IPLaw360 carried a note last week on the rise of legal outsourcing which is accompanying economic woes in the US.

Coupled with this are the great strides that CPA and its subsidiary, Intellevate have made in outsourcing and streamlining the IP prosecution process.

Here are some ideas for an online system which would further streamline the process and give more control to IP owners when outsourcing the drafting and prosecution of IP Rights:

1. Have all communications with IP Offices around the world go through a central address at which correspondence is scanned, coded and forwarded electronically to the relevant people at the company;
2. Automatically update a central database with status information each time such correspondence goes into or out of the company;
3. Enable the in-house IP team to correspond directly with IP Offices on minor, administrative issues and include software which automatically generates suitable responses, with appropriate attachments to be reviewed be submission;
4. Enable the in-house IP team to select individuals or firms to consult on certain aspects of the drafting or prosecution of the IP Right.  Thus, a team in India may prepare the first draft of a patent, which is reviewed and slightly amended by one or more other specialists in major jurisdictions before filing.
5. Incorporating traditional reminder, letter writing, reporting and IP manageemnt systems into this.