Envoy renewals

Budgets are shrinking, workloads are rising and infringement is omnipresent. Against this background, accessing strategic non-legal trademark services has become increasingly crucial. But how is the industry meeting user demand and what does the future hold? In an exclusive survey, WTR polled trademark professionals for their thoughts on how the sector is matching up to their expectations, and put the responses to service providers.

One company that therefore offers an 'on-demand' renewals service is Envoy International. Chief executive David Kennedy explains: "Our customers come to us when they have one or more renewals to be paid. They then can control when and whether to instruct us."

The obvious question to ask is how the company can offer a service cost effectively, given that users cannot leverage economies of scale in the same way as larger organisations. Kennedy responds to this query by outlining the main reasons. The first is that while the customer may be supplying a low number of renewals, the client base as a whole creates critical mass for the company. The second is the automation built into the software interface.

Crucially, though, Kennedy notes: "Our customers are IP professionals who generally have their own case management software and know the subject matter – they don't need us to tell them when cases are due for renewal or what classes the marks are registered in. They provide us with accurate details exported straight from their management software and we process the renewal payment."

In this regard, the service is a simple transaction carried out on an ad hoc basis. While this means that the onus is on the user to ensure that it keeps on top of its records and due dates, by stripping away value added services or offering an integrated software system, the service can be offered at a lower price.