The Grass IS Greener on the Other Side: The Time is NOW to Switch to a New IP Docketing Software
Switching to a new IP docketing software can certainly come with its challenges. Expensive migration, time-consuming training and ramp-up periods, hidden expenses, and more. Thankfully, if you’re switching to Alt Legal, you don’t have to worry about any of these things. Migration (initial and ongoing) is always free. We provide unlimited training and outstanding customer support anytime you need. We don’t require long-term contracts because we want you to love your docketing software and choose to keep working with us, not feel legally compelled. And as for our pricing, we make that clear and simple: your subscription cost is based solely on the number of matters in your docket and includes all our features—from truly automated docketing to easy trademark intake to unlimited “seats” for read-only client access—so you can take full advantage of all Alt Legal has to offer.
So what’s holding you back from making the switch? Maybe you’re satisfied with your current IP docketing software, or you feel a sense of loyalty to your vendor. Maybe you think that by switching to a new IP docketing system, the grass won’t be greener. Let us show you why these fears are holding you back professionally and preventing you from being as competitive in the market as you should be. See for yourself how switching to Alt Legal will put you ahead of the game.
“We’ve used our docketing software for the past 20 years”
Customer loyalty is important and your current vendor is surely thrilled that you’ve stayed with them for so long. But just because you’ve been using the same IP docketing software for many years doesn’t mean that it’s the best system out there. It doesn’t even mean that it’s the best system for you. At Alt Legal, we value our customers and create software that they love and that works well for them rather than locking them into a long-term deal. As a result, even with most of our customers on month-to-month contracts, our customer retention rate is 99%.
One of the reasons that Alt Legal customers are so happy with our IP docketing software is that it helps them to maintain a competitive edge and differentiate their firm. The legal industry is constantly evolving and even more so over the past several years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Great Resignation, and shifts in society, politics, and social justice. Legal professionals have no choice but to adapt and ensure that their technology meets the demands these changes have had on law practice.
One change in particular that Clio co-founder Jack Newton discussed at Alt Legal Connect 2020, our virtual trademark conference, was the importance of developing a client-centered law firm. He noted how there is a massive gap between consumer expectations and lawyers’ perceptions of client expectations.
Consumers of legal services have experiences in other industries— particularly in IT where they are accustomed to seamless, easy-to-use, and intuitive software— so their expectations of what professional services look like have been dramatically reshaped in the past few years. Clients say that they care most about an effortless experience, and that is what drives their long-term loyalty.
You can stay competitive, distinguish yourself from other legal service providers, and deliver a more client-centered experience by leveraging several Alt Legal features that might not be available with your current IP docketing system, including:
- Read-only client access – Alt Legal provides unlimited “seats” for full-access users and read-only users, both inside and outside of your organization. This allows your clients, internal and external stakeholders, foreign associates, and others the ability to view their matters securely at any time.
- Pre-populated client email templates – Use Alt Legal’s pre-built email templates or we’ll upload your own to quickly notify clients, colleagues, foreign counsel, and other key stakeholders of important prosecution milestones.
- Automatic TEAS form filing – Streamline the usual back-and-forth information collection required to file a new application with the USPTO by using Alt Legal’s interactive IP forms. We provide you with everything you need to securely invite your clients or colleagues to provide information about new trademark filings. From there, our direct connections to TEAS will allow you to auto-fill the applications, making the process both quicker and more accurate than either typing or copy/pasting data into the forms.
“We’re content with our IP docketing software”
We’re glad to hear things are working out with your current solution, but the state of IP docketing software has evolved towards more automation, newer functionality, and greater ease of use. Alt Legal provides a number of upgrades that allow you to avoid tedious, non-billable work and focus on more important, substantive, and billable tasks, client relations, and business development.
