list of industries with many potential transformations with the help of artificial intelligence and technology. The increasing number of intellectual properties all around the globe will be another reason for the same. Considering all the factors, you need to keep an eye on every small change coming in the industry day by day to never be irrelevant.
