Support : eNewsletters : Eye on Innovation : Issue 1, October 2009

The importance of action-oriented intelligence cannot be underestimated in today's marketplace. There are many places to find information but few that let you analyze data and even fewer that couple the analysis with information in all subject areas all in one location. Dialog is that source.

Our new e-Newsletter Eye on Innovation treats you to new ideas about finding actionable intelligence in your own industry. Each issue focuses on a sector of Dialog content, combined with powerful search tools and techniques, to place the power of Dialog right on your desktop.

This first issue presents a case study recently conducted at Dialog on solar energy, who the upcoming players might be and how you can find out about them. A headline "China Racing Ahead of U.S. in the Drive to Go Solar" on August 25 in the New York Times agrees with Dialog's research.

Using trademarks to find innovation in the marketplace

Are you keeping a close enough eye on your competition? Do you need an early warning to spot new brands and products heading to market? If so, then Dialog can provide the crystal ball to find the answers.

Finding innovation in the solar marketplace
In light of the widespread discussion of climate change in recent years, and helped by government tax credits offered in some countries, there has been an increased popular awareness of solar technology. Many new and established companies have both increased their research and accelerated investment in this area. According to The Future Is Bright for Solar Energy: Photovoltaics and Other Alternative Energy Solutions Offer Economic and Environmental Advantages to Manufacturers, by John Teresko, (Industry Week, v258, n1, p46, January 1, 2009, and available on Dialog in Cengage Gale Trade and Industry Database™), there is a continuing groundswell in photovoltaic, or solar cell, development. Evidence of this trend was noted by Bill Colavecchio, Vice President and General Manager, Industrial Products Sector, Underwriters Laboratories, based on the number of UL certifications being sought for these types of products. Colavecchio estimated that in California's Silicon Valley alone the past 18 months saw 80 photovoltaic startups.

So, what is new in the solar energy field, and who are the major players with whom you might have to compete? Dialog with its comprehensive content collection, including trademarks, patents, technical and business files, provides the intellectual property and technology intelligence so crucial in today's competitive environment as a means to direct the innovation process. You must make strategic business and R&D decisions to gain competitive advantages in the global economy, and Dialog can help you every step of the way as shown here.

Step 1: Spy legally on the competition

Did you know that each new trademark application represents a brand name, logo or tagline for a new business, product launch or ad campaign? Moreover, the timing of registration precedes actual launch by many months—sometimes even up to a year!

What is "intent to use"?
TRADEMARKSCAN^® — U.S. Federal database on Dialog has a neat technique that lets you see trademarks companies "intend to use" before they actually use them in commerce. By searching intent-to-use trademark applications, you can find major players in a field, check for new competition and anticipate products your competitors plan to bring to market.

If you have not yet used a trademark, but plan to do so in the future, you may file for the mark based on a bona fide intention to use the mark in commerce, such as interstate commerce or commerce between countries. And, you do not have to use the mark before you file your application!

What does your research show?
Just who is actively filing trademarks for future solar energy or photovoltaic goods and services? A quick search of TRADEMARKSCAN^®—U.S. Federal on Dialog locates a list of companies that have filed "intent to use" trademarks in this area of technology.

From these tables we can identify companies that are filing the most trademarks and also whether those same companies filing in the past five years have the same interest in solar energy in 2008. For example, Optisolar Inc. filed 16 trademark applications in 2008 alone, tripling the number of trademarks filed in the previous five years, and the company continues to lead the list. Although Wuxi Suntech Power Co. filed nine applications in the last year, they filed only 10 in the previous five years. Daystar Technologies with 14 marks in the past filed none in 2008. Our search also identified two new companies—GreenVolts, Inc. and Sempra Energy—that filed trademarks related to solar energy in 2008 but not before. We have also found other companies that are interested in this technology.

Moreover, having identified these companies, we can use Dialog company name indexing in File 226 to find a company's trademarks and review the images and goods and services to find a description of the products or services the marks represent. Not only do you now know something new is happening you also know what that something is! So, don't wait for the company press release to alert you to new products because it's too late!

Step 2: Take the pulse of these companies

Now we expand our research a bit further—we can still find more! With a comprehensive collection of Dialog business and industry trade journals, newswires, newspapers and newsletters, Dun & Bradstreet comprehensive reports and market research from Investext, we use a powerful Dialog command—EXPAND—to review company data to see their assets/ liabilities, news press, credit and risk reports and more to help you predict the feasibility these companies will actually use their solar trademarks in the future. For example, if we find that one is laying off large numbers of workers and talking about mergers, we may take this company off our list!

What have you learned?
As a result of this search you can now ask yourselves several questions:

• Is this a market to enter?
• Are there niches for future innovation in the solar energy field?
• Are there ways to work together or partner with other companies in this hot technology area?
• Do companies currently interested in solar technology have the financial means to continue as major players?

You can explore answers to these questions on Dialog to find out more about the companies, their products and even their patents. And, you can use this same technique to find information on other markets such as medical devices, video games, or even beverages like coffee and tea.

Sign up now
Dialog has more "gems" to share to help you become innovative in the marketplace. Each quarterly issue of this new e-Newsletter Eye on Innovation will illustrate ways you can use Dialog content and search tools to gather your own intelligence, expand your knowledge of potential product niches and show you who's doing what in your market—in essence, how you can turn information into knowledge! Subscribe now to view upcoming topics that will give you a leg up on your competition's strengths and weaknesses and identify opportunities for and threats to your own business.