The burgening economic downturn continues to put pressure on all departments of companies to reduce costs. The intellectual property acquisition function is clearly no exception.
So here’s 5 suggestions, what would you add?
1 – review your portfolio to identify pending or registered IP rights of lower value now and in the future, prioritise them, and lapse them (saves on annuities and prosecution costs of any pending applications);
2 – consider filing divisionals or continuations to extend prosecution rather than expend money in the short term on attorneys (of course, the act of filing these applications carries a cost of its own);
3 – consider whether applications for IP protection can sensibly be delayed;
4 – use lower cost filing methods, so for example: hire a patent attorney to carry more of the drafting, filing and prosecution costs internally, use PCT or Madrid for international applications, PCTFiler for National Phase entry, etc.
5 – consider blending your current attorneys with a lower cost firm for more routine work.