Intellectual Property module guide

This Intellectual Property module guide covers how Lextree tracks patents, trademarks, copyrights, domain names, IP licenses, and trade secrets — the registered assets that protect your organization’s IP — along with the chain-of-title records, pre-patent pipeline, and licensing terms attached to each one.

What Intellectual Property Tracks

Open Intellectual Property from the left navigation. The module covers several asset types, each its own record type:

• Patents — granted patents with maintenance-fee tracking, each with its own Patent Assignment and Patent Inventor records underneath it.
• Invention Disclosures — the pre-patent pipeline that precedes a Patent record.
• Trademarks — registered marks with renewal and use-declaration tracking, each with Trademark Assignment and Trademark Maintenance Filing records.
• Copyrights — registered works, each with Copyright Assignment and Copyright Author records.
• Domain Names — internet domains with renewal tracking.
• IP Licenses — licensing agreements built from a document register, covering one or more IP License Covered Asset records.
• Trade Secret Registry — documented trade secrets with their protective measures.

Patents, Inventors, and Disclosures

Patent Inventors and Assignments

A Patent record’s chain of title now runs through two sub-objects. Patent Assignment records a single transfer — the assignor, assignee, and assignment date. Patent Inventor is a separate sub-object under Patent that replaces the old flat “Inventor” field on the Patent record itself: add one row per named inventor, so a jointly invented patent lists every inventor as its own record rather than one crowded field. A Patent record also carries an Invention disclosure link, connecting it back to the disclosure that preceded the filing.

Invention Disclosure

Invention Disclosure is a root-level record — not a sub-object of Patent — for the pipeline before a patent application is filed. Each disclosure is identified by its working title and carries a status of Received, Patent application filed, Kept as trade secret, Published defensively, or No action. Track a promising invention here from the moment it’s disclosed; once its outcome is decided, link the resulting Patent record back to it through that record’s Invention disclosure field.

Trademarks and Copyrights

Trademark Maintenance Filings

Trademark Maintenance Filing is a sub-object under Trademark for a post-registration declaration or renewal filing — a §8/§15 declaration, for example — recorded by filing type and filing date. It sits alongside Trademark Assignment as the trademark’s second sub-register, so a mark’s maintenance history and its chain of title are tracked separately but both stay underneath the same Trademark record.

Copyright Authors

Copyright Author is a sub-object under Copyright that replaces the old flat “Creator” field on the Copyright record itself. Add one row per author, person or organization — for a work made for hire, the employer is the author — so a work with several contributors lists each one individually.

IP Licenses and Covered Assets

The IP License Document Register

IP License Document is a full document register under IP License: the license agreement, an amendment, an extension, a sublicense consent, an assignment, a notice, a termination agreement, and royalty reports delivered under the agreement. This is a behavior change, not just a new list — the license’s effective, expiration, and termination dates are now derived from this register and can no longer be typed directly on the IP License record. To set or change a date, edit the register row that sets it: the license agreement row sets the effective date, an extension row updates the expiration date, and a termination agreement row sets the termination date. The license record itself simply displays what the register adds up to.

IP License Covered Assets

IP License Covered Asset — renamed from “Licensed Asset” — is a single patent, trademark, or copyright covered under a license, tagged by its asset type. Add one row per protected asset, so a license covering several patents or marks lists each one on its own row rather than folding them into the agreement’s free text.

Adding Records and Access

Adding a Record

Creating or editing records requires Editor access to the Intellectual Property module.

Open the asset type, click New, complete the form (registration details and key dates), and Save. Open the record to attach certificates, record assignments or inventors, add register rows, and set maintenance or renewal reminders.

Who Can Access Intellectual Property

• Viewing requires access to the Intellectual Property module.
• Creating or editing requires Editor access.

On Enterprise plans, access group scoping limits records to entities within your assigned access groups.