IP-based SWOT Analysis – Valio
For:
September 14, 2014
1
Table of Content
1
2
3
Overview ........................................................................................................................ 3
1.1 Objective of the SWOT Analysis .............................................................................. 3
1.2
Methodology Used to Conduct the SWOT Analysis ................................................ 4
1.3
Common Assumptions across the Study ................................................................. 6
Overall Patent Portfolio Analysis ................................................................................... 7
2.1 Overall Analysis of Valio’s Portfolio ........................................................................ 7
2.1.1
Break-up of Valio’s Patent Portfolio in to Technology Categories .................. 7
2.1.2
Technology-wise Filing Trends of Valio’s Patent Portfolio .............................. 9
Category-level Analysis: Milk Products & Technologies .............................................. 11
3.1 Subcategory-level Break-up of Valio’s Patents in Milk Products Category .......... 11
3.2
Key IP Holding Companies in Lactose-free Milk Products Subcategory ............... 13
3.3
Valio’s Portfolio vs IP Competitors in Lactose-free Milk Category ....................... 15
3.4
Countries of First Patent Filing: Valio vs Competitors .......................................... 17
3.5
Countries of Patent Protection (Patent Deposition): Valio vs Competitors ......... 19
3.6
Patent Grant Analysis: Valio vs Competitors ........................................................ 22
3.6.1
4
Grant-time Ratio ............................................................................................ 22
Annexure ...................................................................................................................... 27
4.1 Definitions ............................................................................................................. 27
4.2
Term Set ................................................................................................................ 27
4.3
Relevant Classes Identified ................................................................................... 28
4.4
Search Strings ........................................................................................................ 28
4.5
Data Sources.......................................................................................................... 28
2
1
1.1
Overview
Objective of the SWOT Analysis
Valio has a patent portfolio covering Dairy and other food products and related processing technologies.
The complete patent portfolio SWOT analysis encompasses:
Analysis of Valio’s patent portfolio at a standalone level to identify Valio’s strengths and
weaknesses; and
Analysis of Valio’s patent portfolio vis-à-vis the IP Competitors’ patent portfolios to identify
external threats and opportunities for Valio.
Please note: For this study, the stand-alone analysis of Valio’s patent portfolio has been done at overall
portfolio level, technology category levels (such as Milk products, Bacterial cultures etc.).
However, the comparative analysis of Valio’s portfolio, w.r.t. the competitors, has only been done for one of
the “technology subcategory levels” (namely, Lactose-free Milk) to identify the opportunities and
weaknesses w.r.t. to Lactose-free Milk Products.
3
1.2
Methodology Used to Conduct the SWOT Analysis
The following table lists down the activities involved in conducting the SWOT analysis.
Activity
Activity 1:
Identifying all the
subsidiaries/Name Variants of
Valio, i.e., all those entities in
whose name Valio may hold
any patents
1.
2.
3.
4.
Activity 2:
1.
Identifying Relevant IPC
classes in Valio’s Patent
Portfolio
2.
Activity 3:
1.
Manual analysis of classes to
form technology categories
2.
Activity 4:
1.
Obtaining bibliographic data,
assignment data, legal status
data, priority country,
countries of deposition and
other information for further
statistical analysis
Step-wise details of the activity
Activities to obtain Valio’s IP Data
Obtaining list of Valio’s subsidiaries/ Name
Variants from Valio’s website & patent
database.
Conducting secondary searches on the
Google.
Conducting searches on Hoovers,
Bloomberg and other business research
websites.
Obtaining list of Valio’s subsidiaries from
Questel Orbit’s Corporate Tree.
Output
List of all subsidiaries/ Name
Variants of Valio, i.e., all those
entities in whose name Valio may
hold any patents
Identifying all patents and patent
applications assigned to Valio and its
subsidiaries filed on or after 1st Jan, 1990.
Identifying different technologies (on the
basis of the focus of claims) in which these
patents/ applications fall.
List of all unique technology
categories in which Valio’s
patents fall
Manually analyzing all patent families
identified from above step.
Grouping these patent families into
technology categories.
List of technology categories,
along with the patent families
that are included in each
technology category
Extracting all relevant bibliographic
information about Valio’s patents / patent
applications for use in further analysis
Bibliographic data for each patent
/ application in Valio’s portfolio
Activities to Identify Competitors and Obtaining their IP Data
1. Selecting one technology category from
Valio’s Technology Category for
comparative analyses
the list of technology categories identified
Identifying a Valio Technology
from Activity 3 on the basis of Valio’s IP
Category for Comparative
