Liftra: Innovating in the fast-growing wind turbine industry requires solid patent protection
The global wind energy sector is developing fast and suppliers must present new, innovative inventions while having a strong focus on their IP rights. Therefore Liftra, a producer of service equipment for the wind turbine industry, collaborates with Guardian IP Consulting on securing new and existing products.
Denmark is known as a pioneer within the wind turbine industry – an industry which is growing globally as the interest in green and renewably energy increases.
Being a supplier of service equipment for wind turbine companies, Liftra works with solution-oriented products. The company works dedicatedly on protecting the intellectual property rights of their products, not least because more and more competitors arise locally and internationally. While Denmark is still the country who files the most patent applications related to wind energy, Germany and the United States are fast approaching.
As the industry grows bigger, our need for patenting and protecting our inventions has grown as well. The wind energy sector is special, because as a supplier, we have competitors among other suppliers and among the large wind turbine companies, who develop service equipment internally. Therefore, it makes complete sense for us to have a focused patent strategy.
Daniel Lassen
IP Manager at Liftra
Ingenuity requires a dedicated IP focus
Throughout the past years, Liftra has worked closely with Guardian IP Consulting on patent applications for new inventions and handling of existing patents. One of the products is a self-hoisting crane, which uses a wire to hoist itself onto the top of the wind turbine. Then, the crane hoists the elements to be installed on the wind turbine, thereby eliminating the need for a larger crane placed on the ground.
”Liftra has many good ideas and competitors will be able to simply copy them with little own effort and use them in their own products, if Liftra does not protect its valuable inventions. Liftra is equally focused on improving existing products and inventing new ones, which is important in an industry that is developing as fast as the wind energy industry”, says Lau Lund Olsen, European Patent Attorney and partner at Guardian IP Consulting.
A commercially oriented advisor is important
Being able to focus on product development is essential for a business like Liftra and thus, the need for an IP advisor with a commercial mindset is particularly important.
“It is vital for us to have a qualified IP advisor, who is also focused on the commercial side of our business, not just the IP legal work. Previously, I did all the work concerning our patent applications myself, but in my collaboration with Guardian I know that the quality of the work is higher than if we did everything inhouse, where I do not have anyone to discuss the patent work with,” says Daniel Lassen
Gaining full understanding of clients´ inventions, for them to achieve the broadest possible patent protection, is part of Guardian IP Consulting´s business-oriented approach, which is focused on increasing the clients´ commercial value from their patents.
Looking at the number of published patent applications within wind energy, there is no doubt that the innovation within this industry will continue to grow and that protecting patent rights will be just as important in the future.
Contact us
Please feel free to contact us. Guardian has one of Denmark’s largest and strongest teams of European Patent Attorneys and European Design Attorneys providing expertise in diverse technical fields. Reach out for us for a non-binding conversation.
Phone: +45 77 34 44 44
E-mail: mail@gipc.eu
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