You may have “invisible gold” right under your nose. Like many other companies, you could be missing out on lucrative opportunities to sell or license software patents. The good news is that you don’t have to be in the dark anymore.

Software patents can be extremely valuable, but unfortunately, most businesses simply overlook the opportunity, or have misconceptions that cause them not to even try to patent certain software, to pursue the wrong patent applications, to wait too long to file, or to miss out on maximizing a patent’s value.

A strong understanding of software patents can provide a critical edge over competitors – not only from the revenue you can generate, but also because most businesses just aren’t taking advantage of their inventions. When you begin to use patents to your benefit, you’ll begin to see just how much value and protection against competitors you have been leaving on the table.

Some ways to identify the hidden value of software patents are to:

• Evaluate software for patent protection as early as possible in R&D
• Identify patentable ideas
• Implement a rigorous system for evaluating and prioritizing software innovations for patenting
• Identify how to position your software patents to block your competitors

To make the most of your patent opportunities, you need a system in place for evaluating your software innovations throughout their entire lifecycle and for maximizing the protection that you receive from patents on those innovations as your business and your competitors’ businesses evolve.

Identifying patentable ideas and turning those ideas into strong, defensible, and enforceable patent assets requires patent experts. I know this because this is what I do every day at my law firm, Blueshift IP. We systematically evaluate our clients’ inventions for patentability, filter through patentable inventions for those that are most worth pursuing, and help companies create patent portfolios that will serve them for years to come.

This process involves having a laser-like focus on patents that offer maximum value. This means that we don’t always recommend filing patent applications for every innovation our clients develop. Instead, we seek to help our client maximize their return on investment by finding, mining, and refining that “invisible gold” that exists within the company.