portfolio and recent patent filing trend
Analyses
2. Designing Narrow keyword-/IPC classbased searches to capture patents in the
technology category selected in above step
Activity 5:
Note that we have designed narrow searches so
as to capture key patents and not all the patent
in in the selected technology category
Activity 6:
1.
Identifying IP Competitors of
Valio
2.
3.
Performing patent/application searches
identified in Activity 5
Capturing all patent families having at least
one member falling in the selected
technology category.
Identifying 6 Key IP competitors (Top IP
Holding Companies and 1 Market
Competitor in the selected technology
category).
4
List of Valio’s 6 Key IP
Competitors
Activity 7:
1.
Obtaining bibliographic data,
assignment data, legal status
data, priority country,
countries of deposition and
other information for further
statistical analysis
Extracting all relevant bibliographic
information for each patent / patent
application belonging to Key IP
Competitors for further analysis.
Analyze filing trends of Valio
vis-a-vis different competitors
Analysis and Brainstorming to Dig Out Insights
Extracting the first filing year data of the
patent families assigned to Valio and Key IP
Competitors.
2. Plotting the total number of patent families
along with the first filing year to generate a
line graph for the selected technology
category.
Activity 9:
1.
Activity 8:
Analyzing countries of IP
Origin of Valio vis-a-vis
different IP competitors
Activity 10:
Analyzing countries of IP
protection of Valio vis-a-vis
different competitors
Activity 11:
1.
2.
1.
2.
1.
Analyze average grant time
and current status of
portfolios
2.
3.
4.
Bibliographic data for each patent
/ application belonging to Key IP
Competitors.
A line graph prepared depicting
the filing trends for the selected
technology category for Valio
assets and each identified Key IP
Competitor.
Collecting the priority countries
(jurisdictions of first filing) for each of the
patent families of Valio and Key IP
Competitors.
Preparing charts using the priority
countries data.
Pie charts created depicting the
jurisdictions of the priority
countries.
Collecting the deposition countries
(jurisdictions of filing) for each of the
patent families of Valio and Key IP
Competitors.
Preparing heat maps using the deposition
countries data.
Heat maps created depicting the
jurisdictions of the deposition
countries.
Collecting the filing date and issue date for
each of the granted patents including the
active and expired patents for each of the
patent families of Valio and Key IP
Competitors.
Calculating the time duration between
filing date and issue date for each of the
granted patents.
Preparing a line graph and a bar graph
based on the calculated data.
Collecting the total number of Active
patents/applications (granted & alive
patents and pending applications) and
Expired patent/applications (granted &
expired patents and rejected/abandoned
applications) for each of the patent families
of Valio and Key IP Competitors
Graphs and charts depicting the
time duration taken during patent
application examination period,
current legal status of all
patents/applications
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1.3
Common Assumptions across the Study
Assumptions and Disclaimer
1. Questel Orbit database was used for conducting Patent searches.
2. The term 'Patent' has been used as a collective term for Patents and Published Applications.
3. Current analysis is purely based on Narrow Keyword-/IPC Class-based searches and no manual screening of
patents obtained from various searches was done to filter out noise, and accuracy of analysis is limited by this. A
more accurate analysis can be undertaken which includes manual screening of hits from the search to remove
noise and produce more accurate and actionable study.
4. The patent search has been conducted on September 14, 2014. Patent application filed after this date will not
capture and have not been considered in this IP-based SWOT analysis.
5. For the current study patents/applications filed on or after 1st Jan, 1990 have been considered. Further, only those
patents/applications that are currently assigned to Valio have been considered.
6. Legal Status Analysis has been done on the basis of data obtained from Questel Orbit database.
7. The purpose of this study is to provide initial direction to help Valio take further decision to get more accurate and
detailed studies conducted. Sagacious spent a limited time on this study to collect data and compile insights, etc.
8. The accuracy of information presented is limited by the time spent and Sagacious does not guarantee the
accuracy of this study. Sagacious recommends that Valio gets more detailed and accurate studies conducted (as
also suggested throughout this report) before taking any actions based on insights presented in this report.
Sagacious assumes no liability of any decisions/ actions taken by any person/ company based on the information
presented in this report.
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2
Overall Patent Portfolio Analysis
2.1
Overall Analysis of Valio’s Portfolio
2.1.1
Break-up of Valio’s Patent Portfolio in to Technology Categories
Illustration-1: Pie Chart Depicting Distribution of Valio’s Patent Portfolio in various technology categories
Caesin Hydrolysate & Others
Milk Products & Technologies
14%
Cheese Products & Technologies
14%
14%
11%
Bacteria & Culture & Technologies
22%
Peptides & Technologies
19%
Analytical/ Therapeutic
Technologies
6%
Others
Analysis and Observations from Sagacious
What are the main observations?



