Current globalized markets, due to their intense competition and several technological innovations, raise two questions: why Brazilian companies do not pay attention to the importance of patents as competitive tools and why do they not consider the exploration of patents as a source of technological information? This paper addresses both issues. A field research was developed to answer four specific questions: What are the motivating and inhibiting factors of the use of patents as competitive tools and what are the motivating and inhibiting factors of the exploration of patents as sources of technological information? In addressing these issues, the relevance of ten motivating and ten inhibiting factors was assessed. A bibliographic review and a preliminary research aimed at the elaboration of an electronic questionnaire, which was distributed among the companies members of ANPEI - Associação Nacional de Pesquisa, Desenvolvimento e Engenharia das Empresas Inovadoras, a Brazilian Association for the innovative enterprises. The answers were recorded in a database, which helped the management of information and allowed the analysis according to company size.
Industrial property; Patents; Competitive strategy; Technological information
