In-house legal teams juggle many responsibilities, including mergers and acquisitions, employment issues, and a continual stream of internal challenges. In this busy environment, intellectual property (IP) can be seen as a secondary concern until a crisis hits. Then, the company can experience lost contracts, shrinking revenue, or worse, loss of rights.
IP is a strategic asset. When it's overlooked, the first warning signs often come too late. A lost deal because another company used a similar confusing mark or a sudden drop in revenue triggered by undiscovered infringement can have a chilling effect, as you realize lack of attention to your IP portfolio has opened the door to a host of problems. This article explains how to evolve your IP portfolio from a defensive necessity into a strategic weapon.
Proactive Infringement Monitoring: Your First Line of Defense
Intellectual property enforcement doesn’t happen by default. There is no "IP police" guarding your trademarks, patents, or trade secrets. If you’re not actively monitoring your assets, you’re not effectively protecting them nor leveraging the power which they wield.
Fortunately, you can start broad infringement detection immediately. Utilize tools like trademark watching services, Google Alerts, and patent surveillance. These tools allow you to identify and track unauthorized use both online and in the field, giving you an early heads-up about issues, such as new patent filings that may implicate infringement.
Under certain U.S. IP laws, failure to enforce can even lead to abandonment or dilution of your IP rights. Once infringement is spotted, you must act decisively but also strategically. Document everything—screenshots, URLs, dates—and then consider sending cease-and-desist letters, negotiating settlements, and when necessary, escalating to litigation. The same concept applies to patents, where asserting several related patents against a competitor’s product can make their response more challenging and costly.
It is crucial to understand what’s at risk. Patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets each require different protection processes, but they all share a common vulnerability: If left undefended, their value diminishes rapidly. Proactive monitoring and action helps you defend these assets, protecting your company’s reputation and ensuring respect for your IP rights.
Create a Lean, Value-Driven IP Strategy
While not every innovation needs a patent, your goal should be to build an efficient IP “war chest.” The key is to strategically invest your limited budget where it matters most by creating a portfolio optimized for enforcement and, ultimately, value. Over-patenting can be a costly and ineffective strategy.
Instead, you should map your IP portfolio to actual business value. Focus your budget on the assets that underpin your core offerings or those that, if copied, would cause serious harm to your business. Ask yourself, “What happens if a competitor steps on this IP?” Prioritize assets that drive revenue, reinforce your market position, or offer significant licensing potential. Consider speed to market and other business factors when deciding what is and isn’t worth protecting and enforcing.
Build Cross-Functional Governance Around IP
Effective IP management must extend beyond the legal department. Build an internal IP committee that includes legal, product and program managers, sales, and R&D. This cross-functional team should meet regularly to review new developments, monitor competitor activity, and assess emerging risks.
Program managers and sales teams are often on the frontlines and best positioned to spot red flags early—at tradeshows, in client conversations, or during deal negotiations. Empower them to escalate IP issues quickly and bring legal into the loop. By asking sales and program managers what questions they’re hearing and what they’re seeing at events, you can gain valuable insights into potential infringements and competitive threats.
Integrate IP in M&A and Other Strategic Moves
A lack of IP due diligence during mergers and acquisitions can have devastating consequences. Consider this costly example. A company acquired a services firm without adequately assessing how its IP overlapped with the IP of its existing products. The fallout included a collapsed valuation, wasted resources, and, ultimately, a terminated general counsel. It’s essential to understand the parameters of a transaction, such as the scope of the involved IP to properly determine valuations.
Whether in M&A, joint ventures, or other strategic initiatives, IP should be a formal, integral part of deal assessment. You should meticulously map how IP and services align—or do not align—with your existing portfolio to avoid preventable losses.
Outsource Smarter: Lean on Specialist Counsel
As general counsel, you may be overwhelmed managing M&A, employment law, and a constant stream of other tasks, leaving little time for in-depth IP management. You don’t need to be an IP expert, but you do need to choose one wisely. Strategic advisors can help implement monitoring systems, conduct audits, and benchmark your IP approach against best-in-class practices.
At Martensen, we understand these challenges. Our team helps you cut through the noise, providing the expertise you need to look good when making critical IP decisions.
Our goal isn’t a bloated portfolio but rather a powerful one. We identify what truly matters to your business, pinpoint your risk areas, and determine how to protect your most valuable assets with limited resources. We act as an extension of your team, auditing current assets, watching your competitors, and preparing you for board-level conversations. We help you invest in your IP, recognize its value, and leverage it for maximum impact. Effectively defending your portfolio deters competitors and creates opportunities, thereby establishing or enhancing your company’s standing as a business that aggressively protects its assets.
Break Out of the Reactive Cycle
It's to your advantage and your company’s to stop treating intellectual property as just another line item or merely putting out IP fires when they arise. Your IP is a business-critical asset that must be a recurring boardroom topic. It’s crucial to develop a multi-year plan that includes audits, forecasting, strategic enforcement, and competitive reviews. Lifecycle planning, including renewals, filings, and strategic abandonments, should become standard practice.
Losing control of your IP can mean lost revenue, diminished reputation, or terminated contracts. But managed proactively, IP can be a powerful growth driver.
General counsel who embrace IP risk management through market awareness, lean strategy, and cross-functional collaboration protect not just assets, but the very future of their organizations. Don’t wait for fallout. Make smart moves now and lead with confidence in the moments that count.
Contact Martensen To Protect Your Intellectual Property
Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with our experienced IP attorneys to learn how we can help you safeguard your intellectual property rights.