Caterpillar 2015 Annual Report Download - page 70

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70
2015 YEAR IN REVIEW
A Conversation With
JAMES B. BUDA Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, Law and Public Policy (continued)
How is big data playing a role in areas such as law and public policy?
The Law and Public Policy organization is helping our internal clients be more efficient by streamlining our patent
processes. Many of our R&D projects turn into patents – Caterpillar owns over 15,000 patents right now. Some
patents are more valuable than others, while others give us a better return on investment than others. The Law
and Public Policy Organization is using big data and analytics to develop a value for each of our patents.
How do we use that valuation on patents?
We can use a particular valuation to decide whether it is important to renew a patent when it comes due and pay
the fees attributable to it. Or, we can decide whether to file a patent in another country or enforce a patent against
one of our competitors. It all depends on the patent’s value, and big data allows us to gauge that, and allows our
internal clients to make better and more efficient decisions.