Organisations with appreciable numbers of patents need a range of services, all of which we can provide.
At a practical day-to-day level, it is vital to have a robust mechanism for ensuring timely payment of the renewal fees needed to keep patents (and in some countries pending patent applications) in force. We normally entrust this to a specialist renewals service who should seek instructions from you and make the payments.
At a more strategic level, it is a good practice to audit your IP portfolio periodically to make sure that it reflects your business objectives. Priorities and technologies change over time. Reconciling your IP against your commercial activities will often highlight areas where economies can be made, unused but valuable IP that might earn licensing revenue, or areas of weakness in your protection that might be strengthened. These exercises start with a clear account of what you hold and what it protects.
Auditing of intellectual property and assessment of its strength and value can be of even greater importance where portfolios or IP holding organisations are being sold or acquired, and involving a patent attorney at an early stage is, in our experience, often an important precaution against unwelcome last minute surprises.