Implementing a Sound IP Recordal Management Process

IP portfolios represent a significant organizational asset. Like other corporate assets, IP often changes ownership several times during the period of its enforcement. An event such as a transfer of ownership or change against the official record must be properly reflected at the respective PTO offices around the world. Often the requisite paper work is not properly filed and can leave the IP owner exposed to portfolio management risk.

More often than not, IP recordal work and updates to official owner information are not efficiently managed. It is common for work to start, but never finish due to such factors as a lack of available resources, expertise and time. Or, this type of work is dealt with in a reactive manner at the time of renewal or when assets are transferred out of a portfolio as an attempt to reduce IP administration costs.

Verifying chain of title, processing formal documents, obtaining signatures, fulfilling legalizations, getting cost certainty and managing the correspondence with local counsel are just some of the activities that can create bottlenecks to completing this work. Therefore, it is critical to implement a systematic process and procedures to ensure this work is properly managed and completed.