The Tech Overlap feature identifies technical overlap and fields that give the greatest opportunities (white spots) between a law firm and another entity, with or without potential conflicts of interest. This can help you to understand the fields and/or IPCs to deepen or extend an existing relationship. It can also give you an initial understanding of where potential conflicts of interest may arise should you choose to collaborate on specific technical fields/IPCs.

Note: Only applicable to Patents.

How to use:

  1. Enter your firm as Entity A and any applicant/firm as Entity B. You can also select multiple entities as Entity A and/or B.
  2. Add relevant filters e.g. Foreign Representative Authority or International Decision Maker to the relevant Entity.
  3. Click Check Tech Overlap.
  4. The results are ordered by the largest white spots (largest Delta between the volume of cases handled by Entity A and B) in the various technical areas/fields and IPC4/8s.
  5. Optionally, filter the Technical Field or Area that you’re most interested to deep dive at the IPC-level.
  6. Applicants who have filed with the respective Entities and their corresponding volumes are listed at the bottom of the page. These are the applicants that you can pursue in (Entity B’s column) or need further investigations into conflict risks (in Entity A’s/your column).

Use case:

Enter your firm as Entity A and the sending associate firm as Entity B. Change year type to “exchanged” and include filters such as your jurisdiction(s) as the “International Publication Authority” and Entity B as the “Decision Maker”. The results are ordered by the largest white spots (largest Delta) in the various technical areas/fields and IPC4/8s.

Enter your firm as Entity A and the competitor firm as Entity B. Change the year range to your preference and include filters such as your common jurisdiction(s) as the “Publication Authority” and preferred “Applicant Country”. The results are ordered by the largest white spots (largest Delta) in the various technical areas/fields and IPC4/8s, with the lowest possible conflict risks to your current clients.

Enter your firm as Entity A and the sending associate firm as Entity B. Change the year range to your preference and include filters such as Sent as the “Filing Direction” for Entity B and Entity B as the “Decision Maker”. Head to the TECH OVERLAP – IPCs table to reorder Entity A’s number of cases in ascending order. The colour code of the top IPCs corresponds to a broader technical area/field that you have experience in but not specifically for these IPCs.

FAQ’s

Case volumes are more representative of the amount of work you can take over, as a case includes all patent filings within the same patent family done by the same agent.

Certainly, we recommend adding the “Decision Maker” filter reflecting Entity B.

It is likely that you are on the Trademarks module of IP Pilot. Tech Overlap only applies for Patents.