How to Protect Business Models Without Patents?

27

September

2022

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In the old days business innovations would mostly be something tangible such as a devices, chips, appliances, tools, or packaging. In order to protect your innovation patents could be used as long as the innovation was novel, inventive, useful, and not been subject to prior use (Business Queensland, 2022). Momentarily, more and more innovations are business models including platforms and information strategies. Companies such as Airbnb, Facebook, and Amazon do not have a tangible good to file a patent for. What can companies like this do to protect their business model?

The first method is filing a patent on the technical invention required for the business model (Nowotarski, 2019). In this way the intangible business model is protected by the tangible technical invention. Many businesses are however concerned competitors will get easily around the technical patent. Although this concern is valid, this can be addressed by making the patent generic enough without sacrificing its technical nature to get meaningful patent protection (Nowotarski, 2019).

The second method, which can be used in addition to the first, is to file a patent on the business method. The business method is a specific way of doing business (Ovans, 2000). When the way of doing business is new, useful, and not obvious the business method can be patented. For example, software that governs a business method can be patented if it produces some tangible results (Ovans, 2000). Amazon did this by patenting its one-click shopping process.

The question remains if these methods are enough or necessary to protect a business model. It could be that competitors work around the method and technical patent and can still copy the business model more or less. It could also be that patenting is not necessary, maybe the economies of scale or network effects are large enough to keep competitors away. Ultimately, the business model is a general vision or strategy (Ovans, 2000). Is a business model something businesses should be able to patent? Or is it too vague and will it dampen innovation too much? Should we take action to protect business models or leave it be?

References

Business Queensland (2022) What are the 5 requirements for obtaining a patent? Available at: https://www.business.qld.gov.au/running-business/protecting-business/ip/ip-kit/browse-ip-topics/new-products,-processes-and-inventions-patents/five-requirements.

Nowotarski, M. (2019) If You Want to Protect Your Business Method, Reframe It as a Technical Invention. Available at: https://www.ipwatchdog.com/2019/09/03/want-protect-business-method-reframe-technical-invention/id=112875/#:~:text=The most effective way to,a business method by itself.

Ovans, A. (2000) Can You Patent Your Business Model?, Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2000/07/can-you-patent-your-business-model.

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The Smart Business Card – Claryson Card

13

September

2022

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Paying in the store with your phone or smart watch, using your OV-chipcard at the station, or opening the front door of you flat complex with a digital key. These are all actions we do regularly without even thinking about it. What do these actions have in common? They make use of Near-Field Communication (NFC).  

NFC

Near-Field Communication (NFC) is a technology which enables wireless information sharing by bringing two NFC compatible devices close to each other (Coskun, Ozdenizci, & Ok, 2013). After touching occurs, a NFC enabled device can make use of the received data. The advantage of using NFC is the ability to rapidly establish a connection, there no need for pairing devices or entering passwords (Infineon, 2022). Therefore with one touch you can quickly pay in the store, entre the station, and get into you building.

Claryson card

New NFC applications are found every day (Frew, 2022). One of the applications is using NFC for smart business cards. The company Claryson saw this opportunity and started selling smart business cards (Claryson cards). Instead of having tons of paper cards you give away at every new introduction, you have a card with a NFC chip. On the card your personal information (e.g. name, company, email, phone number, etc.) is programmed which can be transmitted through one touch with a NFC compatible mobile device. The information will pop up on the receivers phone and he/she immediately has the option to save the information into their contacts. The Claryson card has multiple advantages compared to the paper business cards (“Claryson,” 2022):

  1. The card is extremely easy to use. When you bought your card and hold it up to a phone with NFC turned on it works automatically, easy as that.
  2. Delivered to you with a personalized design. The card has your design on the outside and stores your personal information.
  3. The card is secure to use. The NFC-chip is secured and you personal information will not be posted online.
  4. Choosing a Claryson card is a sustainable choice. No more use for all the paper business cards, which saves a lot of paper over the years.
  5. You signal to others your innovative and progressive by transmitting your personal data through Claryson cards using NFC.

Future of Claryson cards?

In my opinion, the Claryson card gives many advantages compared to the paper business cards which would convince me to use one at the moment. Claryson saw a business opportunity with the emerging technology NFC and acted upon it. However, I do think Claryson needs to keep innovating to stay popular in the future. Momentarily, the cards with passive NFC tags are often replaced by phones which have an active NFC tag. I would advice Claryson to look into new ways to present business cards, for example directly from phone to phone, in order to keep a competitive advantage. What do you think about Claryson cards? And do you think the cards will become obsolete in the future or not?

References

Claryson. (2022). Retrieved from https://claryson.com/

Coskun, V., Ozdenizci, B., & Ok, K. (2013). A survey on near field communication (NFC) technology. Wireless Personal Communications, 71(3), 2259–2294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-012-0935-5

Frew, J. (2022). 7 Cool Ways to Use NFC That’ll Impress Your Friends. Retrieved September 13, 2022, from https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/9-awesome-ways-use-nfc-thatll-impress-friends/

Infineon. (2022, March). What is NFC? Information and Examples. Retrieved from https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/discoveries/near-field-communication/

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