Aerospace patents play an important role in protecting innovation in the field of aerospace IP and promoting investment, competition and collaboration on many levels.
In addition to protecting inventors and private businesses for the crucial development of new technologies, patents establish a basis for the safe sharing of information often under additional agreements, enhancing collaboration rather than hampering it.
Ultimately protecting IP through registration allows it to be shared with other innovators, while ensuring that the original author, creator or inventor receives a benefit to which they are entitled.
Because of this balance, the aerospace sector continues to see rapid evolution, underpinned by the strategic use of patent pools and licence arrangements, and informed by the advice given by experienced aerospace patent attorneys.
Why IP is so important in aerospace
Aerospace patents serve several purposes. At first glance, these might appear to be mutually exclusive, but in fact they can be blended via commercial contracts and licences, and via access to specialist aerospace patent pools.
- Protect R&D investment by ensuring full commercial benefit of costly inventions and innovations.
- Enable collaboration by sharing/licensing patent rights, especially complementary or overlapping technologies with different rights-holders.
- Take pre-emptive action against patent trolls who might seek to block the use of critical technologies.
Patents therefore can be leveraged beyond a patent’s ability to ringfence a technology or innovation, but also by encouraging investment in new inventions with confidence in the ability to fully commercialise any new discoveries.
Key industry players
A few of the main players and industry trends in aerospace in the 2020s include:
Airbus and Boeing
Two of the largest commercial aircraft manufacturers in the world continue to rely on aerospace patents to protect their innovations.
Airbus launched the A321XLR in 2022, while Boeing’s new 777X features patent-protected inventions including folding wing-tips, which enable it to park in spaces originally designed for smaller aircraft.
Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and BAE Systems
Are also major aerospace manufacturers with a focus on defence applications.
eVTOL
A futuristic field of aerospace research is electric vertical take-off and landing, or eVTOL. This is being led by several companies, including Archer, Lilium and Joby Aviation.
Many types of aerospace patents are being filed in this area, protecting everything from software and control systems, to manufacturing methods, to battery management, to traditional specifications like wing design.
SpaceX
Aerospace and spaceflight technologies have lots of similarities, and SpaceX is a leader in creating some of the most innovative developments since the 1960s.
The company’s Starship is the most publicly visible example of this for potential low-Earth orbit passenger travel, and even for passenger flights to and from the Moon. Already, many features of the craft are protected by patent applications, including the antenna, battery and structural materials used in its manufacture.
Which technologies are most protected?
Aerospace patents can span a broad range of different areas. Like in any manufacturing niche, this can include specific components, entire systems, and the technologies that connect and control those parts.
Some of the niches with the highest level of aerospace patent importance include:
Aerodynamics
Despite being a mature sector, aerospace innovators continue to find new ways to improve wing designs and create even more efficient, low-drag aerodynamics that generate greater lift for aeroplanes during take-off and flight.
Engines
Aeroplanes need powerful engines to generate the thrust needed for take-off, and to maintain level flight at high altitudes, where thinner air reduces the amount of lift produced by the wings.
Fuel economy
Better fuel economy reduces running costs and carbon emissions, allowing airlines to avoid incurring costly environmental tariffs. This is a direct competitive advantage, so any new innovation is likely to be protected via a quick call to the aerospace patent attorney.
Common regulatory hurdles
Protecting aerospace IP can be challenging, but also delivers significant opportunities for rightsholders.
Innovators need to be prepared to work with patent offices around the world, as aerospace is a global industry. This can lead to language difficulties, as well as intricacies arising from differing patent laws in different jurisdictions.
It can take some time for patents to be granted, and those approval dates may be relatively far apart in different parts of the world. However, the rewards for protecting aerospace IP can be considerable.
The obvious benefit of aerospace patent protection is exclusivity rights in a specific market, which can prevent competitors from using a specific technology. Alternatively, the rightsholder may choose to commercialise the invention by licensing it or offering it through an aerospace patent pool.
An important secondary outcome of patent protection for aerospace innovations is the motivating factor on further research and development.
This can include non-infringing variations on the same and similar technology, complementary systems that add further functionality, or even more advanced versions of the same concept, which may offer even better sustainability and eco credentials.
Future horizons
Sustainability is one of the major driving forces behind aerospace industry innovation at the moment, with specific areas like fuel economy high on that agenda.
This is not just about building more efficient engines. It also includes alternative energy sources like biofuels, zero-emission electric propulsion systems, and even research into renewable-energy powered aircraft like solar.
Improvements to wing design and overall aerodynamics are important, as an aircraft with less drag naturally uses less fuel to stay airborne. This reduces running costs, uses less non-renewable jet fuel, and generates fewer carbon emissions.
The future importance of aerospace patents
We live in a best-of-both world, where valuable commercial innovations can be protected by patents, and can be licensed for use by other businesses. This protects the investment made into aerospace R&D, without stifling further progress and collaboration.
It’s right that aerospace IP should be protected by the businesses who put the money into research, and by the innovators who develop the new ideas.
At the same time, those new innovations set new benchmarks for fuel economy and environmental efficiency, driving the industry as a whole to new highs.
Working with a specialist attorney and Aerospace IP firm
It’s not easy to navigate the international aerospace patent process, and it’s important to adopt a strategic approach in order to ensure that your innovations are protected worldwide, to the fullest extent possible in each jurisdiction.
Our aerospace patent attorneys have the expertise and experience needed to protect aerospace IP, and to get the ball rolling in parts of the world where patent approval can take the longest.
From an initial patent search to verify the novelty of your invention, through every step of the aerospace patent application process, we can help you to secure a patent without obstacle.
To find out more, or to speak to a member of our aerospace team, contact us today.