China Patent Agent (H.K.) Ltd. (CPA) attorneys were invited to share their views on trends and challenges of the IP industry for a recently published report “Intellectual Property Portfolio Management: Trends & Success Factors 2012”.

Ms. Liang Hui, manager of Trademark Department at CPA Beijing office, sees the trends of more companies trying to reduce trademark management costs and more work to be done in-house against the backdrop of global economic turmoil.   

Mr. Deng Ming, director of CPA Munich office, comments on the part of survey related to identifying businesses' most costly patent-related activities. He finds that the results reflect an equal importance given to seven aspects of patent portfolio management, namely, information search, drafting patent application, patent office fees, translation, managing patent portfolio, settlements, and damages, with their ratings all around 4 (where 1 is the highest, 7 the lowest).

The report is based on a survey on IP portfolio management in patents and trademarks conducted by online legal information provider Legal IQ in February 2012. Responses from nearly 600 legal practitioners and experts were collected.