Guest post by Robert Cantrell  

An IP strategy should take account of the natural course of technology evolution so that it provides adequate protections into the future.  For example, product solutions tend, over time, to move towards an ideal state of providing more and more benefit with less and less drawback.  So where your IP protects innovation that does provide more benefits or fewer drawbacks, it is likely aligned with the course of technical evolution as a whole.  Where IP protects innovation that moves a product solution away from an ideal state, such as a car that has lower fuel economy than it could, it should come under scrutiny to ensure there is a solid business case for moving against the expected flow, such as the marketability of desirable luxuries in that car that caused the fuel economy loss.

Image credit: BottleLeaf