Van Merle IP Counsel Select provides the following services.

Selection of Patent and Trademark Firms
We select the most suitable patent and trademark agencies wherever they are in the world. We will carefully determine your needs and start a project to find the best agency for your company. We will take into consideration the technical scope of your applications, the relation between the agencies and your competitors, the size of your IP portfolio, and many more criteria.

Selection of Patent Translation Agencies
We select agencies that specialize in translating patent applications. We will look at your patent portfolio and assess whether it would be useful to nominate a dedicated patent translation agency. We have selected patent translation agencies in Europe, the USA, and Japan.

Selection of Prior Art Search Firms
We select firms that specialize in prior art search. Most clients need prior art search in Asian language documents. We have selected patent search firms in Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, India, the USA, and Europe.

Selection of Patent Monitoring Firms
We select firms that specialize in watching new applications and patents, and in monitoring patent examination and post grant processes.

Selection of Annuity Payment Providers
We select agencies that provide patent annuity payments and trademark renewal services. We will analyze quotes from various providers for your IP portfolio, taking into account official fees, local agent fees, service fees, and exchange rates.

Selection of EPO Opposition Experts
We select European patent attorneys with evidential experience in EPO opposition. We select attorneys with experience in your area of technology, who are not engaged by your competitors.

Regular Auditing of Outside IP Counsel
We will regularly audit the performance of your outside IP counsel with respect to pricing and quality issues. We will verify whether the agreed upon fees are charged, whether the selected patent attorneys still prosecute your applications, and many more aspects.

Contract Renewal with Outside IP Counsel
We will assist you in renewing the contract between your company and the outside IP counsel after the initial term and, if needed, update the original selection process.

The following service portfolio briefly indicates our project set-up. We will adapt the project to your needs, taking into consideration your IP portfolio and your budget.

Van Merle IP Counsel Select performs projects for companies that file fewer than 20 to more than 1000 patent applications per year. We always adapt our projects to fulfill each company’s demands related to the filing of smaller or larger numbers of patent applications. Please contact us to discuss the most useful project for your company.