Head-Counsel
Global Media Company
Since 2019, Alt Legal has partnered with the trademark counsel at a well-known global media company to support the management of a large and complex trademark portfolio. The in-house legal team, made up of attorneys and support staff, oversees more than 4,000 active trademark matters across jurisdictions.
By relying on Alt Legal as a core part of their trademark operations, the team has been able to streamline workflows, maintain accuracy across their docket, and reduce overall costs. Over the years, the legal department has consistently identified Alt Legal as an essential resource for managing their growing trademark workload efficiently.
Recognizing the Need for a Better Trademark Management Solution
Before the current head of trademarks joined the team, all trademark work was managed by outside counsel. This approach proved both costly and inefficient, leading the company to establish an in-house trademark counsel role. Once in place, the newly appointed counsel quickly identified limitations in the firm’s existing docketing software. The platform lacked customization, making routine tasks more time-consuming—exported reports required extensive manual formatting, searches could not be tailored to capture the appropriate scope, and tagging was not available.
“Everything was double the work it needed to be. I had to enter all data manually and I couldn’t effectively search matters. There were no tags, so I had to look at each matter individually to find what I was looking for. I would often have to contact our outside counsel to get and confirm information, which was expensive and time-consuming.”
The new head counsel was able to make a strong case for bringing trademark docketing in-house. The remaining challenge was identifying an IP docketing solution that offered the right functionality at an appropriate price point. Based on prior experience with legacy systems, it was clear that many existing platforms lacked the flexibility and features required to support a small but highly effective trademark team.
“With software I used previously, I had to create inefficient work-arounds in order to properly track renewal deadlines. I decided I shouldn’t need to do that, so I went looking for more modern software.”
During her evaluation process, the head counsel was impressed by Alt Legal’s automation, ease of use, and advanced functionality. She determined that Alt Legal was the right fit for the organization’s needs. Within weeks, Alt Legal’s Customer Support team successfully migrated thousands of trademark matters from two separate IP docketing platforms into Alt Legal, fully customized to the head counsel’s specifications.
“Almost immediately, it felt like ‘FINALLY!’ Finally I could access all the information I needed (and be informed of information we didn’t have, thanks to the APIs). I could export pre-tailored reports and not have to spend hours formatting an Excel chart. I could bulk tag portfolios associated with a specific acquisition, a particular division, or industry specific detail.”
Reducing Costs and Improving Efficiency by Managing Trademarks In-House with Alt Legal
With Alt Legal, the team transformed its trademark operations—cutting costs, improving efficiency, and simplifying access to critical IP data.
Beyond just giving the head counsel better access to the company’s IP matters, Alt Legal significantly helped to contain costs on outside counsel spend.
“Before I came in and brought the portfolio in house with Alt Legal, the company paid outside counsel for every filing, renewal, address update, assignment, etc. Every question or task, no matter how small, came with a bill. We drastically reduced our spend on outside counsel. I have been able to reduce the department budget by almost 50% in six years!”
In addition to reducing outside counsel spend, Alt Legal has also delivered meaningful efficiency gains in day-to-day trademark operations.
“Today, we run tailored renewal reports which we export directly to local counsel and update the docket with a simple click (the rest is automatic!). Small time savings add up. Five seconds here or there contribute to a huge bill when we’re renewing 300 marks a quarter!”
Moreover, Alt Legal has given the team direct control over their trademark data, eliminating unnecessary handoffs and delays with outside counsel.
“We’ve cut out at least 15 middlemen. Instead of trying and failing to find information in reports, then contacting our attorney, who assigns a task to a paralegal, who uses archaic software to find the information and report it back to the attorney who reports it back to us, all with a substantial delay and cost, I can easily find the information I’m looking for myself. Every day-to-day task has now been brought in-house.”
Hands-On Support from the Alt Legal Team
Another key contributor to the company’s satisfaction with Alt Legal is the responsiveness and approachability of the Customer Support team, which is readily available by email, phone, and live chat.
“The team is awesome. Everyone I’ve interacted with has been helpful and supportive. Whenever I have a question, they respond immediately. The support is accessible, the staff is personable, and the solutions are effective. It’s refreshing to work with them when you know the actual human on the other side.”
Transforming In-House Trademark Operations with Alt Legal
This customer’s experience demonstrates that outdated systems and inefficient processes don’t have to be the norm with in-house legal teams. With Alt Legal, the head counsel at a global media company transformed how her organization manages trademarks—bringing work in-house, eliminating unnecessary costs, and gaining full control over a complex portfolio. From its seamless onboarding to its responsive, expert support, Alt Legal continues to equip her team with the tools they need to work more efficiently. For in-house legal teams seeking a modern, intuitive, and cost-effective approach to docketing, her experience underscores the value of making a change.
“Attorneys, like most other people, get stuck in their ways, and the idea of change, even if for the ultimate better, is oftentimes too overwhelming. The mere thought of migrating to a new docketing software is fraught with complexity, when in reality it’s really not! These days, exporting data from one system to another is seamless, and in my experience, Alt Legal was phenomenal in filling in any gaps and making sure the docket was set up in a way that works for me and with the way our company functions! Six years in, I continue to be satisfied as Alt Legal continues to add features and improve its own processes, all of which are reflective of the user needs and suggestions.”
