
This is a guest post by Esther Wee.
1. Daikin vs Panasonic — Matching the patent portfolio to the consumer needs.
We have heard countless times that patent protection can be costly. Indeed, to reap the rewards and return of investment from your patented product, you need to ensure that your patent has actual commercial value. In other words, you must study whether there is a consumer market need and demand for such a technology.
Daikin and Panasonic are two Japanese companies that have shown increasing domestic market share of air conditioner for home use in recent years, all because they know how to match their filing of patents to what their consumers really want.
A comparative study shows that each company has exclusivity over one another on different technical aspects: Daikin has technical advantages of almost all the humidification function and some specific filter cleaning functions whilst Panasonic has technical advantages of almost all the filter cleaning function and some humidification functions.
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