Legal IP Audit

Protect and capitalise on your intellectual property with our IP audit.

A bit about our IP audit service 

At Progressive Legal, we conduct thorough Intellectual Property (IP) audits to help Australian businesses identify, protect and capitalise on their intellectual property. Our expert team identifies your IP, exposes potential risks, uncovers hidden opportunities, and offers strategies to monetise your IP assets.  

Many business owners struggle to keep track of their IP. They face challenges like not knowing who owns the rights to their IP, infringement risks, prosecution risks, outdated registrations, and unexploited IP assets, sometimes leaving IP assets exposed when the business thought it was protected.  

Our audit process addresses these issues by providing a clear roadmap for IP management, protection, and monetisation. 

Article – What is an IP Audit and Why is it Important?

Competition is intensifying and new technologies are constantly emerging. If you want to maintain a competitive edge, foster innovation, and profit from these innovations, protecting your IP has never been more crucial. But what exactly is an IP audit, and why is it so important for your business? Let’s break it down.

What is an IP Audit?

An IP audit is a systematic review of your business’s intellectual property assets and related agreements. Its goals are to identify intellectual property (IP) inside an organisation, who owns it, how much it’s worth, it’s legal standing, and what to do with it. The primary purpose of an IP audit is to help you understand the value of your IP, identify any risks, and uncover opportunities for leveraging your IP to generate revenue.

Types of IP Assets

1. Trade marks

Logos, names, products, services, and slogans used to distinguish your products or services from others in the market.

2. Patents

Protect inventions and processes, granting the inventor exclusive rights to use and commercialise them. 

3. Copyright

These protect original works of authorship, such as books, music, and software. 

4. Trade Secrets

Confidential business information that provides a competitive edge, such as formulas, practices, and processes.

Why is an IP Audit Important?

Identify and protect assets

To make sure your intellectual property is protected properly, an IP audit helps you in identifying all of your assets. This means verifying that patents are current, trade secrets are protected, and trade marks are registered. By doing this, you can stop unauthorised use or intellectual property violation. 

Determine IP value

Knowing the worth of your intellectual property is essential to making smart business choices. Your IP can be leveraged more successfully if you know how much it’s worth.  

An IP audit can do this. For example, you may find that there are options to sell unregistered trade marks or obtain licences for your patents. 

Find revenue opportunities

Finding untapped sources of IP monetisation is one of the major advantages of conducting an IP audit. This could involve selling certain intellectual property assets, franchising, or licencing arrangements. You may increase the profitability of your company and generate new revenue streams by realising the full potential of your IP. 

Reduce risks

You can find possible threats to your intellectual property by doing an IP audit. Finding out about unregistered trade marks, expired patents, expired trade marks or possible rival infringements are some examples of this. You can protect your intellectual property and steer clear of expensive legal battles by taking proactive measures to mitigate these dangers. 

Support business transactions

Whether you’re looking to merge, acquire another company, attract investors, or sell your business, having a clear understanding of your IP assets is vital. An IP audit provides a detailed overview of your IP portfolio, making it easier to demonstrate the value and potential of your business to stakeholders.

What does our IP Audit process look like?

Conducting an IP audit involves several key steps. Here’s an overview of our process:

1. Planning and preparation

The first step is defining the scope of the audit and identifying the team members involved. This also means gathering all necessary documents and information related to your IP assets. 

3. Identification of IP assets

We’ll begin the audit by asking you what the current situation is with your business. Questions might include ones like ‘who created your brand?’. This will give us an idea of who has the rights to the IP. 

We’ll then go through and list all of your IP assets, including trade marks, patents, copyrights, and trade secrets. This also involves identifying any pending applications and unregistered IP. 

4. Evaluation and analysis

The next step involves an assessment of the legal status, ownership, and value of each IP asset. We’ll check for any potential issues, such as expired registrations, ownership disputes, or infringements.

5. Risk assessment

The team will then identify any risks associated with your IP assets, such as potential infringement by competitors, and develop strategies to mitigate these risks.

6. Report and recommendations

We’ll compile a short report outlining our findings and provide recommendations and advice for protecting, managing, and leveraging your IP assets more effectively. 

Key takeaways

Understanding and protecting your intellectual property has never been more important for Australian SMEs. An IP audit is a crucial step in this process, helping you identify, protect, and leverage your IP assets effectively. By conducting regular IP audits, you can uncover new revenue opportunities, mitigate risks, and support your business’s growth and success. 

At Progressive Legal, we are committed to helping Australian businesses protect their IP and maximise its value. Contact us today to learn more about our IP audit services and how we can help you protect your most valuable assets. 

“The team at Progressive Legal really takes the time to understand their clients business and needs. We consider the crew an asset to our business.”

Julian Haines, founder at The Bucks Co.