Patents: The Case of Exploitation of the Patent System among SMEs and Private Inventors in Finland

As intellectual property (IP) rights are costly and difficult to acquire and enforce, it is often argued that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are disadvantaged in their ability to utilize IP rights (IPR). Semi-structured interviews are used to provide an understanding of the IPR use by private inventors and SMEs as compared to larger companies. Interviews show that, excluding large companies, the general knowledge of the global patent system and capabilities to operate with various IPRs is modest. Especially, private inventors have unjustified high expectations of economic benefits of patenting, and eventually, disappointment with IPR. Lack of knowledge and awareness in IP generation, protection, and utilization weakens the performance of SMEs with missing processes, lack of IP/IPR strategy, and poor management of complex patent information. A classification of companies based on their knowledgeability and experiences in IPR is proposed.