IP Strategy Consulting

What builds company value is not the number of patents but a portfolio designed for a specific goal: a funding round or the sale of the company. The data is striking – startups with patents raise significantly more capital, and each additional right pushes that amount higher. The biggest returns come from a portfolio written not around today's product but around the roadmap of your likely acquirer and its competitors. Two features matter: scale (dense protection that is hard to design around) and diversity (protection in several areas, serving as both a safeguard and a bargaining chip). We help you pick the inventions that genuinely lift your valuation multiple.

This is one of the most important decisions, and it must be made early: filing a patent application means disclosing the invention, which rules out protecting it as a trade secret later. A patent makes sense when infringement is detectable (you can see it in a competitor's product) and when it protects something customers actually pay for. If a solution cannot be inspected from the outside (e.g. an algorithm running on a server), a trade secret is usually the better choice. Often the optimal answer is a mix: patent part of the solution and keep the rest secret. We help you run this test for every element of your invention.

These are two Polish tax incentives that genuinely lower the tax you pay on innovation, and they complement each other well. The R&D tax relief lets you deduct the costs of R&D work – up to 200% of your research team's salaries. The IP Box is a preferential 5% rate on income from qualifying IP rights: patents, utility model protection rights, registered industrial designs, and copyright in computer programs. Since 2022 the two can be combined – first you reduce the tax base with the R&D relief, then tax the resulting income at 5%. The prerequisites are securing your IP rights in advance and keeping separate records; it is worth working out the details with a tax advisor.

In Europe, caution is the deciding factor. Some experts advise waiting until customers confirm real interest in the product – a patent filed before product-market fit can be worth no more than the paper it is printed on. Others recommend filing quickly, because the priority date is what counts and competitors are not standing still. One fact settles the argument: Europe and Poland have no grace period, so any public presentation before filing destroys novelty. That is why, for solutions with a clear technical direction, we usually advise: file first, launch later.

A valuable patent is an investment that should pay for itself, not a legal box-ticking exercise. Two conditions are essential: infringement must be detectable, and the claims must target the right party – a well-resourced competitor, not your own customer. A good patent protects what actually creates business value (what customers pay for), fits the company's roadmap, and is written to be understood. It is estimated that about 95% of startup patents are commercially worthless – selection makes the difference. We help you separate out the few that genuinely build value.

It is a common and costly mistake. Europe and Poland apply absolute novelty: any public disclosure before the filing date – a conference talk, a demo without a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), a "soft" launch, a scientific paper – permanently destroys patentability. There is no one-year grace period like in the US, and from the perspective of the European Patent Office (EPO) the Polish market is not "just local." The rule is simple: file first, then go public. Before a launch, it pays to discuss the protection timeline with a patent attorney.

Because a patent is a tool, not a goal – we start from the business outcome (protecting revenue, valuation, negotiating position) and only then choose the protection. The best results come from making IP a permanent part of your product team's work rather than an occasional call to a patent attorney; otherwise valuable inventions slip away unnoticed. It also pays to distinguish the roles: a patent attorney prepares filings, while a strategy advisor designs the whole system around your goal. We stay with your company over time – not just for a single filing.

In an investment or company sale, IP usually ranks third after market and team – but it works like a gate: in industries where IP matters, its absence can kill the deal. Investors will check above all whether the company really owns its code and inventions – missing rights-transfer agreements with B2B contractors are the classic landmine. Founders also earn credit for "IP awareness": knowing their filing strategy and freedom to operate (FTO). We help you put these matters in order early – before the other side does it for you.

An FTO analysis checks whether you can launch your product without infringing other parties' patents – a different question from "is my invention new?" Patent data is also free strategic intelligence: it shows what your competitors are doing and where the "white spaces" worth developing lie. Mind one trap: applications are published with an 18-month delay, so a clean result does not rule out that someone filed just before you – which is why an early priority date matters. For a startup with a technical founder, free patent databases are often enough to get started. We help you plan the scope of such an analysis.

The research is fairly conclusive, though it comes mostly from the US. In a natural experiment, startups that obtained a patent grew about 55% faster in employment and 80% faster in sales, and their chances of going public were twice as high. The effect is strongest for founders without a track record of success – a patent then acts as a credibility signal. Patents also correlate with higher valuations when raising from business angels. It is an argument for the quality of filings, not their number.

Licensing can be a source of revenue, but for a startup it is rarely the main one – more often a one-off event than a predictable model. Companies take a license when time to market matters, when the technology is adjacent to their business, or when your patent blocks their product. Royalty rates vary by industry – roughly from a few percent in software to low double digits in biotechnology. One condition is universal: without a proven business model, patent licensing alone usually fails. We help you assess whether and when a license makes sense in your case.

For a technology company, the market is global from day one, and protection in Poland alone is usually not enough – especially if your target acquirer is an international player. A single application under the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) lets you "reserve" protection options in almost the entire world and postpone the choice of countries (and the costs) by more than a year. Base the choice of markets on where your future acquirers and competitors sell – protection in several regions can multiply the value of your portfolio. We help you design a filing map to match your budget and goals.

A patent has real value only if you can prove that a competitor uses every element of your claim – relying solely on what is visible from the outside. If the solution is hidden (e.g. an algorithm in a server room), infringement is undetectable and enforcement fails – in such cases a trade secret is often the better option. Who infringes matters too: a claim should target a competitor, not your own customer. We run these two tests – detectability and the right target – before we file anything.

A company is worth the most when its IP supports a specific exit scenario. A portfolio written around the roadmap of your likely acquirer triggers a "this is what we need" reaction during due diligence and lifts the valuation multiple. Hygiene matters in parallel: documented transfers of rights from contractors and creators, because missing agreements are a red flag in any transaction. Protecting key solutions in the countries where the acquirer operates adds further value. It is best to start 2–3 years before the planned exit. We help you shape your portfolio precisely for that goal.