Intellectual Property (IP) is one of the most prized possessions of a business. IP brings innovative products and services to the market, and protects a business from other companies through copyrights, patents, and trademarks. This can take the form of novel inventions, literary works, artistic works, technical innovations, or any other distinctive form of property with intellectual value for the business. The quantity and quality of IP a business holds directly shapes its overall value, which is why it is natural for any business to both protect its IP and share it strategically as it grows, all while maintaining clear ownership rights. IP is a genuine business asset, and how well it is protected has a real bearing on a company’s success and market value.
Intellectual property falls under the category of a company’s intangible assets, and is often considered the most valuable one a business holds. The main advantage of building intellectual property is that it gives a business a competitive edge over others. Legal protection of IP grants a business exclusive rights to benefit from its intangible assets: patents and copyrights secure exclusive ownership over innovations, while a strong trademark builds reputation among consumers and helps grow the customer base. This is why businesses invest heavily in securing patents and trademarks, since doing so directly affects future profits. Investment in research, marketing, and product development tied to intellectual property has grown steadily over the years.
IP Management Software: Goals
As companies invest more in protecting their intellectual property, IP management software has become an increasingly common part of that strategy. With advances in technology and information systems, protecting and managing a business’s intellectual property has become far easier and more convenient than it once was. IP management software secures your IP data, streamlines processes, and protects your business’s most critical assets. The main goals that intellectual property management software helps a business achieve are:
- Optimising workflows by streamlining and automating processes related to portfolio management, freeing up time for strategic decisions.
- Reducing risk through data integrity mechanisms and IP governance rules that protect your data and support compliance with global legislation.
- Enabling effective collaboration by connecting the right people at the right time to help secure the business’s IP.
- Protecting innovative products and services from infringement or misuse.
- Increasing the visibility and market value of the business.
- Providing easy access to technical and business knowledge tied to the IP portfolio.
IP Management Software: Features
One of the essential features of IP management software is patent analytics, which plays an important role in the patent mining process. Some of the other core features to look for include:
- Intuitive Idea Submission Form — Also known as an Invention Disclosure Form (IDF), this should be simple, intuitive, and engaging. It captures all the necessary details of an invention, requiring the innovator to describe the problem, the proposed solution, and how it improves on existing approaches. This form should always be kept as straightforward as possible.
- Customisable Idea Capture Form — Good IP management software allows the IDF to be customised to an organisation’s specific needs, offering the common fields most organisations use while also allowing additional fields to be added. This flexibility is worth looking for when evaluating software.
- Effective Collaboration — The software should let users make changes, share access with others, and track those changes as they happen, enabling multiple stakeholders to discuss and refine an idea together through real-time collaboration.
- Thorough Evaluation Made Easy — Collaborators reviewing a given patent should be able to exchange input directly within the software, adding comments as they evaluate the application.
- Role-Based Access — This is an essential feature of good IP management software, restricting access to patent information based on a user’s role within the business. This ensures confidential information stays visible only to the relevant individuals.
- End-to-End Tracking — This process-driven feature tracks the various stages of IP management, from the inception of an invention through patenting and beyond. An efficient IP management tool can track:
- Capturing the data
- Evaluating the invention idea
- Drafting the patent application
- Filing the patent application
- Managing the patent portfolio
- Automatic Updates — Good IP management software should notify your team automatically as a patent application progresses, including any rejections received, keeping everything visible in one place.
- Cost Estimation — Knowing the likely cost of patenting an invention, along with the average allowance rate in the relevant domain, makes patenting decisions easier. Patent analytics can help predict these costs and support better budget planning, making this a valuable feature to look for.
- Tagging — Tagging patents with relevant keywords makes it easy to filter and locate patents tied to a particular technology or business function, simply by searching a few related terms.
- Case Analytics — This feature gives a general sense of how similar patent applications have fared, and can offer insight into the track record of the law firm handling a given patent. This helps a business estimate where its application stands and plan its strategy accordingly.
- Detailed Examiner Analytics — Understanding the examiner assigned to a given patent application helps a law firm take the most effective approach to prosecution. Examiner analytics, where available, supports better strategic decisions here.
- Dashboard — A good IP management platform should offer a dashboard giving an overview of all submitted patents, likely rejections, and the overall inventory, supporting faster, better-informed decisions.
IP Management Software: Benefits
Implementing IP management software can offer a range of advantages that help secure a business’s position:
- Ability to scale — As a business grows its intellectual property portfolio, IP management software provides the structure needed to scale that growth effectively.
- Faster processing — The overall patenting process moves considerably faster with the right software in place, saving time and keeping the process organised.
- Prioritised development — Using IP management software to guide patent decisions helps a business prioritise the growth areas that matter most to its strategy.
- Technical support — Good IP management software also functions as a layer of technical support for legal and IP teams managing complex portfolios.
Conclusion
IP management software helps a business capture, evaluate, and patent its inventions, and continues to support it through every stage that follows. It is also a valuable tool for strategic decision-making around a business’s broader IP portfolio.
Simplify your legal operations management with an end-to-end platform. Manage enterprise legal operations the hassle-free way with Legistify.
