IP Strategy
Define how IP supports value creation and competitive advantage.
Most businesses generate intellectual property faster than they make decisions about it. Patents get filed because they always have been. Trade marks get registered late or not at all. Trade secrets sit undocumented. The result is a portfolio that costs money to maintain but isn’t structured to support the commercial direction of the business.
IP Strategy Advisory is the work of putting a deliberate framework around how IP supports the business.
Where it adds value. Where it carries risk. What to keep, what to invest in, what to let go. The output is a clear plan that connects intellectual property to commercial goals.
Investors and acquirers expect a clear IP story. A well-structured IP strategy can materially affect valuation and reduce deal friction.
A 100-day plan that includes IP positioning often surfaces both cost savings and value opportunities that hadn't been visible to the previous owners.
Knowing what IP you can leverage, where you're free to operate, and where competitors are positioned is foundational to the commercial plan.
A structured review identifies what's earning its keep and what's not.
Our work in IP strategy starts with the business, not the portfolio. We work with leadership to understand the commercial direction, then map the IP estate against it. The output is practical: a strategy document that explains what to do with which assets, why, and on what timeline. We work alongside existing legal and tax advisers rather than replacing them.
Building a deliberate IP strategy typically follows a logical sequence: understanding what you have, understanding the market context, surfacing the risks, and then putting a deliberate plan in place. The work below tends to flow in this order, although individual engagements may focus on one or two stages depending on the situation.
Start by understanding what intellectual property the business actually holds. A comprehensive register of intangible assets covering registered IP (patents, trade marks, registered designs),
unregistered IP (trade secrets, know-how, data assets), and contractual IP rights. For more advanced engagements, this extends to mapping the IP to revenue streams and value drivers, so the business can see where IP is actually protecting commercial value and where it is not. IP Discovery can help identify potential Patent Box opportunities by highlighting unprotected, potentially patentable innovation underpinning commercially important products, services or processes.
With a clear picture of internal IP, the next step is to understand external position. We map IP holdings against competitors and the broader sector, identifying whitespace, capability gaps, and over-investment in areas that no longer matter. Particularly relevant before entering new markets or making major investment decisions.
A structured review of where IP risk sits. Covers freedom-to-operate concerns, infringement exposure, third-party IP dependencies, and gaps in the company's own protection that competitors could exploit. Surfaces issues while there is time to address them, rather than as they crystallise into commercial problems.
With the diagnostic work in hand, the strategy comes together. A practical document that sets out
what to invest in, what to divest, what to defend, and how IP supports the commercial direction of the business over the next 12 to 24 months. Aligned to specific commercial milestones (a fundraise, a product launch, an exit window) rather than written in the abstract.
Some engagements focus on a single stage. Others run the full sequence. Either way, the work is most effective when the relationship between the stages is explicit.
