Protection doesn’t start with a patent
In a series of blog posts, Marco Coolen offers a glimpse into his work as a Dutch and European patent attorney at AOMB.
Published on May 3, 2026
Marco, a patent attorney at AOMB since 2013, shares his expertise on IO+ about patents—how they work, why they matter, and when they lose their value.
No return? Then protecting your innovation can quickly feel like an unnecessary luxury.
That is understandable. A patent costs money, time, and attention. If you don’t expect an invention to yield anything, why would you put effort into it?
But usually, it’s not that simple.
Marco Coolen, photo © Bart van Overbeeke
A patent is an investment
Many entrepreneurs look at patents as if they are a legal instrument. Something you arrange when a problem arises. In reality, a patent resembles an investment more. Like a machine. Like software. Like a new production line.
You record your innovation because you expect it can create value. Not because it can, but because it serves a purpose. That also means you have to think in advance about the economic side of your invention. Where is the return? In production? In sales? Or perhaps somewhere else?
Value can shift
An interesting pitfall is that entrepreneurs only look at their own business model. If it doesn’t pay off for them to produce an innovation, they quickly conclude that protection is not necessary. But value can shift.
Perhaps another party has a more efficient factory. Or a better distribution network. Or access to a market where your product grows faster. In that case, your innovation can suddenly become very interesting to them. And then the picture changes.
Not producing, still earning
Protection can also be valuable when you don’t want to make products at all. You can, for example, license a technology. Other companies use your invention and pay a fee for it. Sometimes that even turns out to be more lucrative than producing it yourself.
Another option is sale. A patent is a tradable asset. Just like a piece of land or a machine. Especially when a technology is applicable in a broader market, that can be interesting.
When protection is not necessary
There are, of course, also situations in which protecting simply does not make sense. When an innovation is difficult to scale, yields hardly any margin, has no clear market or is easy to copy without proof, then it may be wiser not to invest energy in it.
Not everything that is technically new needs to be legally protected.
The right questions
So the most important step comes before the patent application.
Not: Can we patent this? But: where is the value? And perhaps even more important: for whom, actually?
Because protection is ultimately not about paper or legal wording. It is about economic logic. Those who ask these questions properly often quickly know whether a patent is a smart investment or simply an expensive formality.
The World of Patents
Marco Coolen offers us an insight into the world of patents every Sunday