Valio’s IP lines related to ‘Milk Products’ and ‘Caesin Hydrolysate’ technology categories seem to be well
protected and may lead to a strong position in the domain.
Valio’s IP lines related to the ‘Cheese Products’ technology category may be vulnerable (i.e., weakly protected by
IP).
Valio has fair IP coverage in the domains of ‘Bacteria & Culture’ technology
What actions can Valio take in light of the observation?



Valio can study the IP landscape in the following areas to strengthen this particular area; also Valio can study the
IP landscape in other areas to find new trends and scopes:
 Caesin Hydrolysate
 Cheese Products
 Bacteria & Culture
 Peptides
Valio can acquire small companies that are innovating in above mentioned technology category;

Valio should actively check if its products in ‘Milk Products’ and ‘Bacteria & Culture’ technologies infringe on
IP owned by another entities/organizations.
Valio should explore what its core competitors are doing outside their core business and have they explored any
additional application areas of their technologies and/or have extended their research to some nearby technology
areas.
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How Sagacious can help Valio in these actions?



An IP landscape analysis (including manual analysis of all relevant patents by technology and IP strategy experts)
in the area of Milk Products and Cheese Products categories to identify innovation/ technology trends, key
inventors / small assignees as IP acquisition targets or collaborators, etc.
IP landscape analysis (including manual analysis of all relevant patents by technology and IP strategy experts) in
the areas of Peptides and Analytical/Therapeutic Technologies to determine inventions specifically in these
technology areas (i.e., in areas that are not related to Milk Production), application areas, technology trends, key
inventors / small assignees / Universities as IP acquisition targets or collaborators
Semi-automated Portfolio analysis (using our in-house algorithm and manual vetting by technology and IP
experts) to mine and identify top patents in Milk Products and Caesin Hydrolysate categories and shortlist top
patents for detailed commercialization analysis through licensing / selling.
8
2.1.2
Technology-wise Filing Trends of Valio’s Patent Portfolio
Illustration-2: Trend-line Chart Depicting Technology-wise Filing Trends of Valio’s Patent Portfolio
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Milk Products
Peptides
Analytical/ Therapeutic Technologies
Cheese Products
Bacteria & Culture
Caesin Hydrolysate & Others
Analysis and Observations from Sagacious
What are the main observations?





Valio has been filing patent applications in all technology categories in the years 2005-2009.
There was a trough in filing in 2003 and a peak in the years 2008-2009.
A significant less number of the filing is observed in recent years, particularly since 2010. Assuming that R&D spend
has been consistent over these years, this drop may be due to any one of the following:
 Valio has started focusing on quality of patent applications rather than quantity in order to optimize
the IP spends. This may be verified based on an analysis of how many patents / applications may have
been discontinued.
 Either the cost of innovation has increased over time leading to lesser conversion into IP or the
innovation groups have hit a road block to innovate at the same pace in these technology areas.
Valio’s declining patenting or filing in the Bacteria & Culture and Analytical/Diagnostic categories may be making
various product lines weakly protected by IP for future.
In recent years, Valio’s seems to be focusing on patenting or filing in the Milk Products, Cheese Products and Peptides
categories for making these product lines strongly protected by IP for future.
What actions can Valio take in light of the observation?



Valio can study the IP landscape in various technology areas to find out new trends and white spaces to identify new
areas for generating IP in line with ongoing market direction.
Valio can continue to retain their important inventors and keep innovating. At the same time, Valio can be on a
lookout for top inventors from the competitors, to speed up innovation.
Valio can also look for acquisition targets and/or can collaborate with some universities/ institutional researcher who
9
have authored multiple inventions in the past to keep up the innovation trend northbound.
How Sagacious can help Valio in these actions?






