(a) How many patents (issued and/or pending, US and/or foreign) do we have in our IP portfolio at this time?
At this time, we have 8 patents in our portfolio. They can be found here.
(b) Identify three of our main competitors in the market. How is their IP position compared to ours? What are the risks of our competitors having a better IP position that ours?
Our main competitors in the market are-
1) Homeaway - None
2) FlipKey- 2 Patents
3) 9flats - None
Since the business models of most of the peer-to-peer rental services are very similar, if we have a better IP position than our competitors, we are more secure from being sued for infringing on their patents. This is because if we have a better portfolio, we have covered our bases better than them. If our competitors have a better IP position then that may be able to sue us and in the situation that they win, we may lose market share.
(c) What can we do to bolster our IP portfolio - what are some sources of patents that we can go to, and what are the types of transactions that we can engage in to bring those patents in?
To bolster our IP portfolio, we could start identifying our unique features and begin patenting them. We could even buy patents of certain technologies developed by other companies that are not doing as well and integrate it into our technology to strengthen our IP portfolio.
Hi Srushti, good job. I like how you kept it simple and easy to read. I find it interesting that many unicorns who don't have patents are competing against other startups with little to no patents. I would like to hear your opinion if you think Airbnb is in a good place relative to its competitors in its market.
ReplyDeleteThanks for keeping your post so simple and easy to read. After reading your post I had a couple of questions: What do you think are "unique features" that Airbnb possess that these other short-term rental companies do not possess? Which patents would you recommend that AirBnb buys? Overall, great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Srushti,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the easy to read formatting. Also I like how you reference where to find all of Airbnb's patents. I honestly did not even know that Airbnb has competitors, but it seems obvious that many of the peer-to-peer rental services would have similar business models. Therefore, it's true that expanding one's IP portfolio would definitely put them in a better market position, especially if other companies were to come knocking with lawsuits in hand. Great post!
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI also wrote about Airbnb and think that their strategy with patent has a great long-term approach that enables them to be ahead of the curve in terms of meeting the demands of the user and patenting features before competitors! They are doing a good job with IP but need to keep it up!
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI also wrote about Airbnb and think that their strategy with patent has a great long-term approach that enables them to be ahead of the curve in terms of meeting the demands of the user and patenting features before competitors! They are doing a good job with IP but need to keep it up!