Patents imply intellectual property and it has a $ value that can be associated depending on the field and type of patent that is allocated. Patents also increase the enterprise value of the company and help prevent copy-cats from copying the idea without having royalt payments or licencing deals. We like it when companies get patents awarded!. To protect IP companies aggressively file provisional patents even before they have a working product. The below table provides a way to look at what has been done by companies and use this as a factor to make investment decisions.