Release Date: 4/7/2026
New Matter Type — Available to All Users
Industrial designs are a critical piece of many IP portfolios — and now they have a home in Alt Legal built specifically for them.
What It Is
Designs is a new matter type in Alt Legal that gives you a dedicated, purpose-built space for docketing and managing design rights alongside the rest of your portfolio. It works seamlessly with all other matter types, so your entire IP picture stays in one place. Whether you’re managing a handful of design registrations or a global design portfolio, Designs fits right into the Alt Legal workflow you already know.
What You Can Do With It
- Docket designs with ease. Add design matters quickly with a streamlined workflow designed to make capturing the right information fast and intuitive.
- Upload and manage images. Attach multiple images to each matter — including reference images — so the visual record of your design is always where you need it.
- Track deadlines, documents, and notes. Manage the full lifecycle of each design matter with the same deadline tracking, document storage, and notes functionality you rely on across your portfolio.
- Work with design-specific fields. Capture the details that matter most for design rights, including deferred publication and lifetime expiration date — fields built for the nuances of design prosecution and maintenance.
- Integrate across your portfolio. Designs work hand-in-hand with your trademarks, patents, and other matter types, giving you a unified view of your entire IP portfolio without jumping between systems.
Why It Matters
Design rights have long been an underserved part of IP portfolio management — too often tracked in spreadsheets or shoehorned into workflows that weren’t built for them. With Designs in Alt Legal, that changes. IP professionals can now docket, manage, and monitor design matters with the same rigor and efficiency they bring to every other part of their portfolio. Specialized fields like deferred publication and lifetime expiration date mean you’re not losing critical details in a general-purpose notes field — they’re captured properly, surfaced clearly, and easy to act on. For firms and teams that handle design rights, this is the purpose-built solution you’ve been waiting for.