| name | assess-ip-landscape |
| locale | caveman-ultra |
| source_locale | en |
| source_commit | 82c77053 |
| translator | Julius Brussee homage — caveman |
| translation_date | 2026-04-19 |
| description | Map the intellectual property landscape for a technology domain or product area. Covers patent cluster analysis, white space identification, competitor IP portfolio assessment, freedom-to-operate preliminary screening, and strategic IP positioning recommendations. Use before starting R&D in a new technology area, when evaluating market entry against incumbents with strong patent portfolios, preparing for investment due diligence, informing a patent filing strategy, or assessing freedom-to-operate risk for a new product.
|
| license | MIT |
| allowed-tools | Read Grep Glob WebFetch WebSearch |
| metadata | {"author":"Philipp Thoss","version":"1.0","domain":"intellectual-property","complexity":"advanced","language":"natural","tags":"intellectual-property, patents, landscape, fto, trademark, ip-strategy, prior-art"} |
Assess IP Landscape
Map IP landscape for tech domain — ID patent clusters, white spaces, key players, FTO risks. Produces strategic assessment → R&D direction, licensing, IP filing strategy.
Use When
- Before R&D in new tech area (what's claimed?)
- Market entry vs incumbents w/ strong portfolios
- Investment due diligence (IP asset assessment)
- Inform patent filing strategy (where, what to claim)
- FTO risk for new product/feature
- Monitor competitor IP for strategic positioning
In
- Required: Tech domain/product area
- Required: Geographic scope (US, EU, global)
- Optional: Specific competitors
- Optional: Own patent portfolio (gap analysis + FTO)
- Optional: Time horizon (5 years, 10 years, all)
- Optional: Classification codes (IPC, CPC)
Do
Step 1: Define Search Scope
Establish analysis boundaries.
- Tech domain precisely:
- Core (e.g., "transformer-based language models" not "AI")
- Adjacent (e.g., "attention mechanisms, tokenization, inference optimization")
- Exclude (e.g., "computer vision transformers" if focusing on NLP)
- Relevant classification codes:
- IPC (International Patent Classification) — broad, worldwide
- CPC (Cooperative Patent Classification) — more specific, US/EU std
- Search WIPO's IPC publication or USPTO's CPC browser
- Geographic scope:
- US (USPTO), EU (EPO), WIPO (PCT), specific national offices
- Most analyses start US + EU + PCT → broad coverage
- Time window:
- Recent: 3-5 years (current competitive)
- Full history: 10-20 years (mature areas)
- Watch expired patents opening design space
- Doc scope as Landscape Charter
→ Clear bounded scope specific enough actionable + broad enough captures competitive. Classification codes ID'd for systematic search.
If err: Too broad (thousands of results) → narrow via technical specificity or focus application area. Too narrow (few) → broaden adjacent tech. Right scope typically 100-1000 families.
Step 2: Harvest Patent Data
Collect data within scope.
- Query databases via Charter:
