Nanalyse notes that ‘If the process of compressing air sounds simple, LightSail has gone to great lengths to protect their proprietary process having 30 patents and … filing patent applications consistently over time to further improve upon their technology’.
Of course, simply protecting IP will not generate money (although it will certainly consume money) – an IP business model is also needed. One possible IP business model comes from Dr. Michael Nakhamkin, who has been granted patents in the US, China and elsewhere relating to compressed air energy storage systems.
In 2013, Nakhamkin sold these patents, patent applications, trademarks and other IP to US multinational Dresser-Rand for an undisclosed sum. He was also retained by Dresser-Rand as a consultant. According to a press release at the time:
The acquired intellectual property complements Dresser-Rand's current SMARTCAES™ compressed air energy storage technology and expands the range of its offerings. Dresser-Rand will now be able to provide the smallest to the largest CAES projects to meet specific grid scale requirements.
This is but one of many ways of using intellectual property in engineering business. You should of course seek professional advice on your own particular circumstances.
