The role of IP in the digital transformation

© Prof. Dr. Alexander J. Wurzer 2023 CEIPI, Strasbourg
Endress+Hauser
Technology-Forum
26.01.2024
Prof. Dr. Alexander J. Wurzer
The role of IP in the digital transformation

CEIPI: Center for International Intellectual Property Studies
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CEIPI is the European Center of Excellency for Intellectual Property and
international Education and Research Center for IP
European IP Institutions are Heading
the Administrative Board
TOP 50 Global Think Tank
European Education Center for
European Patent Attorneys
Education in 36+ European Cities
Institute of the Law Faculty at the
Excellency University Strasbourg
1.200+ Participants in CEIPI Education Programs

Trends in Applications of Digital Patents
- 3 -
2001 2002 2003 2004 2018
2006
2005 2007 2008 2009 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
1.400%
1.200%
1.000%
800%
600%
400%
200%
0%
Global growth of IPFs in 4IR technologies versus all technology fields
2000 - 2018
Earliest publication year
IPFs in 4IR technologies
IPFs in all technologies

Why digitalization needs value-driven intellectual property strategies
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 Complexity of technology and
use cases drastically increase
with consequences for IP
 New enabling technologies,
e.g. AI, quantum computing &
machine learning, 5G & 6G,
virtual & augmented reality, are
emerging and influencing digital
complexity further
 Business is made less in
transaction and more in
relationship-based ways in eco-
systems due to new
technologies
Why Digitalization Needs Value-Driven Intellectual Property Strategies
les Nouvelles - Journal of the Licensing Executives Society, Volume LIV No. 4, December 2019
Source:
Weibel, Beat (Chief IP Counsel, Siemens) and
Freytag, Rudolf (CEO Siemens Technology Accelerator)

Protecting use cases: Top-down vs bottom-up approach
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Digital business models must be designed around digital use cases (customer needs, customer benefits,
customer experience) in order to achieve the desired returns. This can be done top-down or bottom-up.

Protecting use cases: Spotify
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Spotify
Music platform / streaming service
Customer promise:
Extensive catalog of audio files that
can be accessed anytime anywhere
Digital core competence:
Ensuring the error-free transmission of
audio files
Creating personalized playlists
Earning mechanism:
Monthly customer subscription
advertising with free use
EP3298513B1
Extraction of a section from
a media object

Protecting use cases: SONOS
- 7 -
SONOS
Streaming solutions provider
Customer promise:
Wireless playback of digital audio files
in HiFi quality
Digital core competence:
Automated optimization of playback
(also in multiroom systems)
Earning mechanism:
Sale of hardware (digital services as an
incentive to buy)
US8588949B2
Method and apparatus for adjusting
volume levels in a multi-zone system

How to gain a technological footprint in a new technology and a new
business eco-system?  Siemens Healthineers
Use case: Transaction-based business model
- 8 -
EP3404436B1
Functional magnetic resonance imaging

business eco-system?  Siemens Healthineers
Use case: Pay per use business model
- 9 -
EP3066596B1
System for displaying and editing data
for a medical device

business eco-system?  Siemens Metaverse
- 10 -
EP2561417B1
Method for inputting a spatial structure of production devices to a
computer-aided planning program and for optimizing the latter

business eco-system?  Stingray (Esben Beck)
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EP2531022 B1
Method and device for destroying parasites on fish
Photo by Craig Thomas on Unsplash
AI patents generally protect specific applications and solutions, for
example combating parasites on salmon fish in Norway. The fact that AI is
used for this purpose is not explicitly mentioned in patent EP2531022 B1
but is implicitly assumed.

