Software that helps legal departments oversee their patent portfolio

ILTA’s 2011 Law Department Technology Survey asked about intellectual property software, but 22 of the 54 respondents had none. Seven others had created an in-house system, which left 25 departments using at least one of ten applications. Those 25 named the system they have installed.

Five each (9%) use Computer Packages (CPI), Thomson Reuters (MDC) IP Manager, or CPA Global Memotech. Four departments (7%) use Thomson Reuters (MDC) IP Master or Dennemeyr DIAMS/DIAMS XE. Three (5%) use Anaqua or CPA Global FoundationIP while one each reported using Lecorpio, RightsLogic, or WebTMS. No one reported using OPSolutions Pattsy, Patrix Patricia, Innovator Enterprise Management System (MindMatters) or ipWorkflow – the last two were identified in the survey two years before. Obviously, the dominant three vendors are Thomson Reuters, CPA Global, and CPI.

From the comparable survey of ILTA two years ago a somewhat different set resulted (See my post of Feb. 15, 2009: 45 respondents reported on three classes of specialized software.) : “IPMaster (MDC) – 14%; Patent Management System (CPI) – 11%; Memotech/FoundationIP (CPA) – 9%; Anaqua (5%); ipWorkflow and Pattsy (OPSolutions), and Innovator Enterprise Management System (MindMatters) – 0%. Along with these seven, “Other” garnered 14%, which probably included custom packages, and “None” 48%.” Not much movement in this niche, at least according to this small sample.