Aligning Intellectual Property Management with Business Objectives for an Automotive Company

Situation

The law department for an automotive company lacked a standard global intellectual property process, resulting in increased spending on outside counsel and limited visibility into how the IP work was allocated and handled.

Solution

Morae:

• Refined and clarified the roles and responsibilities across in-house counsel and legal staff, including expansion of the intellectual property department to move a greater portion of patent prosecution work in-house.
• Mapped all patents to their associated product offerings.
• Implemented technologies to increase accuracy in internal reporting and to analyze the portfolio against the competitive landscape.
• Unified intellectual property management processes globally.

Benefits

The company saved more than 30 percent in patent-prosecution costs as IP and business strategy became more closely aligned. It also gained from increased efficiency and effectiveness through the use of a consistent, standardized workflow.