What is patent portfolio management?
‍Patent portfolio management is the ongoing process of tracking, maintaining and strategically developing a company's full collection of patents and pending applications. It covers deadline tracking, deciding which inventions to protect going forward, and periodically pruning patents that no longer justify their maintenance cost.

What is a patent portfolio?
‍A patent portfolio is the full collection of patents and pending applications a company or individual owns, often spanning multiple related inventions and jurisdictions. Portfolio strategy involves deciding which inventions to protect, where, and for how long.

What is IP portfolio management, more broadly than just patents?

‍IP portfolio management extends the same tracking and strategic principles to trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets alongside patents, giving a company a complete view of all its protectable assets. Larger organisations often centralise this across legal, IP and business teams rather than managing each IP type separately.

What is patent portfolio strategy?
‍Patent portfolio strategy is the deliberate planning of which inventions to patent, where to file internationally, and when to let lower-value patents lapse, rather than treating every filing decision in isolation. A clear strategy ties filing decisions back to actual business priorities like defensibility, licensing potential and competitive positioning.

What is patent portfolio management software?
‍Patent portfolio management software tracks deadlines, fees, ownership records and filing status across every patent a company holds, replacing spreadsheets that become unreliable once a portfolio grows past a handful of patents. It significantly reduces the risk of missed renewal and maintenance fees, one of the most common and preventable ways companies lose IP value.

What is IP asset management software?
‍IP asset management software extends portfolio tracking beyond patents to trademarks, copyrights and other registered IP, giving a single view of a company's full protectable asset base. It's most valuable for companies holding a mix of IP types across multiple jurisdictions.

What is patent pruning?
‍Patent pruning means deliberately letting low-value patents lapse by not paying renewal or maintenance fees, freeing budget for higher-priority filings elsewhere in the portfolio. Regular portfolio reviews, at least annually, help identify which patents no longer justify their ongoing maintenance cost.

What is patent cost optimisation?
‍Patent cost optimisation means aligning filing and maintenance spend with actual business value, prioritising high-value inventions for full international protection while letting lower-value patents lapse or limiting them to fewer jurisdictions. It's an ongoing discipline rather than a one-time decision made at filing.

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