IP landscape analysis (including manual analysis of all relevant patents by technology and IP strategy experts) in the
various areas to determine inventions specifically in these technology areas, application areas, technology trends, key
inventors / small assignees / Universities as IP acquisition targets or collaborators.
Study of competitor’s portfolio (including manual analysis of all relevant patents by technology and IP strategy
experts) to identify areas where they have diversified into and present other possible research areas.
Conduct patent monitoring in these technology areas to keep you updated on new market trends.
Quick screening searches to screen out non-patentable ideas at a very early stage to save R&D cost.
Detailed prior-art searches to assist in better quality and focused patent drafting, thereby reducing prosecution cost.
High quality patent drafting of applications and provide a single point of contact for converting the parent application
to suit each of additional patent offices, thereby reducing IP spend on drafting, patent format conversions and
prosecution.
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3
Category-level Analysis: Milk Products & Technologies
In this section, we will provide analysis corresponding to a particular technology category - “Milk Products”.
This selection has been done so that we can showcase more objective and micro-level analysis of the
portfolio and not show just general trends which may not be applicable against all the categories. Note that,
for now, we have done the analysis only for one technology category but similar analysis can be done for
other categories as well.
3.1
Subcategory-level Break-up of Valio’s Patents in Milk Products Category
The “Milk Products” category as shown below can be further divided into technology Subcategories based on
the type of milk product produced (Lactose-free milk, Ester milk etc.).
For the comparative analysis, we have selected Lactose-free Milk Subcategory on the basis of Valio’s filing
trend in recent years.
Note that for now, the analysis for only one technology Subcategory has been performed; however we can
do the same for other Subcategories as well, such as Ester Milk (milk with Stanol & Sterol ester).
Illustration-3: Pie Chart Depicting Distribution of Valio’s Patent Portfolio in various Subtechnology Categories
Lactose-free Milk
Acidified Milk
11%
12%
8%
8%
Ester Milk
Low/High Calcium Milk
19%
Infant Formula
42%
Others (Milk with additional
galactooligosaccharides)
Analysis and Observations from Sagacious
What are the main observations?


Valio is mainly focusing on the ‘Lactose-free Milk’ technology Subcategory (~42% of its patents related to the Milk
Products’ technology category), followed by Acidified milk, Ester Milk, High/Low-calcium Milk and Infant Formula
Subcategories.
Low/High-calcium Milk Subcategory is not highly researched by Valio.
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What actions can Valio take in light of the observation?




Valio may study the IP landscape related to above mentioned technology Subcategories.
Valio may acquire patents in the above mentioned technology categories.
Valio may study what their competitors are doing under the ‘Lactose-free Milk’ category and how their IP is
distributed.
Valio can even study the head of their IP under a category/ Subcategory to see where they are headed.
How Sagacious can help Valio in these actions?

Perform an IP landscape analysis in the “High/Low-calcium Milk” or “Infant Formula” Subcategories to identify the
innovation trends, white spaces or patents for acquisition in this area.
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3.2
Key IP Holding Companies in Lactose-free Milk Products Subcategory
Illustration-4: The Chart Depicting IP assets of Valio, key IP Holding Companies in Lactose-free Milk Subcategory
Analysis and Observations from Sagacious
What do the numbers in the above chart mean?

The numbers above the bars of the charts are representing the total number of patent families those are focusing
on the Lactose-free Milk technology Subcategory.
What are the main observations?



Valio is IP leader in Lactose-free Milk Subcategory.
Mengniu Dairy and Yili Group are the top IP competitors amongst other market competitors, such as Arla.
Yili Group, Kraft Foods and Fonterra have the similar distribution of patents families with respect to each other.
How do these observations impact Valio?

Valio’s products may have potential threats from Mengniu Dairy and Yili Group for IP lines related to the Lactosefree Milk.
What actions can Valio take in light of the observation?





Valio can file more patent applications in the areas of other Milk Product categories, such as Peptides and fortified
milk products.
Keeping watch on the filing by its competitors on Lactose-free Milk and Caesin Hydrolysate technology categories.
Create an ammunition for defense against Mengniu Dairy and Yili Group.
Identify basic patents of Competitors that Valio’s products might infringe and try to invalidate them.
Detailed study of competitor’s Technology category patents.
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How Sagacious can help Valio in these actions?