Patent example: Manufacturing Execution System
Problem:
Automatic and continuous control of the production process
with regard to analysis, measurement and traceability of the
products.
Solution:
Method of producing a pharmaceutical product using a
Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and an automation
system being configured to drive and to monitor production
machines located at plant floor level, said method being
characterized in that it comprises:
• communicatively coupling said MES with said automation
system, wherein a main workflow or Main process
Instruction is created and executed by the MES when a
work order coming from an Enterprise Resource Planning
System is received by the MES, said main workflow
starting in turn a second workflow within the automation
system;
• receiving at the MES from said automation system at
least one event representative of a situation that has
occurred at the plant floor level and relative to the
machines, wherein said second workflow is sending said
at least one event to the main workflows; and
• depending on the event received at the MES starting by
the main workflow at least one event workflow within
the MES, also referred to as sub workflow, chosen
between a plurality of sub-workflows.
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Patent example: Software as a Service
Problem:
Temporal optimization of the provision of images of virtual
machines.
Solution:
A computer-implemented method to generate a pre-
provisioned pool of virtual machines (VMs) in a networked
computing environment, comprising:
• calculating an install time for each software component
combination in a plurality of software component
combinations, the install time including an amount of
time necessary to uninstall the software components
from a partially provisioned VM of which the software
components form a subset of VM software components
and to transition the software components to a VM
having the software component combination having a
first plurality of software components from the partially
provisioned VM having a different software component
combination having a second plurality of software
components that is different from the first plurality of
software components;
• weighting each respective install time by a numerical
value that indicates a probability, with respect to other
software component combinations, that the software
component combination will be requested based on a
provisioning history;
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Patent example: Platform as a Service
Problem:
Adding transparent guidelines to a platform.
Solution:
A method for enforcing policy in a distributed computing environment
comprising a plurality of hosts, the method comprising:
• establishing (S110) a policy update of a set of components of a
platform through a namespace policy addressing syntax, wherein the
namespace policy addressing syntax references components on the
platform and is applied in policy defining configuration files;
• publishing (S120) the policy update to the set of components
associated with the referenced component namespace, wherein
publishing the policy update comprises transferring policy defining
configuration files to respective specified components subscribing to
the policy update; at the host for the set of components,
cryptographically authenticating (S130) the published policy updates;
• at the host, locally verifying (S140) policy compliance of a requested
communication by a first component of the set of components,
wherein the requested communication is directed towards at least a
second component; and
• applying (S150) results of verifying the policy compliance of the
requested communication within a communication channel flow,
which comprises routing the requested communication through the
communication channel to the second component if the requested
communication is permitted and preventing the routing of the
requested communication through the communication channel if the
requested communication is not permitted.
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Patent example: Infrastructure as a Service
Problem:
Inadequate fault monitoring and management in IaaS clouds.
Solution:
A server system comprising at least two server nodes in an Infrastructure as a
Service cloud (IaaS), each server node comprising a hypervisor and a plurality of
virtual machines (VM) at least a subset of which depend on each other to
provide a service and together defining at least one application (APP)
distributed across said at least two server nodes utilizing said IaaS cloud, each
server node further comprising:
• a cloud infrastructure monitor within the hypervisor , said cloud
infrastructure monitor comprises:
• a monitor arrangement configured for monitoring an infrastructure
of said IaaS cloud by monitoring at least one of a physical network,
storage within said physical network, the server node, or at least one
of said plurality of virtual machines (VM), and
• a detector arrangement configured for detecting faults within said
monitored IaaS infrastructure, and
• a notifying arrangement configured for providing notifications of
detected faults on a message bus;
• the server system further comprising
• a respective message bus arranged between at least two hypervisors
located in different server nodes and each said at least one
application (APP) for relaying said fault notifications from said cloud
infrastructure monitor to said at least one application (APP);
• each said at least one application (APP) is configured to
automatically manage its operation in response to received fault
notifications,
• and wherein at least one server node is connectable to an
application registry configured to store application identities for
each said at least one application, and a bus registry configured to
store a respective message bus for each said at least one application.
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What is the role of technology and R&D?
The lighting industry
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 Philips / Signify: history and profile
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Signify history:
 Founded in 1891 as part of Philips Lighting
 Independence in 2016
 35.000 employees in 70+ countries
 7.5 bil € annual sales in 2022
 70 % of revenue is based on innovative LED lighting
 Signify's installed base of connected light points increased from
114 million in Q4 2022 to 117 million in Q1 2023
 750.000 connected light points are managed by remote control

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 1996-2011
180 cases and lawsuits related to LED lighting
 2013-2017
Patent license and cross-license industry-wide cooperation
 2018
EnabLED licensing program is established
 2019
EnabLED licensing program has 1.000+ members
Source:
Zahar
Koretsky,
Energy
Research
&
Social
Science,
Volume
82,
2021

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- 20 -
Share of LEDs in US lighting sales
Source:
DOE,
Goldman
Sachs
Global
Investment
Research

 Philips / Signify: “Light as a service”
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Lighting
systems “Light as a
service”
Assistance system
→ Marketplace of lighting atmospheres
Horizontal network
→ Network for individual lighting
IoT for networked abilities
→ Remote production of light effects
Business
Model
Technology
US9572227 B2
Intelligent lighting network
for generating light avatars
WO2018158217 A1
Orchestrating production
of an experience effect
US20120173382 A1
Methods and systems for lighting
atmosphere marketplace

IP design
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IP as a legal instrument:
„Waiting for inventions“
IP as an instrument of business development:
„Design on demand“
Patented functions Exclusive businss model

IP design
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Observe Understand
Make
synthetic
inventions
Secure
position
Observe
Informing Anticipating Generating Informing
Problem space Solution space
Develop
strategy
Source: HPI School of Design Thinking / Qudosoft
Business model / Use Cases / Customer Journey Optimization and protection

IP design
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1. Risk
minimization
>> IP <<
2. Suppression of
imitation
>> IP and R&D <<
3. Strategic prohibition
>> Marketing and
Product management <<
Economic approach:
Cost avoidance
Economic approach:
Increase of market share
Economic approach:
Premium prices
IP R&D
IP
IP PM
M
R&D
Core elements of IP-Design:
• Integration of market intelligence and
digital competencies
• IP design from a customer perspective
• Thinking in exclusivity and prohibition
• Multidisciplinary teams
• IP is more than just patents

IP design: An established and standard-compliant solution
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DIN 77006
ISO 56005

Overview of the role of IP in the digital transformation
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 The number of applications for digital patents at the European Patent Office is increasing much faster
than in traditional fields of technology
 IP is used to protect use cases, no longer just technologies
 Digital use cases are also increasingly being protected with patents (SaaS, PaaS, ...)
 As part of the IP design method, IP and R&D work together on the development and protection of use
cases

The role of IP in the digital transformation

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