Trenchless Sewer Liners

Transcription

1 P Trenchless Sewer Liners A T E N T L A N D S C A P E TT Consultants INDIA US TAIWAN talwar@ttconsultants.com A N A L Y S I S

2 Summary Target Industry: Pipes Target Technological Area: Trenchless Sewer Liners in particular to Fold and Form PVC Liners The report will assist in understanding the landscape of patent portfolio for Trenchless Sewer Liners technology. Key-Features of this Report This report gives an insight on - Competitors position in the IP field Past and Present developments on the target technology Chronological developments in the target technology Technology leaders and their IP strategies Technology Gaps Geographical Analysis Emerging competitors This report will help you to Better understand the IP surrounding a technology area Future roadmap in a particular technology landscape Evaluate competitor portfolios to understand their IP position within the space Maximize the potential of your IP and develop strategies for future filings R&D planning 2

3 4. TAXONOMY The taxonomy chart given below has been designed to clearly provide an eagle eye view of the IP trends in target technology. 10

4 4.1 Technology Evolution It is clearly evident from the below timeline that the first patent on the fold and form sewerage technology was filed in the year of 1969 and the major work on this technology started during the 90s. The below timeline also depicts that the latest trend in the target technology is on developing Control mechanisms for expanding the liners, tear resistant liners, heat and pressure stabilizers, more efficient composition for strengthening the liners. 11

5 5. GRAPHICAL ANALYSIS In Graphical Analysis, the patent information is analyzed using statistical analysis to extract intelligence. 5.1 Top Prolific Applicants Assignee "A" Assignee "B" Assignee "C" Assignee "D" Assignee "E" Assignee "F" 2 Assignee "G" 1 Assignee "H" 0 ** Patent Dataset = 101 Patent Families and Assignee Details Some assignee names have been standardized for graphical analysis. Output: The analysis of 101 Patent Families has revealed that 7 patent families belong to Assignee B and Assignee G each. Applicant Details: S. No. Assignee/Applicant No. of Patent Families Representative Patents of families 1 Assignee B 7 US XXXXXXX EP XXXXX 2 Assignee G 7 US XXXXXXX EP XXXXX 3 Assignee A 4 US XXXXXXX EP XXXXX 4 Assignee F 4 US XXXXXXX EP XXXXX 5 Assignee H 4 US XXXXXXX EP XXXXX 15

6 5.4 Filing Year Vs Number of Patents **Patent Dataset = 101 Patent Families Output: As the graph depicts, in the year 1991 and 2003, most number of patent citations were filed in the target technological area. 21

7 5.5 Technology Vs Filing Year Trend Output: This graph depicts the number of patent citations filed in a year in a particular technological area. 22

8 5.6 Assignee Vs Filing Years 12 Assignee Vs Filing Years No of Patents Assignee J Assignee I Assignee H Assignee G Assignee F Assignee E Assignee D Assignee C Assignee B Assignee A Filing Date Output: This graph depicts patent filing trend by different assignees in various years. As evident, Assignee B, Assignee F, Assignee H, Assignee I and Assignee J have filed most number of patent citations in the last 5 years. 23

9 5.7 Geographies Vs Top Technologies Output: This graph depicts patent filing trend in a particular geography in a particular technology. As evident from this graph, US leads the filing trend in almost all the technological areas such as Pipes and Hoses, Plastic Shaping, etc. 24

10 5.14 Top Assignees v/s Geographies Analysis Top Assignees v/s Geographies Analysis Assignee A Assignee B 30 Assignee C Assignee D 15 Assignee E 10 Assignee A Assignee B 5 Assignee F Assignee C Assignee D Assignee E Assignee F Assignee G WO FI AU CA DE EP JP US 0 Assignee G ** Dataset = 2274 Total Patent Filings, Top Geographies and Top Assignees. Output: On the basis of the above graphical assessment, we observed the following significant points: Assignee Assignee B has filed patent applications in multiple geographies. This assignee is active in almost all main geographies of the world. Assignee Assignee E has not filed any patent application in united States(US). This assignee is mainly active in EP, JP, DE, AU, WO etc. Assignee Assignee C & Assignee G do not prefer PCT route as not even a single WIPO application exist for these assignees. US, EP, JP, CA & DE geographies are of main interest among the top assignees as the patent filings owned by top assignees exist in these countries. Applicant Assignee A has owned most of the patent citations in the Japan (JP). 40

11 The bar graph on the right side Annual Growth clearly depicts the growth rate in the target technological area. It is evident from this graph that growth in this domain is projected to increase over next few years by.6% % Growth 2.00% 1.50% 1.00% 0.50% 1.40% 2.00% P R O J E C T E D 0.00% Year The below picture shows the distribution of different technologies involved in pipe repairing over different geographies. For example, Technology B is majorly used as a trenchless pipe repairing method in India, Sri-Lanka and Pakistan. 44

12 8. CONCLUSION / OUTPUT Competitor Analysis Assignee Assignee B has filed patent applications in multiple geographies. This assignee is active in almost all main geographies of the world. Assignee Assignee E has not filed any patent application in united States(US). This assignee is mainly active in EP, JP, DE, AU, WO etc. Assignee Assignee C & Assignee G do not prefer PCT route as not even a single WIPO application exist for these assignees. US, EP, JP, CA & DE geographies are of main interest among the top assignees as the patent filings owned by top assignees exist in these countries. Applicant Assignee A has owned most of the patent citations in the Japan (JP). Geographical Trend United States (US) significantly leads in the publication trend followed by Germany (DE) and Europe (EP). Timeline IP activities in the target technology gain a significant boost during 90s. First patent on this technology was filed in Most Valuable Patent Citation The most referred patent citation in the target technology is owned by Assignee X. This patent (USXXXXXX) was filed in the year 1994 and based on a method for repairing and monitoring pipelines. PCT Route Most companies / organizations are not following the PCT route rather they are filing the patent in independent geographies. Assignee B, Assignee D & Assignee E have most number of PCT filings. 49

13 Most Prolific Inventors Inventors IN1 and IN2 have filed most number of patent citation in this domain. Both IN1 and IN2 belong to applicant Applicant X. Latest Trends & Future Scope The latest trend in the target technology is on developing control mechanisms for expanding the liners, tear resistant liners, heat and pressure stabilizers, more efficient composition for strengthening the liners and devices/methods for monitoring the leakages in the pipes. 50

14 9. WHITE SPACE ANALYSIS / TECHNOLOGY GAPS The recent trends in the target technology landscape suggest that the controller/processing units in the sewerage repair have been on demand and have lowest number of patent filings. The need for these systems aroused due to the lack of the uncontrolled ways of deploying the liners which could lead to the improper fitting of the liners and this problem majorly remains unaddressed. Thus there is scope of having more dedicated patents relating to these application areas. Efforts can be further devoted on improving the compositions used for manufacturing the liners so that to make them tear-resistant. Another focus can be put on the developing the liners that are easy to fold and so that their storage can be improved significantly. The present IP trend clearly shows that the sewerage repair process requires a lot of human efforts in installing the liners. Efforts on developing a method that reduces the human installation can be proved valuable considering the current scenario. Future work can be done on improving the controlling the pressure and heat of the fluid/air that is used to expand the liners. 51