User Guide
Using this site for IP due diligence
A workflow guide for attorneys and paralegals reviewing a target's patents and trademarks — from building the asset list to exporting schedules for the purchase agreement.
What this site does (and where the data comes from)
Every record shown here comes directly from the IP offices: the USPTO Open Data Portal and Assignment Center for U.S. patents, USPTO Assignment Center and TSDR for U.S. trademarks, and the European Patent Office's Open Patent Services for patents from any country (including Canada). Nothing is aggregated from third parties, and searches are not stored — each export documents its own sources and timestamp so your diligence record stands on its own.
1.Build the asset list
The fastest start is the Company IP Profile: enter up to five name variants and get U.S. patent, U.S. trademark, and international counts side by side, with one-click handoff to Bulk Lookup for modest portfolios. For full result lists, start from the U.S. Patents tab with an Assignee Name search, and the U.S. Trademarks tab with an Owner Name search, for the target company. For international coverage, use the International Patents tab's applicant search (all countries, or filtered to Europe or Canada).
- Search every name variant. Assignment records are indexed by the name exactly as recorded — search subsidiaries, former names, and abbreviations separately (e.g. “ACME”, “ACME HOLDINGS”, “ACME TECHNOLOGIES”). Use quotes for exact phrases.
- Name searches also work in reverse: an Assignor Name search shows what a company has transferred away — useful for spotting prior divestitures.
- Export each search as CSV/Excel and consolidate into your working asset list.
2.Screen the chain of title in bulk
Take your consolidated list of patent numbers (or trademark serial/registration numbers) to Bulk Lookup — paste them or upload a CSV/TXT/XLSX file (up to 500 per run). Each asset is looked up individually and automatically screened, producing a Title Screen verdict per asset:
CleanReview neededIssues found
Sort by the Title Screen column or click “Show exceptions only” to focus on flagged assets. Hover any verdict chip to see the specific flags.
3.Review each flagged asset
Click through to an asset's detail page. The Title & Encumbrances panel shows the verdict, the specific flags, and the full recorded chain as a timeline — each document classified as a transfer, security interest, or release, with parties, execution dates, and reel/frame numbers. From the same page you can open the recorded assignment PDFs (the actual documents), review continuity relationships, and pull file-wrapper documents for patents. The Term & Status panel adds an estimated expiration date (filing + 20 years + patent term adjustment, with terminal-disclaimer detection), the maintenance-fee schedule with payment status from USPTO records, and any PTAB trial proceedings.
For trademarks, the detail page adds the mark image, registration data, current owner, live TSDR status, the next Section 8/9 deadline, and any opposition, cancellation, or suit entries from the prosecution history.
4.Export the diligence record
The Diligence Workbook button (on bulk results and owner-search results) produces a multi-sheet Excel file built for deal work:
- Schedule – Patents / Schedule – Trademarks: numbered asset schedules with jurisdictions, numbers, dates, and record owners — formatted for direct use as purchase-agreement exhibits.
- Exceptions: every flagged asset with its verdict and reasons — the punch list for closing conditions.
- Documentation: what was searched, when (UTC), against which data sources, and with which tool version — the record of the diligence step itself.
The PDF Summary button produces a one-page cover report — run documentation, verdict counts, and the exceptions list — for the data room; pair it with the workbook for the full schedules.
Note: workbooks exported from owner searches do not include title screens (screening requires a per-asset lookup) — the Exceptions sheet says so explicitly. Run the assets through Bulk Lookup when you need per-asset screening.
Understanding the flags
| Verdict | Flag | What it means / what to do |
|---|---|---|
| Issues found | Inventor(s) never appear as assignors | One or more named inventors have no recorded assignment. The employer may rely on an unrecorded employment agreement — obtain and review it. |
| Issues found | Security interest with no matching recorded release | A lender recorded a lien against the asset and no release naming that secured party was found. Confirm payoff and obtain/record the release. |
| Review needed | Possible gap in chain of title | A transfer's assignor doesn't match any earlier owner of record. Often a name change or merger recorded elsewhere — trace the corporate history. |
| Review needed | No assignments recorded | Ownership may properly rest with the original applicant, or transfers may simply be unrecorded. Confirm which. |
| Note | Security interests recorded and apparently released | Informational — verify the release documents cover all liens. |
Coverage and limitations — read this
- Recorded documents only. USPTO recordation is not mandatory: licenses, unrecorded assignments, and employment agreements are invisible here. A Clean verdict means the recorded chain has no detected gaps — not that no issues exist.
- Name matching is heuristic. The screens match party names with normalization (punctuation, entity suffixes, word order), which can miss connections through complex corporate histories or flag them unnecessarily.
- U.S. assignment records cover August 1980 to present. International results show bibliographic data and documents via the EPO, but not ownership-transfer histories.
- Estimates are estimates. Expiration dates, maintenance windows, and renewal deadlines are computed from official data but exclude patent term extension (PTE) and assume standard cycles — verify before docketing. PTAB coverage is AIA trials (2012+); court litigation dockets are not included.
Automated screen of USPTO assignment records. Name matching is heuristic and unrecorded documents (licenses, unrecorded assignments) are not visible here. Verify against the underlying documents before relying on any flag.