Regularly monitor competitor’s activities.
Regularly monitor a technology area.
Monitor competitor’s advancement in different technology categories to provide information regarding areas of
research trending in the market.
Help identify potentially infringing products.
Prepare detailed claim charts providing evidence of use on infringing products.
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3.3
Valio’s Portfolio vs IP Competitors in Lactose-free Milk Subcategory
Illustration-5: The Chart Depicting Filing trends for Valio and key IP Holding Companies Lactose-free Milk Subcategory
Since Bulgarikum has not filed any patent after 1999, we have not included its trend-line in the current
Illustration.
15
Analysis and Observations from Sagacious
What are the main observations?




Valio is the IP leader in the area.
Valio appears to be the first one to start R&D in this domain and it is at par with all other Key IP holding
companies.
All companies other than Kraft Foods are still doing research in this area.
Valio’s potential products in the area may have potential threats from Arla’s IP lines.
What actions can Valio take in light of the observation?





Valio can file more patent applications in this area to get an edge over the competitors.
Keeping watch on the filing by its competitors in this technology category.
Create an ammunition for defense against competitors
Identify basic patents of Bayer & Merck that Valio’s products might infringe on and try to invalidate them.
Detailed study of competitor’s patents.
How Sagacious can help Valio in these actions?



Regularly monitor competitor’s activities.
Regularly monitor the technology area.
Monitor competitor’s advancement in the technology category to be pro-actively aware of research trends in the
market.
16
3.4
Countries of First Patent Filing: Valio vs Competitors
Illustration-6: Maps Depicting the comparisons of counties of First Patent Filing for Valio and Key IP Holding Companies.
2
9
Valio
1
3
3
Arla
Bulgarikum
1
4
5
Fonterra
Kraft
5
7
Mengniu Dairy
Yilli
17
Countries of Origin
Valio
Jurisdiction
Key IP Competitors
No. of patent Overall Percentage
families
(%)
Jurisdiction
No. of patent
families
Overall Percentage
(%)
FI
9
81.82
CN
12
41.38
US
2
18.18
US
7
24.14
NZ
4
13.79
DK
BG
3
3
10.35
10.35
Analysis and Observations from Sagacious
What are the main observations?





Valio and its competitors have preferentially chosen their respective home countries as their top destinations for
first filing.
Besides Valio, only Arla, Fonterra, and Kraft have chosen US as their first filing destination.
Mengniu Dairy and Yilli have chosen CN for all of their first filing whereas Bulgarikum has chosen only Belgium as
its first filing destination.
None of these companies have India as their research center. This may be an opportunity for Valio as India is a low
cost destination with significant number of English speaking and highly educated resources. Hence, cost, efficiency
and quality will be phenomenal.
So, it is mostly home country where research centers are operating.
What actions can Valio take in light of the observation?



Valio can file its first applications in CN where there is significantly growing market.
Valio can acquire IP licenses from others in those countries.
Valio can explore India as a possible research location
How Sagacious can help Valio in these actions?




Conduct searches using native languages in CN, DK & BG jurisdictions to identify any applications originating in
these countries and that may be available to be bought.
Filing of patent applications in Asian countries like China and India.
Help out with outsourced lab support in countries like China and India.
Help explore the possibility of using and enforcing the IP in and Belgium, Denmark & New Zealand.
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3.5
Countries of Patent Protection (Patent Deposition): Valio vs Competitors
Illustration-7: Maps Depicting the comparisons of counties of Patent Protection (Patent Deposition) for Valio and Key IP
Competitors
Valio
Arla
Mengniu dairy
Bulgarikum
Fonterra
Kraft
Yilli
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Countries of Deposition
VALIO
Key IP Competitors
Jurisdiction
No. of patent
families
Overall
Percentage
(%)
Jurisdiction
No. of patent
families
Overall
Percentage (%)
WO
9
12.68
CN
21
16.41
EP
7
9.86
US
11
8.59
FI
7
9.86
EP
10
7.81
US
7
9.86
CA
9
7.03
JP
6
8.45
JP
8
6.25
CN
5
7.04
AU
7
5.47
KR
5
7.04
KR
7
5.47
AU
4
5.63
WO
7
5.47
MX
3
4.23
AR
6
4.69
RU
3
4.23
RU
6
4.69
CA
2
2.82
BR
5
3.91
AR
1
1.41
MX
5
3.91
AT
1
1.41
NZ
4
3.13
BR
1
1.41
BG
3
2.34
DE
1
1.41
DK
3
2.34
DK
1
1.41
EA
3
2.34
ES
1
1.41
ES
2
1.56
HR
1
1.41
IN
2
1.56
IL
1
1.41
UY
2
1.56
NO
1
1.41
AP
1
0.78
PL
1
1.41
EG
1
0.78
PT
1
1.41
IL
1
0.78
SI
1
1.41
NO
1
0.78
ZA
1
1.41
PT
1
0.78
-
-
-
SI
1
0.78
-
-
-
ZA
1
0.78
Analysis and Observations from Sagacious
What are the main observations?






