Why It’s Time to Streamline and Automate Foreign Filing Processes
Patent Management
October 23, 2024
International patent filing increases the administrative tasks for IP teams who already have limited time, resources, and bandwidth. Email volume continues to go up, filing data grows, and managing deadlines becomes increasingly difficult as a global patent portfolio expands. Finding efficiency gains is critical for team members managing foreign filing.
Once a company researches, evaluates, and decides on a course of action, it must act on those decisions. Filing a single patent manually could involve sending 10-15 emails back and forth with your agents before you even begin docketing the information into your IP management software.
With an integrated foreign filing solution, your team no longer needs to spend countless hours sending emails, tracking emails, entering filing data, searching for filing records, and uploading documents.
Table 1. Place foreign filing orders in bulk on the AQX platform
With one click in AQX, you can place an order with filing instructions for up to 500 records in less than 10 minutes.
All associated documents are automatically linked to the foreign filing instruction, including claims, and search history. Each type of document is stored in individual folders and smart form technology helps avoid redundancy. All your filing data and related documents such as translations, official receipts, and applications are automatically docketed on the record, which helps save time and eliminate clerical errors from manual entry.
Not only does automated filing streamline the initial application process, but it also gives your IP team full transparency, live tracking, and automated processes throughout the foreign filing lifecycle.
Monitor Your Global Patent Portfolio
When your foreign filing data is separately maintained outside of your IP management software, making foreign filing decisions can be very challenging. An integrated IP management platform containing all your patent filing data empowers business and IP leaders to come together and make decisions on budgeting and filing that strengthen the portfolio.
In AQX Home, the main dashboard in our IP management platform, you can visualize the foreign filing process end-to-end. Your IP team can monitor the patent portfolio in real-time – seeing and managing everything from upcoming foreign filing spend to annuity services.
In short, all the tools and information to help IP teams manage the patent portfolio effectively and make informed foreign filing decisions are connected to each other and available to your entire team.
Table 2. Status can be viewed either in each case or on the AQX Homepage
Mini Client Case Study: Putting It All Together
“One of our clients (a multinational manufacturing company) faced the challenge of effective use of resources in the R&D and patent prosecution groups. The R&D group weighs in heavily on the direction of the patent filing strategy since they know the technologies that are most important to the company. They maintain a policy to always file for coverage of their most valuable patents in 15 key countries.
Anaqua collaborates with this client to pre-set the details related to filing in those 15 countries. The AQX IP management platform pre-populates information for these countries, streamlining routine filings for the most important technologies. As a result, the innovation team is freed up to focus time and energy on new innovations while the patent prosecution team can focus on decisions to protect, strengthen, and streamline the overall IP portfolio.”
The Result – Foreign Filing Made Easy.
The AQX® IP management platform is a comprehensive solution for corporate IP teams to manage their global patent portfolios and foreign filings more efficiently, and ultimately have a greater impact on the business. By taking a strategic and selective approach to foreign filing, organizations can ensure the strong protection of their most important IP assets in key markets, all while improving efficiency and reducing costs.
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Further Reading