Modern, easy-to-use interface
Alt Legal is one of the newest IP docketing systems on the market, having launched in 2014 and finalized a complete rebuild in 2017. We offer the most modern, intuitive, and user-friendly interface of any docketing system on the market. Gone are the days of clicking through many screens to get to the information you need. Alt Legal helps you find everything you need quickly and efficiently. Also, because it is built on a more technologically-advanced platform, Alt Legal is nimble and quickly adapts to any USPTO or global IP office changes so that it works seamlessly. Older docketing systems simply don’t have the capability to adapt quickly, leaving you with outdated technology and cumbersome workarounds.
The most advanced automation
Many IP docketing software vendors say that their software is automated, but the definition of automation varies widely. Consider the level of automation that your current docketing software provides and remember that automation is becoming more important in the legal profession as workloads and client expectations continue to increase. With a fully-automated IP docketing system, you’ll save time and eliminate errors, ultimately increasing your bottom line in terms of profit and productivity.
On the higher end of technology, Alt Legal’s USPTO trademark docketing is fully automated. Our software identifies your USPTO trademark filings (based on the attorney of record emails), retrieves all the information regarding the filing, organizes all the filing’s documents, automatically adds and clears deadlines based on the prosecution history, and updates filings without any manual activity. In Canada, our CIPO database connection retrieves all trademark data, deadlines, and status updates. In all other jurisdictions, our partnership with CompuMark allows us to automatically retrieve data from 180+ global IP offices and create renewal and use deadlines when foreign trademarks are registered and renewed.
On the lower end of the technology scale, some vendors offer “minimal automation” where the user provides the application number and IP office, and the software retrieves the data. The user still needs to input the deadline and manually trigger updates. As a step up, other vendors offer “mid-level automation” where software will not only retrieve information about an IP filing based on an application/registration number and IP office and will also calculate the deadline for you. In fact, many vendors charge to calculate deadlines on a jurisdictional (or regional) basis. Still, with both these levels of automation, users must click “update” on a mark-by-mark basis to check for updates and ensure that the docket is up-to-date.
Innovative software for sophisticated trademark practitioners
At Alt Legal, we are constantly looking for ways to make trademark practitioners’ lives easier. One of the best things we do is automate tedious, non-billable aspects of your workload. No other IP docketing software vendor is as committed to innovation as is Alt Legal. In fact, we allocate 50% of our revenue towards product development and support. This forward-thinking mentality means that you’ll see us constantly updating and improving our software. We listen closely to our customers to understand their needs and then adapt our software so that it works for them. We are never done innovating!
One of our newest innovations is Alt Legal Trademark Protection, available as a standalone service or as an add-on to your IP docketing software subscription. Alt Legal Trademark Protection, is an innovative, cost-effective way to monitor all of the USPTO marks in your portfolio against the most egregious infringement. Traditional trademark monitoring and watch services are cost prohibitive for many brand owners, but Alt Legal Trademark Protection solves this problem with our fully-automated tools that integrate seamlessly with our docketing software.
Alt Legal Trademark Protection includes two tools that monitor for infringement at critical stages of the trademark prosecution process: §2(d) Trademark Watch, which notifies you whenever one of your USPTO marks is cited in an office action that refuses the applied-for mark based on likelihood of confusion with your mark, and Trademark Application Match, which scans all newly-filed USPTO applications using a proprietary algorithm to identify marks that have identical or significantly overlapping literal elements with the USPTO marks in your docket. Together, these tools provide a base level of monitoring over your entire USPTO portfolio with plenty of time to take action and protect against potential infringement.
Come on Over; the Grass IS Greener
We’re confident that by making the switch to Alt Legal, you’ll find that your IP docketing software is easier to use, more efficient, more cost-effective, and full of novel, advanced features. All of this adds up to IP docketing software that will improve the way you practice, minimize the time you spend on tedious docketing tasks, and maximize the time you spend working on substantive matters, building client relationships, and improving your clients’ experience. Other organizations are already seeing the significant benefits of switching to Alt Legal. Don’t get left behind. Maintain your competitive edge, and make the switch today.