Valio has been very aggressive in expanding its portfolio globally.
Valio has better coverage in Europe and South-East Asia as compared to that of Kraft and Fonterra. So, Valio
should see if it can capitalize on this.
Valio does not have patent protection in India, whereas Arla and Foterra have patent protection in India.
Valio’ coverage in South American countries comparable to that of Kraft.
Valio might be losing markets in other countries which are aggressively covered by the competitors.
The trend coming here is through just one category and hence, should not be considered conclusive, but,
20
companies are not focusing much on South America and India. This can be a great opportunity for Valio.
What actions can Valio take in light of the observation?







Valio can file its applications in some countries such as India and other South American countries having
significantly strong market.
Valio can acquire IP licenses from others in those countries.
Valio can collaborate with IP holding companies in countries where competitors don’t have much IP and create
better barriers or create and advantageous position for self.
Valio should study overall trends of deposition of competitors and research the reasons for such trends to
determine if Valio is on the right track.
Valio should compare its global spread vs. competitors and take corrective actions if required. Also, study trends
in this research.
Countries like IN, CN, have the largest populations. Valio can focus more on filing more IP in these countries.
Competitors have strong presence in their home countries, Belgium, China and Denmark. So, Valio may be
infringing their patents in these countries. So, Valio can get FTOs conducted for any new launches in these
countries.
How Sagacious can help Valio in these actions?






Conduct FTO search in the high importance jurisdictions before launching new products.
Conduct searches using native languages in CN, DK, BG, jurisdictions to identify any partners in these areas.
Filing of patent applications in Asian countries.
Filing of patent applications in India.
Filing strategic continuations to expand patent portfolio.
Help explore the possibility of enforcing IP in South American countries.
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3.6
3.6.1
Patent Grant Analysis: Valio vs Competitors
Grant-time Ratio
Illustration-8: Line Graph Depicting comparisons of grant-time ratio of Valio and Key IP Competitors in Lactosefree Milk Category
Illustration-9: Bar Graph Depicting comparisons of year-wise grant-time ratio of Valio and Key IP Competitors in Lactosefree Milk Subcategory
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Analysis and Observations from Sagacious
What are the main observations?


Valio’s Competitor’s applications take longer to get granted.
Quality of patent applications may be better than the others.
What actions can Valio take in light of the observation?



Valio can keep on drafting its applications in a better way, i.e. better quality drafting.
Valio can conduct a comprehensive novelty search before filing to improve chances of getting a patent.
Valio should scout/ screen inventions thoroughly.
How Sagacious can help Valio in these actions?






Conduct novelty searches covering 100+ countries against new inventions. Have substantial structure and
sequence search experience.
Draft high quality patent applications.
Provide high-quality technical support during prosecution.
Help identify potential IP partners for acquisitions.
Provide single point of contact filing solutions.
Conduct technical due diligence to identify correct technologies to proceed with research on.
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3.6.3
Legal status distribution
Illustration-10: Pie Charts Depicting Legal Statuses of Valio’s and Key IP Competitors Patent Portfolio
Key IP Competitors
Alive
89.66%
Dead
10.34%
Above Legal status analysis is done on the family level.
Alive: This category includes patent families in which at least one member is alive (i.e. at least one patent in
the family is granted & active or at least one application is pending for grant).
Dead: This category includes patent families in which all the members are expired or rejected (.i.e. all the
granted members are either expired or revoked and all applications are abandoned, expired or rejected).
Analysis and Observations from Sagacious
What do the numbers in the above chart mean?

Pie charts are depicting legal status of all patent families of Valio and its Key IP Competitors in Lactose-free milk
Subcategory.
What are the main observations?

