You need to audit your patent portfolio
In my years as a patent attorney, I’ve seen patent portfolios that don’t properly support a company’s business. Sometimes patents fail to protect core products or don’t block key competitors. In other instances, companies maintain entire families of patents for long-discontinued products. Some portfolios balloon in size without strategic purpose. These situations often arise when a company doesn’t have in-house patent counsel dedicated to aligning the patent strategy with business goals.
But companies lacking in-house patent lawyers aren’t out of luck. A patent portfolio audit can provide the insights and recommendations needed to ensure the company’s intellectual property supports its current and future business objectives.
What Is a Patent Portfolio Audit?
Put simply, a portfolio audit helps a company better understand the state of its patents. The process is guided by drivers that matter to the business—these could be current needs (e.g., whether key products are adequately protected), future objectives (e.g., plans to enter new markets), or both.
With those business drivers in mind, the portfolio is analyzed in two ways:
Looking inward: How well do the patents cover the company’s current products and the product pipeline?
Looking outward: How does the portfolio stack up against competitors or the broader market?
A seasoned practitioner will use this dual perspective to assess portfolio strengths, gaps, strategic alignment, and potential opportunities.
The audit culminates in a set of tailored recommendations for improving how the portfolio serves the business.
A Client-Focused Approach
A successful company knows its business: customer needs, market dynamics, cost structures, and competitors. But even leadership that values patents might not understand how—or if—their portfolio truly supports the business. That’s where a skilled, business-minded patent practitioner comes in to perform an audit.
The practitioner’s task is to identify the issues that matter most to leadership and use that information to analyze the portfolio with purpose. Once the business drivers are clear, the audit can deliver a wealth of useful information. A well-run audit can help a company:
Allocate IP resources more effectively
Strengthen product protection
Defend against competitive threats
Plan for growth or entry into new markets
Leverage underutilized patent assets
Assess outside legal service providers
Fine-tune patent prosecution strategies
Ensure continued alignment with evolving business strategy
Since every company has different goals, each audit must be tailored to the client's unique needs.
Answering Questions You Didn’t Know to Ask
A company without a good understanding of its patent portfolio has blind spots. A good understanding can be realized by answering a number of common (and important) questions. These can include:
Where are the weak spots in the portfolio?
Are we well-positioned for future growth?
Are we getting value from our IP investment?
How do we compare to competitors?
Is our patent strategy really helping the business?
Often, companies don’t even realize these questions need to be asked—let alone answered.
An audit helps leadership see the full picture, whether for the entire portfolio or a single key product.
That full picture enables better decisions, both now and for the future.
When to Audit and Why
There’s no bad time for an audit—but there are moments when it becomes especially important. Consider an audit if your company is in any of the following situations:
New leadership is in place: If leadership is tasked with reorganizing, cutting costs, or boosting efficiency, the audit can provide actionable insights—where to trim, which patent providers are underperforming, and how to realign the IP strategy.
The portfolio grew without oversight: Companies that expanded their IP portfolio without in-house patent counsel can lack alignment between patents and business goals. An audit can diagnose and correct that drift.
An acquisition just closed: M&A deals often include some patent diligence, but a post-acquisition audit helps integrate the new assets with the existing strategy.
The company is preparing for acquisition: In this case, an audit serves as a form of pre-diligence. Fixing weak areas beforehand can enhance valuation and avoid issues during buyer review.
A poor result in patent litigation: A loss in court is a good time to step back and ask whether the strategy was flawed—or the patents themselves. An audit provides a constructive post-mortem and a roadmap for future improvement.
Can My Outside Patent Counsel Do the Audit?
Maybe—but it’s not ideal.
Audits are different from standard tasks like patentability assessments, competitor monitoring, or landscape assessments. A true audit provides a holistic view of the portfolio and offers a strategic critique grounded in business realities.
If a company has in-house patent counsel, they should be performing ongoing evaluation of the portfolio. In the absence thereof, a dedicated audit allows for deeper, more independent analysis—provided it comes from someone who didn’t build the portfolio. The independence of the auditor matters.
Asking outside counsel—who had a hand in creating the portfolio—to evaluate their own work objectively puts them in a conflicted position, even if unintentional.
Leadership is better served by a neutral party who can give candid, unfiltered recommendations.
If the audit ends up validating the great work of existing counsel, that message is stronger when it comes from an unbiased reviewer.
Action Step
Ask yourself: When was the last time we really looked at our patent portfolio—objectively and strategically? If it’s been a while (or never), now’s the time. An audit isn’t just a check-up. It’s a smart business move that can unlock real value, reduce waste, and ensure your IP works for the company—not the other way around.
