Alt Legal – Product Updates and Upcoming Features
Alt Legal Team | February 14, 2023
At Alt Legal, we believe that we’re never done working on our software and we should always be striving to improve our impact on the trademark community. In fact, more than 50% of revenue is invested right back into our product. That’s why throughout 2022, Alt Legal continually introduced new features and updated existing features, all to make your life easier. These improvements came from you, our customers, who told us how we can improve our software and provide you with the features and capabilities you need.
Below are some of the new features and updates that we’ve introduced throughout last year. Also, we’re excited to give you a sneak peek at what’s ahead in product development for 2023. If you have any questions about how to best use our software, or if you would like to submit any suggestions for future updates, please contact our team using the live chat icon in the bottom right or emailing our customer success team at help@altlegal.com.
Manage Your Reports with Alt Legal’s Report Manager
Your Alt Legal reports are now more manageable than ever! Every report you generate will be stored for later access inside Alt Legal’s Report Manager. The reports in Report Manager are historical snapshots of your docket, created as soon as you generate a report. Name them, delete them, or download them again and again, forever! Learn more about using Alt Legal’s Report Manager.
Build a Filter and Apply it Once
Filtering your matters just got easier! You can now filter by multiple criteria before running your query. This is just the start of some amazing filter options to come, so hop in your docket and give it a spin!
Export Your Docket in a New Way
You can now download your docket reports in a pre-formatted Word (docX) format. With just a single click, your docket will export into a clean, well-organized Word document that is ready to send internally and externally. In a future update, you’ll be able to incorporate your own personalized Word templates for even more reporting customization. Learn more about exporting your docket reports into Word documents.
Software Updates for Trademark Modernization Act
After the Trademark Modernization Act was implemented in December 2021, we’ve worked diligently to update our software to account for any and all deadlines and status updates that may change as a result of the new nonuse cancellation proceedings (expungement and reexamination) and the new flexible office action deadlines.
The expungements and reexamination proceedings created by the TMA involve a number of status updates and deadlines, all of which will appear in your docket and in your daily email notifications and calendar updates. You’ll know if a petition is initiated or denied, if the USPTO issues a 30-day letter, if the registrant files a response to the petition, if the mark is cancelled in whole or in part, and more.
We’ve also updated our software to take into account the new flexible office action deadlines. The new flexible office action deadlines went into effect on December 3, 2022. Applicants now have three months (with a possible three-month extension) to respond to an office action, instead of the historic six month period of time to respond. The purpose of this change is to decrease the time it takes to secure a trademark registration and to provide flexibility to request additional time to respond when the office action requires a more complex response. We’ve updated our software to account for the new flexible office action deadlines to ensure that you’re always up to date and that you never miss a deadline.
Updated, More Client-Friendly Trademark Application Forms
Some of our customers’ favorite features are our USPTO TEAS filing tools, and we’ve made them even better! Use our USPTO TEAS filing tools to streamline the USPTO application process. Our interactive, custom-branded forms allow you to easily collect information for a new trademark filing. The forms are fully secure and allow for easy collaboration with clients and colleagues. Once forms are complete, our direct connections to TEAS allow you to auto-fill the application and easily file it.
We’ve listened to our customers who have told us that our forms could be even more useful and efficient if we could include additional explanatory text. We understand that many individuals completing the intake forms are unfamiliar with USPTO trademark procedures and the nuanced terminology, so we updated the language on our intake forms and added helpful tips throughout. Simply mouse over an unfamiliar term or section to complete and users will see a popup that provides an expanded definition, helping them to provide the most accurate information and avoiding back-and-forth.
New SSO (Single Sign-On) Options
Many of our customers are using SSO (single sign-on) to enable users to login to multiple applications using a single sign-on. This helps users to more easily access applications, reduce time entering passwords, avoid forgotten passwords, and improve organizational security, among other benefits. We want to support your organization’s efforts to implement SSO and have created a new SSO option for Alt Legal. If your organization uses SSO, we are happy to help you incorporate Alt Legal into your SSO system.
Customized Daily Email Alerts
Our customers report that one of the features they love most about Alt Legal is the daily emails containing reminders about upcoming deadlines and new updates and status changes. These email updates ensure that you are always on top of your deadlines without having to even log in to your Alt Legal docket. Over the past year, we’ve made the daily email updates even better, allowing you to customize the information that is included as well as the format in which you receive your updates. You can select various data points that you’d like to include in each update and you can choose to receive your daily email update either as a table or a linear list. At Alt Legal, we’re always looking for ways to make your life easier and if we can make it easier for you to read and process information in an email, we will absolutely do that! With customized daily email alerts, you’re able to receive what you want and how you want it.
New Monitoring Tool – Trademark Application Match
Not only do we continuously update and add new features to our docketing software, but in 2022 we released a new watch/monitoring product – Trademark Application Match. Trademark Application Match is a new and cost-effective way to discover potentially infringing applications. It works by monitoring your entire USPTO trademark portfolio using a proprietary algorithm that searches for potentially infringing new trademark applications. You’ll receive weekly reports that you can scan and quickly identify concerning applications and report them to clients and stakeholders.
Unlike traditional monitoring services that are generally cost-prohibitive for your entire portfolio and generate an overwhelming number of results, Trademark Application Match is designed to provide the most relevant results for a competitive, flat-fee that is a fraction of the cost of traditional monitoring services. Simply, with Application Match, you no longer need to choose which marks to monitor.
Trademark Application Match is a perfect complement to our §2(d) Trademark Watch service and both tools can be used together to monitor all of the USPTO marks in your portfolio at critical points during the trademark prosecution process.
If you’re interested in adding Trademark Application Match to your Alt Legal docketing subscription, or would like to purchase Trademark Application Match as a standalone product, reach out to help@altlegal.com and we’ll be happy to get you started.
Sneak Peek – Upcoming Developments for 2023
At Alt Legal, we are never done innovating. More than 50% of revenue is invested right back into our product. We merge our technology and deep knowledge of trademark law with the voice of our customers to constantly improve and expand the value of Alt Legal. Coming in 2023 are a number of exciting updates that we are certain will improve your experience with Alt Legal.
- New Search & Filtering Interface. We plan to introduce a new search and filtering interface that will provide users with an improved search experience. Searches will be more like what you’re used to in other search tools so they will be easier to conduct. Also, results will be more thorough and pointed to your specific search.
- Intelligent WIPO Docketing. To enhance our global docketing capabilities, we will be launching our intelligent WIPO docketing feature which will create a streamlined, easily-managed docketing system for WIPO filings. You’ll be able to more readily create records for parent and child applications and manage status updates in individual countries.
- Enhanced Docketing Rules. We’ll be making it easier for you to control docketing through systematic rules that you designate. This will help you to eliminate noise and focus on the matters that pertain to you. It will also help you to delegate work to the appropriate parties in your team.
- Trademark Application Match Improvements. By continually implementing algorithmic improvements, we’ll be able to limit unwelcome matches, helping you hone in on the most likely conflicts.
Learn More – Reach Out to Alt Legal
Reach out to our customer success team at help@altlegal.com or by phone or live chat to learn more about how we can better tailor Alt Legal to your portfolio, or if you haven’t yet made the switch to Alt Legal, our sales team is happy to show you how Alt Legal compares to your current system. You can request a demo or trial here.