Project Overview
A UK top-20 intellectual property law firm with 480 patent attorneys, 28,000 active IP portfolios (patents, tr...
Technology Stack
Compliance & Standards
The Challenge
A UK top-20 intellectual property law firm with 480 patent attorneys, 28,000 active IP portfolios (patents, trade marks, designs), and £4.2B patent portfolio valuation for clients needed a unified IP management platform — replacing a combination of Inprotech legacy system, manual renewal deadline tracking, and paper-based prosecution correspondence. SRA Code of Conduct, EPO (European Patent Office) API integration, UKIPO (UK Intellectual Property Office) API, US USPTO (for UK clients with US portfolios), UK GDPR for client IP data, Legal Professional Privilege, and WCAG 2.1 AA were mandatory. Budget: £150,000.
Our Approach
Patent prosecution lifecycle
application filing → examination → office actions → response → grant.
Automation
- 1EPO case status sync (EPO Online Filing API — check examination status for all EP applications daily),
- 2UKIPO status sync (UKIPO Find a Patent API — UK national phase applications),
- 3office action tracking (EPO communication received → attorney assigned → response deadline calculated per EPO Rules of Procedure — typically 2–4 months with extension options),
- 4automated docketing (due date calculation → calendar entry → 60/30/14 day reminders via GOV.UK Notify).
EP national phase
- European Patent granted → validate in chosen countries (national validation deadlines — 3 months from grant, different per country).
- IP Renewal Automation — EPO, UKIPO,
Patent renewals
annual fees payable to each patent office to maintain patent in force.
UK
UKIPO (Intellectual Property Office) — renewal fees from Year 5.
EP
EPO renewal fees (national phase).
Global
160+ patent offices via CPA Global, Dennemeyer, or Anaqua APIs.
Renewal automation
- 1renewal calendar (all active patents with due dates per office),
- 2annuity payment automation (via CPA Global API — instruction to pay renewal fee for each active patent),
- 3renewal confirmation receipt (patent office confirmation → mark as paid in system),
- 4lapse risk alert (unpaid renewal > 14 days before deadline → partner escalation).
Global IP portfolio value
patent lapse (failure to renew) = loss of IP right — renewal automation is business-critical.
EPO and UKIPO API Integration
EPO (European Patent Office)
APIs
- 1EPO Open Patent Services (OPS) API — patent bibliographic data, legal status, family (all patents in same inventive concept across countries),
- 2EPO Filing API (Online Filing — submit documents to EPO),
- 3EPO Examination API (fetch office action communications).
UKIPO API
- 1UKIPO Find a Patent (bibliographic data, status),
- 2UKIPO Trade Mark API,
- 3UKIPO Design API. USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office): USPTO Patent Full-Text API (patent documents), USPTO Patent Application API (prosecution status).
Integration
all three patent office APIs federated into single IP portfolio view — one system to manage UK, European, and US patent portfolios.
Client portal
IP portfolio owner (corporate client) views their patent portfolio (status per country, renewal due dates, upcoming deadlines, prosecution activity).
Patent analytics
- 1portfolio strength score (grant rate, citation count, family size, forward citations from competitors),
- 2patent mapping (technology claim coverage vs competitor portfolio — white space identification),
- 3Patent Box tax relief tracking (UK Patent Box — 10% corporation tax on IP-derived profits — automated Patent Box income allocation per patent).
Client NPS
72 (previously 18% of clients received annual IP portfolio review vs 100% digital real-time access now).
The Results
SRA compliance confirmed.
Platform live at 22 weeks, £140,000 — under budget. 28,000 IP portfolios across 3 patent office integrations.
Patent renewal lapse rate: 0.02% (target: < 0.1% — zero commercial patent lapses).
Prosecution deadline compliance: 99.4% (responses filed within deadlines).
Client portal activation: 84% within 30 days.
EPO office action processing: 2.4 hours → 18 minutes.
Patent Box tax relief identification: 84 UK patents identified as Patent Box eligible (£2.4M annual tax relief for clients).
LPP incident rate: zero.
“Patent renewal lapse rate 0.02% versus 0.1% target — zero commercial patent lapses. Prosecution deadline compliance 99.4%. Client portal 84% activation — clients track their £4.2B portfolio value in real time. Patent Box identification: £2.4M annual tax relief. SRA confirmed. Zero LPP incidents. EPO office action processing from 2.4 hours to 18 minutes. The Patent Box identification was the unexpected value — ClickMasters mapped patent claims to Patent Box-eligible products. Our clients had been leaving Corporation Tax money on the table for years." — Senior Partner, UK IP Law Firm (name withheld)”
Project Details
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