What are the challenges of IP processing today?

Digital transformation AND gathering information in paper files

The modern drama in IP processing: a constant juggling and merging of data with a high time expenditure.

The daily work of most IP departments, patent law firms, and intellectual property law firms still consists of a hybrid world between digitalization and traditional paperwork. Both worlds, paper and digitalization, have or had their advantages, some of which are prescribed by case law, some of which still exist for historical reasons.

It is important to recognize that what is practiced today, namely the parallel operation of both worlds, leads to a considerable additional burden compared to the previous world, which, because it has become a matter of course, is no longer seen as problematic and is therefore accepted as normal by many companies.

Especially in the IP world, one must remain extremely focused when handling intellectual property cases, as essential information is constantly being exchanged and documented. Not only that, but this essential information is sometimes "fished out." Sometimes from old filing cabinets, sometimes from the minds of experts, sometimes from various digital sources, internet repositories, etc. Compiling and comprehensively recording this information requires a high degree of concentration, perseverance, and discipline.

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In addition, there are constantly new challenges that a progressive company that wants to have satisfied employees and satisfied customers must address. These challenges, such as the increasingly important work-life balance, the drive to reduce working hours, and sensible solutions for distributing individual tasks among different employees, require the greatest possible flexibility and structure to avoid jeopardizing the company's future.

It is of great importance to be able to access external employee resources when needed in order to support the flexibility and structure of your own company as much as possible.

The good thing is that you can hire external helpers when needed and place them around your internal staff as a kind of support, which further stabilizes the company's own workforce and at the same time ensures flexibility.

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In the dynamic modern world of IP litigation, IP departments and patent law firms are subject to constant change.

A high level of documentation, absolute traceability, auditability, tight, sometimes non-negotiable deadlines, complex processes, and a correspondingly high workload characterize everyday life. In this challenging situation, support from a professional software company that provides not only software but also IP services through its own patent specialists can be a valuable relief, especially when it comes to balancing peaks.

At Continux, we select the right employees for you. All of our employees who work on your behalf are permanently employed by us. We place great value on appropriate training and expertise and ensure the quality of the work delivered. We train and develop our employees to ensure that the necessary expertise is always up to date for you. Because we know that excellence is not achieved by words, but by actions. Of course, our Continux software supports us in this, but Continux software is not a must in this case. We also serve other structures and contribute to the success of your company as consultants.

The Continux team of experts takes on a wide range of IP management tasks for you:

Our patent clerks, IP advisors and administrators have a broad range of skills and can provide support in numerous areas.

Among other things, we offer assistance in the following activities:

· Formal revision of documents: drafts of patent applications, oppositions, search reports and other documents,

EP patents: validation of EP patents,

Coordination of unitary patents,

· Nationalization of PCT applications,

Translations,

· Appointment of foreign lawyers on your behalf,

· Data qualification and control,

· Deadline monitoring and coordination,

· Support in processing follow-ups,

· Maintenance of patent management software,

· Maintenance of brand management software,

· Organisation of annual fee payments,

· Control of bibliographical information,

· Semi-automatic data comparison with the authorities and report on the resulting steps,

· Research and analysis of patents, utility models and other intellectual property rights,

· Analysis of priority documents,

· Determination of the state of the art,

· Case processing, including support from file creation to communication with the patent office,

· Conducting correspondence with clients or patent attorneys, authorities and other parties, depending on the client,

· Project management including cost management and coordination of projects,

· Creating and preparing statistics, increasing readability depending on the user group,

· Preparation and coordination of IP review meetings,

· and much more, let us know your requirements!

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What are the advantages of using external employees?

‍Flexibility and expertise

Freelance patent clerks are flexible and can adjust their working hours to the company's needs. They bring expertise in various technical fields and legal knowledge of patent law, trademark law, and intellectual property law.

Benefits for your IP operations

Working with a freelance patent clerk offers numerous advantages for patent law firms and IP departments of industries:

• Cost cutting: From a business perspective, freelancers are often more cost-effective than permanent employees, provided the hourly rates are reasonable. This is due to the fact that freelancers can be deployed very specifically for peak periods or as replacements. The costs incurred by freelancers within the company can be precisely factored into specific processes. These processes are usually autonomously processed, the benefits of which are calculable within the company, making the cost of using an external provider easy to calculate.

• Relief for employees: With the support of a freelancer, permanent employees can focus on their core competencies and receive support during times of excessive workload. Vacation cover, maternity leave, parental leave, illness, and other absences, such as business trips, can also be used to relieve the burden on employees and prevent them from becoming constantly overworked.
• Outsourcing unpleasant tasks that require a lot of effort and time: As an employee-focused company, you should definitely consider outsourcing some of the tasks that unnecessarily hold up internal staff to an external employee. This will significantly increase the motivation of your employees.

• Increased efficiency: Workflows become more efficient and productive when you involve external partners. This is demonstrably due to the effect that occurs when certain tasks are packaged and assigned to an external employee. The side effect is often that unnecessary internal procedures that have crept in over the years are thrown out the window. The external employee also sees the processes from a distant perspective, which helps create the impetus to leave well-trodden paths and, together with the external employee, "turn off" onto shorter, more efficient routes.

• Flexibility: Freelancers can be brought in at short notice to avoid bottlenecks. This is simply a very effective tool for supporting your own employees and keeping operations running.
• Special knowledge: Freelancers often have specialized knowledge in certain technical fields that IP operations may not have in depth. However, it doesn't matter whether an IP operations department necessarily needs to cover all areas in-house, because the pool of external experts allows them to tap into this expertise at any time without having to keep every aspect of the expertise in-house that may not be needed as often.

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