TOPPAN Digital IP has just released a video showcasing the new STREAM IP platform. What are the problems that the new platform is designed to address?
STREAM IP focuses on five objectives, or ‘pillars of filing’, aimed at optimising the international patent filing journey via the PCT, EP, or Paris Convention: integration across products and systems, intelligent insights, transparent pricing, an intuitive interface, and security by design. All of these are designed to streamline users’ day-to-day work without demanding extensive training and onboarding processes.
Can you give an example of what intelligent insights look like in practice?
Users will always know what the next action required is to ensure that they gain patent protection in the countries important to them, when to take that action to optimise value, and what existing assets will help you with the next step. As an example, if an applicant has a PCT application that is about to enter the national phase in Mexico, STREAM IP will show whether a Spanish translation was already provided for a direct fling in Argentina, how much content still needs to be translated, and the date by which an instruction should ideally be placed to ensure that the remaining work can be completed in good time. Or, if decisions are running close to a deadline, STREAM IP can display what options exist for extending that deadline, and even what the most cost-effective choice would be.
Would it not be a lot of effort for users to populate STREAM IP with their patent data before they can leverage those capabilities?
STREAM IP does all the heavy lifting. Previous and upcoming EP grant and PCT application data is intelligently fetched; validation, national phase entry, and renewal dates and deadlines are monitored; and prompts are issued, by email or via the in-platform chat channel. Cases can be pre-quoted based on both preset and learned pattern data. It’s also really straightforward to transfer cases between team members and bring outside counsel into the loop.
Sounds like that would be really useful for applicants – but what about attorney firms?
The principle is the same, but with adaptations to suit entire firms or individual attorneys: STREAM IP can load data for one or multiple applicants, and set up different access permissions dependent on whose portfolio individual users are working on. So, for example, a paralegal user may see different portfolios depending on whether they’re being instructed to work on a case by the firm’s own attorneys or directly by the applicant.
Has STREAM IP been built specifically for paralegal or formalities users?
They are certainly our key customer stakeholders, and much of the functionality has been built with the specific intention to make their working day more productive. However, STREAM IP is also designed with other users in mind. For instance, finance teams can access invoicing data and forecasting reports. Heads of IP and other senior management users can view analytics on filing and spend data, and attorneys can get an overview of their caseload.
So this is effectively an intellectual property management system (IPMS)?
It is not an IPMS and it is not intended to replace an IPMS. We know that IP departments and firms invest a lot of time and money in setting up and maintaining systems and processes. STREAM IP is designed to be integrated seamlessly so that adopters aren’t required to make wholesale changes to their workflows. Its agnostic system integration options allow STREAM IP to become a genuine collaboration tool, where users can invite colleagues, associates, and outside counsel to collaborate on international patent filing projects within a completely secure environment.
Is there a particular sweet spot in terms of target users?
Our aim is for STREAM IP to be as universal as possible, but with specific features for different profiles. Applicants can easily switch models, using their own international filing associates, swapping in some of ours, or just ordering translations to be sent to designated agents, all via the same screen. Law firms with multinational clients can get instant quotes in a range of currencies. What’s more, we offer a range of white-labelling options for law firms so that they can offer the benefits of STREAM IP as if it were their own technology.
The international filing process can be pretty costly and time-consuming – how does STREAM IP help to mitigate those issues?
The starting point is transparency. Users can access real-time, fixed quotes for filing into a range of countries in their own currency. Where translations are required, those quotes will roll in the benefits of AI-enabled language technology that has been developed and trained specifically for patent content. Integrations with other systems optimise data transfer and streamline otherwise manual processes.
So there is clear visibility on filing costs?
Yes, there is. Users should always have a clear understanding of costs for filing or validating their application in any country. But STREAM IP offers more than just application-level insights. There’s built-in configurable reporting, to allow analysis of historic spend based on the parameters users want to see, rather than static information that can’t be broken out or filtered. And STREAM IP offers AI-enabled forecasting functionality to enable IP departments to budget their upcoming costs monthly, quarterly, or even further ahead.
Do users have to request access to that type of information?
No – once an account is set up, everything can be accessed straight from the dashboard, with features which can be added or removed according to what users value most. Users also have access to a range of broader patent analytics, providing insight into competitor activity and technology trends at the click of a button.
You mention the use of AI – tell us a bit more about how that is deployed.
The first principle is simple: security. It’s critical that potentially unpublished patent content is never exposed to any AI tool or environment which could constitute a risk of disclosure. Within that secure environment, translations are a key part of the filing requirements in many countries around the world, and the rise of AI-powered machine translation has revolutionised the approach to this work in recent years. Tokenisation and AI-enabled quality evaluation can be combined to ensure that the human translator – who still forms a key part of the ecosystem – is able to focus most attention on the parts of a patent that are most likely to need editing.
What happens after the international filing process is complete?
Afterwards, of course, patent renewals and annuities need to be paid. As national filing data is generated, it is either transferred in real time into the Renewals module of STREAM IP to ensure TOPPAN Digital IP schedules all upcoming payments or can be seamlessly integrated into other renewals or IP management systems.
To summarise, tell us why the industry should pay attention to TOPPAN Digital IP products and services.
The leadership team here at TDIP has a proven track record of bringing innovative products to market that have a demonstrable impact on the industry; specifically, the centralisation of patent translation and international patent filing. Together, we have over 65 years of experience in the IP world, growing market-leading businesses, and working with customers in all geographies and across all industry sectors. At TDIP we are backed by TOPPAN Holdings Inc to change the face of the industry once again. And we’re very excited to be doing so…
If you are interested in finding out more about STREAM IP and TOPPAN Digital IP, take a look at the latest video and visit toppandigital-ip.com or email TDIP@toppandigital.com.
