55 years of IP history – the right time to take off

• English

In this issue of the “55 years of Dennemeyer” series, Stefan Rautenberg, Global Head of Business Development at Dennemeyer, describes how Dennemeyer, the most comprehensive global IP full-service provider, intends to stay ahead of the curve.

A few decades ago, corporations decided on how much support they would need to receive from IP law firms. The bigger the corporation, the more the in-house IP department was taking on. SMEs typically engaged with one procedure agent that would support all activities from drafting to filing of an IP right over the support of the prosecution to renewal payments. Service providers came into play and changed the rules. More and more administrative support services were separated from the IP firms and passed on to a specialized provider. The annuity payment is the classic example. More recent developments show a trend towards a higher level of sophistication comprising services like the EP Validation, the PCT National Phase entry and Trademark Filings. For the future we expect disruptive technology like blockchain to have a strong impact on the rules of the game. Our Consulting team is ready to support our customers. We cover all aspects of management advice, from IP Audit and IP Benchmarking to the review and restructuring of processes, the definition of an IP strategy up until its implementation. We review interfaces with other departments and address the resources situation. Such consulting projects have become an eye-opening experience for our customers!

Also, the sourcing of services has changed. While in the past clients approached us by asking for a proposal and deals were made with a handshake, these times are long gone. Today we often receive a Request for Proposal (RFP), a questionnaire to allow a structured assessment of the future partner. While the RFP file typically discloses relevant requirements of the client, often only a few stakeholders have contributed to the design of the file. This can lead to an incomplete or biased scope. At Dennemeyer, we prefer a dialogue to define the entire requirements by identifying all problems that need to be solved or the expected results the client wishes to achieve. Our objective is a Return On Investment (ROI) calculation which transparently shows the relevance of a project. If there is no Return, the Investment is pure cost and it is questionable that the project is relevant. More and more companies also engage with consultants to support their endeavor in finding the best partners.

For us, clients always come first

At Dennemeyer, we treat every customer as if it was our only customer. We never differentiate our service quality. However, we recognize that diversified and fragmented businesses need special treatment. With this in mind, Dennemeyer recently launched a key account program. We identified corporate customers and assigned dedicated key account managers to lead the communication. They orchestrate the cooperation between customers’ business and Dennemeyer product lines. The objective is to further improve the service integration and better understand client’s requirements.

Full-service provider in Intellectual Property

Our business development managers use a consultative approach, which means we review the current customer situation carefully, analyze problems in detail and expected results with the clear objective to identify and design an exact solution. We capture these findings in a report that supports the client with a specification about what we are capable of doing and how to implement our solution.

For a more detailed professional assessment, we will team up with our specialists to capture all requirements and meet the client’s needs. Today, more than 3,000 clients worldwide entrust us with the maintenance of their IP portfolio. We offer IP management software, while Dennemeyer & Associates focuses on legal services for Patents, Trademarks and Designs. Dennemeyer Consulting provides tailored solutions for the global management of IP. Dennemeyer considers itself as one of the most diversified full-service providers in Intellectual Property, with a global presence. This was achieved over more than 5 decades. We are located in more than 20 countries offering around 40 different IP services.

State of the art technology plus expertise equal success

We believe you can only remain successful if your systems and technology are state of the art. That is why we run projects to constantly improve our IT landscape. We are currently redesigning our portals that are the entry point to our services. IP management software is offered in a hosted environment if requested. Hosting is provided at tier 4 hosting centers, which represent banking standards. External penetration tests are performed to prove the security of our data.

Strategy for the future

In late November 2017, we have celebrated the 1 millionth Patent Annuity payment for this year. Our EP Validation service has also seen a spectacular evolution. Furthermore, we identified our Trademark Filing service to really drive the growth of Dennemeyer in 2018 and beyond. We channel the communication with our clients and leverage the entire network of IP law firms around the world. As a result, our clients benefit from low rates while reducing the workload. More and more clients outsource the entire trademark department’s docketing unit. This is another aspect of outsourcing.

Seminars are interesting from a group perspective as we believe that constant learning is the key to excellence. The entire team at Dennemeyer benefits from this unit. We are experts in IP and want to share our knowledge. Seminars offer in-house training, but we also make sure to include our clients.

We are celebrating our 55th birthday – this is a great landmark and we are happy that our customers supported our development. At the same time, we look forward to taking on the upcoming challenges of new technology and innovation in a dynamic environment. I am confident that this is just the right time to take off!

55 years of Dennemeyer is a birthday not to be celebrated only by us and our clients. Every company that sources IP services is invited to benefit from our anniversary campaign by making use of our very special present: Ask for a preferential price for one or more of our 39 IP services which you are currently not yet sourcing from us. The only condition: The service(s) must be new for you.

Good that we have it all!

The above article is part of series. Read the other blog posts of our article series “55 years of Dennemeyer“ here:

“30 years of Dennemeyer Japan”, by Futoshi Anouma

“33 years of Trademark Renewals“, by Maryse Heirend