Title:
IP STRATEGY FOR THE O&G SECTOR – PETROBRAS’ CASE STUDY

Authors:
Rodrigo de Oliveira e Souza, Adelaide Maria de Souza Antunes, Luiz Fernando Leite, Brazil

Abstract:

When investing in innovation one has to ensure that the result of years of research is not simply copied and used by competitors. To secure the benefits of being a pioneer in the development of a new technology, companies build large Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio. The way companies use this portfolio may be taken as their IP strategy.  The purpose of this article is to analyze the IP strategy of Petrobras, a leading oil and gas company in the Brazilian market. Like other companies, Petrobras does not disclose its IP strategy but it can be inferred indirectly according to the way it manages its patent portfolio. Even though Petrobras is the leader among other Brazilian companies in patent filing and technology transferring, a comparison of its IP strategy with other companies in the Oil and Gas (O&G) industry points to improvement opportunities mainly in the defensive, cost control and value creation aspects.