Valio has a higher number of dead families as compared to its competitors.
How do these observations impact TomTom?


Valio’ prosecution expenditure might be more than the competitors.
Key IP Competitors with higher percentage of active families may become threat to Valio.
What actions can TomTom take in light of the observation?



TomTom may draft its applications in a better way, i.e. better quality drafting.
TomTom may conduct a more comprehensive novelty search.
TomTom may need to acquire IP or strongly respond to other applications for its current pending applications to
ensure a strong IP position in market.
How Sagacious can help TomTom in these actions?


Conduct novelty searches covering 100+ countries against new inventions.
Draft patent applications.
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
Continued support during prosecution.
Assumptions and methodology to prepare the chart 20
1. Legal statuses of all the members of all the patent families have been obtained by Questel Orbit database.
2. Legal status analysis is done on the level of families.
25
Analysis and Observations from Sagacious
What are the main observations?


Valio’s Competitor’s applications take longer to get granted.
Quality of patent applications may be better than the others.
What actions can Valio take in light of the observation?



Valio can keep on drafting its applications in a better way, i.e. better quality drafting.
Valio can conduct a comprehensive novelty search before filing to improve chances of getting a patent.
Valio should scout/ screen inventions thoroughly.
How Sagacious can help Valio in these actions?






Conduct novelty searches covering 100+ countries against new inventions. Have substantial structure and
sequence search experience.
Draft high quality patent applications.
Provide high-quality technical support during prosecution.
Help identify potential IP partners for acquisitions.
Provide single point of contact filing solutions.
Conduct technical due diligence to identify correct technologies to proceed with research on.
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4
Annexure
4.1
Definitions
Term
Definitions
Overall Portfolio
Level
Overall Portfolio Level defines an organization’s total IP assets, different technology areas in
which said organization is working or worked and overall filing trends of this organization.
Technology Category Level defines a particular technology area of research and inventions.
Technology Category Level is being identified by categorization of patent classes (IPC, CPC classes)
of patents and filed applications.
Technology Subcategory Level defines a smaller area of a particular technology area. Technology
Subcategory Level is obtained by further drilling down that technology area in similar fashion.
‘Caesin Hydrolysate & Others’ is a technology category. The patents and patent applications fall in
this category are mainly focusing on Caesin Hydrolysate products and its production techniques.
Further patents focusing on butter, juice production have also been classified under this category.
‘Milk Products & Technologies’ is a technology category. The patents and patent applications fall
in this category are mainly focusing on Milk products and processes of preparing them, such as
sour-milk, lactose-free milk etc.
Technology Category
Level
Technology
Subcategory Level
Caesin Hydrolysate
& Others
Milk Products &
Technologies
Cheese Products &
Technologies
Bacteria & Culture &
Technologies
Diagnostics
Peptides &
Technologies
Analytical/
Therapeutic &
Technologies
4.2
‘Cheese Products & Technologies’ is a technology category. The patents and patent applications
fall in this category are mainly focusing on treatment/processing and production of Cheese
products, processed cheese, etc.
‘Bacteria & Culture & Technologies‘ is a technology category. The patent application fall in this
category are focusing on Bacterial strains and different methods and supplement compositions
for their culturing.
‘Diagnostics’ is a technology category. The patent application fall in this category are focusing on
detection of a disease or susceptibility for a disease, such as metabolism associated disease etc.
‘Peptides & Technologies’ is a technology category. The patent application fall in this category are
focusing on peptides, such as tripeptide etc.
‘Analytical/ Therapeutic & Technologies’ is technology category. The patent application fall in this
category are focusing on Therapeutic preparations and diagnostic and analytical methods, such as
diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome etc.
Term Set
Keyword Based Search
Term Set
English Keywords
Low Lactose
(lactose or carbohdrate+) 2D (free OR less OR low or reduced OR hydrlys+ OR hydrlyz+))
Milk
Milk*
Class Based Search
Term Set
Classes for Milk
Products
Classes
A23C-009
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4.3
Relevant Classes Identified
Class
Definition
A23C 9/00
4.4
IPC / CPC
Milk preparations; Milk powder or milk powder preparations
Search Strings
S. No.
Search String
Title, Abstract and Claims: Low Lactose Term Set S Milk Term Set
1
4.5
Class: Classes for Milk
Data Sources
Data Sources
Questel Orbit
Espacenet.com
USPTO.gov
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