
“The Importance of Intellectual Property in Transactive Energy”
JiNan Glasgow George is a global leader in intellectual property (IP) strategy, named one of the world’s best by IAM, and Founder of NEO IP Assets, an intellectual property firm.
With degrees in engineering, law, and theology, and experience as an inventor, entrepreneur, patent attorney, and former USPTO patent examiner, her diverse background has made her a perfect partner for Causam eXchange and its 100+ patent portfolio (about half patents granted and half pending).
Today, we asked her about the importance of IP in the world of transactive energy, where buyers and sellers of power become prosumers, where choice and data transparency rule, and where financial settlements occur in near real-time at much lower transaction costs, often enabled by blockchain technology
So, let’s learn more from JiNan…
The website for your firm NEO IP Assets states that “IP is not just an idea, concept, or invention. [Instead] it is a tangible financial asset with exceptional potential. To keep predators at bay. To generate new revenue streams, or fight back in a lawsuit. To enable future endeavors.” Can you elaborate on this?
Patents are typically the most important and valuable assets in a business. Generally, they provide the greatest return on investment when they are used within a business for market exclusivity.
Consider for example, Apple, which has led competitors in profit quarterly by 2-3X for many years. In the smartphone user interface control technology sector alone, it has invested in patents at a rate 2-5x compared with competition for many years before and continues to do so. Apple’s market share and profit success has a solid patent foundation. Similarly, Causam eXchange is among the top patenting entities in the entire smart grid sector, and the global patent leader in energy financial settlements.
We worked with Causam to develop and implement a patent strategy to address this major market sector where no company had solved the problem. Combining patent data and analytics with Causam’s visionary solutions, we were able to create a significant patent portfolio that will provide the exclusive rights for Causam eXchange to operate its advanced settlements via its software and technology platform, EnergyNet.
Causam eXchange has developed its EnergyNet platform to enable everyone connected with the power grid to interact and conduct transactions. It will reduce cost and risk within the system and accelerate commercial impact of sustainable power, microgrids, alternative energy sources – creating opportunities for consumers and generators alike. And its patent portfolio will allow collaborators to license the EnergyNet platform with the confidence of operating under Causam’s protective exclusive rights.
Causam eXchange made a strategic decision to work in stealth mode for 2-3 years and build one of the world’s biggest IP portfolios in the power sector, with 100+ patents, pending and granted. Yet some of our peers chose instead to just go to market more quickly. How do you view the risks and rewards of Causam’s strategy?
Causam’s patent strategy has been developed and effectively executed after first confirming patentability by securing issued, enforceable rights within the first 2-3 years of the portfolio. We elected fast track, streamlined prosecution to secure these enforceable rights quickly.
We’ve also followed a continuation practice that gives us full access to early priority dates for continued harvesting of claims, which form the business and legal value of those assets. Select international activity also provides value in this global market and create opportunity for in-country partners.
Causam’s focus on securing its intellectual property position first and commercialization and promotion thereafter should ultimately provide a competitive advantage, since the market is evolving as Causam envisioned. Commercial impact must follow patent filings, which is why our patent strategy used patent data leading indicators to confirm our competitive position before the significant investments that have followed.
Causam’s portfolio has now de-risked its commercial investments, given it exclusivity in such broad areas as demand response, distributed generation, automated command and control messaging and data packets, and advanced energy settlements, including security and priority as we now see with blockchain solutions emerging in our space.
With degrees and expertise in very diverse fields, your career path has not been traditional. How do you think this applies to the role of IP in the energy sector of today and tomorrow?
The role of intellectual property is far more evolved than merely filing patents when an invention arises within a company. But most companies only consider what they know internally. Causam eXchange has taken a more evolved approach, with data-driven contextual information driving the patent strategy as well as its business strategy.
Everything in hi-tech changes quickly, but somehow the energy sector has not kept pace with commercial implementation compared with mobile or fintech, for example. Causam eXchange is now leading the way for a truly intelligent power grid that provides for all participants to benefit from interacting with it, not merely supplying or consuming power.
Our diverse patent portfolio addresses every major area of the modernization of the power grid itself, but perhaps most importantly, allowing financial transactions and data analytics to accelerate the evolution of energy’s commercialized technology.
Some dismiss the value of patents, suggesting that they are too expensive, easy to circumvent, and costly to enforce. How do you respond to these criticisms in the context of Causam’s strategy? Others worry that patents might stifle innovation, making it difficult to “stand on the shoulders of giants to reach the sky.” Why do you disagree, and how does this relate to Causam’s mission of transforming how power is bought and sold, and the broader utility sector’s movement to a more digital, distributed, connected, and renewable grid?
The patent system has always been the most important factor in stimulating innovation in the USA – not stifling it. Every patent teaches an inventive solution to existing problems – and these are published to promote competitive activity to continue to evolve those solutions.
In exchange for participating in our patent system, and publishing these solutions, inventors receive exclusive rights for a limited time, which allows them to realize a return on the investment and provides an exchange for the publication of the invention itself. Most patents are new combinations of known components, so the patent system actually provides data to stimulate invention and new solutions to commercialize.
Causam’s transformation of the energy sector will allow for more access to energy markets and more fair compensation for renewable resources and energy efficiency. Until now, consumers, energy providers, and building owners have been at a disadvantage with fewer real incentives to invest in intelligent grid components, sustainable power, or smart management of residence or commercial building energy sources or consuming devices.
Why is Causam’s portfolio so different from competitors?
The Causam eXchange patent portfolio is one of the most important patent portfolios we’ve developed. Neo IP takes an exceptional approach by using Neopatents proprietary software to research and analyze patent data within technology sectors to provide context for business decision-making before launching into a new business or expanding in a new direction.
Strategy for portfolio development is presented before merely filing patents, ensuring high quality patents that are distinctive, with in-depth specification, targeted claims, and clearly differentiated from prior art. Our approach provides an architectural plan for building the portfolio that is useful for ensuring what we build aligns with business strategy.
We’ve studied the patent sector for smart grid technology and continue to update and monitor the context around Causam eXchange; and we continue to evolve the portfolio to keep Causam ahead of the competitive field.