IP Portfolio, Renewals and Deadlines

What it does

This is where we keep what you own and what you need to do about it. Rights are entered once, checked against the official registers, and then followed: status, coverage, costs and, above all, deadlines.

It serves as the common base for many of our services. A trademark filing, a patent strategy, a due diligence or a tax incentive claim all start from the question of which rights exist and in what state they are.

Inputs are the data you or your previous counsel give us, the official registers, TMview for trademarks, and the correspondence from IP offices. Outputs are the views, calendars and renewal proposals described below. A person checks every date and proposal before it reaches you.

Functions

Portfolio views

Trademark, design, domain name and patent portfolios can be shown as a map, a rights chart or a list. The views show jurisdiction coverage, the spread of trademarks over the Nice classes, and gaps, for example a class in which you are registered in one country but not in the market you are entering. Data on trademarks can be refreshed from TMview.

Renewal timeline with costs

For each right the function shows the next renewal or maintenance step and what it will cost, in a timeline that you can read per year or per jurisdiction. The figures come from the same engine as our IP cost estimator, so a renewal decision is made with the cost in front of you. Renewal management for IP portfolios explains the legal rules behind the dates.

Deadline docketing

Deadlines are recorded with four escalation levels, so that a date a year away, a date a month away and a date next week are not treated alike. Correspondence from IP offices is linked to the right it concerns, so that an office action or a notice of opposition triggers the correct time limit. Renewal dates are computed where an official source exists, and a person confirms every deadline before anyone relies on it. Managing your IP deadlines sets out the main periods.

Patent docket with register synchronisation

Your own patent applications and patents are entered with their numbers and followed against the EPO register. When the register shows a change, such as a new procedural step or a change of status, the docket is brought up to date and a person confirms the dates that follow before anyone relies on them. Your trademarks, designs and other rights are followed alongside, so you see your whole portfolio in one place. Third-party patents are followed separately, in Patent Watch.

Batched renewals and client instructions

Renewals are batched per client. You receive a proposal with the cost estimate for each right, and you instruct us to renew, abandon, oppose or extend through a secure link. The instruction is recorded, and an attorney confirms before anything is filed or paid.

Copyright register

A register of copyright works holds the works, their registrations per jurisdiction and their history. Copyright arises without registration, so this register documents what you have and where it has been recorded.

Class-gap and proof-of-use tracking

The function tracks which classes and jurisdictions are covered and keeps evidence of use for trademarks, so that you can answer a proof-of-use request without a search through old files.

What you receive

• A verified register of your rights, with the views above.
• A renewal calendar with costs, and renewal proposals per batch.
• Reminders on four escalation levels, sent to the people you designate.
• A record of your instructions and of what was done.
• Exports that serve as input for due diligence, funding rounds and valuations, for example how to value an IP portfolio.

Your colleagues can see all of this in the client portal.

Where it is used

It is the backbone of IP portfolio management, where the register and the calendar are the service. It follows the filings made in trademark registration and the results of trademark watch and opposition, and it carries the annual fees in 360° patent strategy. It also supplies the list of rights for M&A and due diligence, and the documentation of IP ownership and income that tax claims such as the innovation income deduction require. See also IP lifecycle management and from application to registration for the background.

A walk-through: a client hands over a spreadsheet of 50 trademarks. We load them, check each against the register and correct owners and classes where the register differs. The portfolio appears as a map and a list. We see that three marks fall due within six months. Our attorney confirms the dates, a renewal proposal with the cost estimate is sent in a batch, and the client replies through the secure link: renew two, abandon one. The instruction is recorded, the attorney executes it, and the calendar is updated.