As the “Brand of the Century”, the ABUS brand stands for German quality in security technology, as well as for innovation and design. This is what the awards from Abus in recent years stand for, e.g. the “Most Innovative Brand Award” and the “Red Dot Award: Product Design”. ABUS is the market leader in many areas of its product range and is perceived by customers as a premium provider. In highly competitive markets, ABUS wants to achieve the highest possible level of exclusivity for its services. For this purpose, an IP strategy was developed for an electromechanical door lock.

Building security is one of the fastest growing sub-markets in the digitalization of the home environment, the smart home. For many people, an intelligent home is the most direct point of contact with the Internet of Things. It should be easy to use, preferably invisible, but without neglecting security aspects. According to market forecasts, the market for smart homes will already comprise almost 14 million households in Germany by 2021. The average global growth rate will be an estimated 17% between 2015 and 2020. The idea of ​​the Smart Home is the intelligent networking of various house functions such as heating, lighting, ventilation, entertainment and, last but not least, security technology. ABUS is one of the TOP brands for security at home.

The case study from the Masters program in Intellectual Property Law and Management (MIPLM) describes the path to developing the IP strategy and, derived from it, the improvement of decision-making for the stakeholders in the IP management process at ABUS, from marketing and product management to the development department.

Authors of the case study:

Dr. Thomas Becker

Dr. Becker is Member of the Executive Board of ABUS August Bremicker Söhne KG and the ABUS Group. He graduated in Physics at the University of Giessen (Germany) and worked for his Diploma and PhD Thesis at the Research Center Juelich (Germany). At the ABUS board, Dr. Becker is responsible for R&D, IT and IP Strategy.

 

Prof. Dr. Alexander J. Wurzer

Dr. Wurzer is Professor for IP Management at the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies (Centre d’Etudes Internationales de la Propriété Industrielle, CEIPI) at the University of Strasbourg, where he has been programme leader for the Master’s degree in Intellectual Property Law and Management (MIPLM) since 2007. He is Managing Partner at WURZER & KOLLEGEN GmbH, a consulting firm for strategic IP Management.

MIPLM Case Study ABUS