Prokurio
Platform Updates
At Prokurio, we pride ourselves on our commitment to continuous improvement.
We update our platform and our patent and trademark fee database weekly.
Below, you’ll find highlights of major updates to our product.
Check out our development pipeline to see what we’re working on now.
2023 Updates
October Product Updates
IP Forecaster: new phase filters
You can now filter your forecasts and receive only the costs you want. Simply open the settings window when doing your forecast and turn off any costs you don’t want to see.
IP Forecaster: Bypass Route Finder
If you know the route you want to see forecasted, you don’t need the Route Finder screen. So, we’ve given you the ability to identify your route and skip straight to the forecast results.
IP Forecaster: Improved Results Layout
We’ve improved the grouping and names of the sections within the forecast output. It is easy to see which route was selected, and the results have clear headings and logical groupings based on the filing route.
IP Forecaster: New Home Page
We are creating an entirely new home page specifically designed for forecasting. Quickly access saved forecasts or recently run forecasts. Stay tuned – many more updates are coming in this area over the next couple of weeks.
September Product Updates
IP Forecaster: Improved Forecast Setup
When we introduced our multi-country forecasting option, we turned off the setup feature on the forecast request screen. It’s now back and ready for action! It’s also collapsed, so it doesn’t take up valuable screen real estate until you need it.
IP Forecaster: Filing Routes for Law Firm Fees
Feedback from clients has been clear that there needs to be flexibility to assign law firm fees to filing routes. We now default all fees to being applicable for all routes, but you can easily override that option and set a custom fee for different filing routes.
IP Forecaster: Bypass Route Finder
If you know the route you want to see forecasted, you don’t need the Route Finder screen. So, we’ve given you the ability to identify your route and skip straight to the forecast results.
IP Forecaster: Improved Results Layout
We’ve improved the grouping and names of the sections within the forecast output. It is easy to see which route was selected, and the results have clear headings and logical groupings based on the filing route.
IP Forecaster: New Home Page
We are creating an entirely new home page specifically designed for forecasting. Quickly access saved forecasts or recently run forecasts. Stay tuned – many more updates are coming in this area over the next couple of weeks.
IP Forecaster: Easily Share Forecasts Via Email
You can now share forecasts via email. Enter one or more email addresses, select what you want to be sent, and provide a message, and you are good to go!
IP Forecaster: Save and Reuse forecasts
We’ve made it easier to save and reuse forecasts. Simply give your forecast a name so that you can use it later, or take an existing forecast, modify it, and give it a new name.
IP Forecaster: Client Discount Improvements
We’ve improved the presentation of client discounts in the forecast results. Easily see which fees have discounts and amounts before and after the discount.
IP Forecaster: Improved Client Maintenance
We’ve updated our client screen to simplify budget maintenance and firm selection. The Discount and Law Firm features are collapsed by default and can be expanded and accessed whenever needed. We’ve also made each feature work the same as our standard fee setup screens.
IP Forecaster: Export To PDF
MS Excel is nice, but sometimes you need to export data in other formats. This week, we’ve given you some more options. Now, in addition to MS Excel, you can export forecasts as PDF files, giving you an easy way to share an unmodifiable version of your forecasts.
IP Forecaster: Export To MS Word
Why stop with MS Excel and PDF? We’ve also given you the ability to export to MS Word. Once in MS Word, you can easily add, remove, or modify the content however you want.
IP Forecaster: Better Workflow
We are making the system smarter to avoid asking questions that don’t need to be asked. Doing an EP filing with coverage in Spain? We know that the only option is the traditional route, so, we take you right to the results without showing the Route Finder.
IP Forecaster: Summary and Detail Views
There are times when you need details, and there are times when you only need an overview. When you export to MS Word or PDF, you can select whether you want to receive the summary, the detail, or both. This makes it easy to share forecast details internally and then create a summary that can be shared with a client.
IP Forecaster: Bug Fixes
New features are important, but we’re also focused on eliminating bugs and usability issues within IP Forecaster. Here’s what we fixed this week:
- We fixed an issue where extra questions were being asked for single-country forecasts
- An issue was resolved where new law firm users didn’t have permission to modify client fees.
- We fixed an issue causing an error on the Filing Route screen when only one route was displayed.
- We updated the labels on the setup for law firms to change references from company to firm.
- We expanded the grace period amount field size to fix an issue capturing trademark grace periods.
IP Forecaster: Simplified Client Fee Screen
In discussions with clients, there isn’t a need to store much information about the client for forecasting purposes, so we cleaned up the screen and removed all of the unnecessary fields.
IP Forecaster: Simplified Law Firm Fee Screen
We gave the law firm screen the same treatment as the client screen. Now, you only have a couple of fields that you need to worry about and the maintenance screen is much cleaner and simpler to update.
IP Forecaster: Improved Unitary Fee Output
Version 1 of our Unitary Forecast output produced a long list of countries that took up a lot of screen real estate. We’ve compressed the countries into a more compact area, making room for other important forecast details.
August Product Updates
IP Forecaster: Law Firm Selection
Last week, we added the ability to manage multiple firms and fee schedules, this week, we made it easy to leverage all of those fee schedules. Now, when you do a forecast, if there are multiple fee schedules for any of your countries, the firms show in a dropdown for the country. Simply select the firm you want, and their fees are used in the forecast. Don’t want to select a firm? No problem; we always default to the standard fees.
IP Forecaster: Client-Specific Forecasts
We added the ability to create clients and associate them with preferred law firms last week. This week, we’ve made it easy to create client-specific forecasts. Simply select your client from the dropdown and any forecast you create will use the law firms and fees you have already configured. Want to change things on the fly? Not a problem, you can always select an alternate firm or use the default fees.
IP Forecaster: Client-Specific Fee Schedules
In addition to discounts, firms can now easily create specific fee schedules for their clients. It’s simple to create different fee schedules for different countries and also different fee schedules for international associates.
IP Forecaster: Unitary Patent Improvements
We’ve improved the look and feel of the Unitary route option in Route Finder. By default, it is now collapsed when the screen is loaded but can be expanded whenever desired, to see all Unitary Members.
IP Forecaster: Improved Excel Export
We have an extensive roadmap of tools planned to help you visualize and share data from IP forecasts. This week, we kicked things off with improvements to our Excel export; it now handles all of the filing routes we now support and multiple countries.
IP Forecaster Interface Improvements
We’ve improved the layout of the Route Finder screen to make it easier to compare cost estimates. We now include the priority country at the top of the screen, and the route costs are aligned better and easier to view.
IP Forecaster: Client Management
We’ve made it easy for law firms to manage clients and any special fees they may have. Just click on the “Client” menu item on the sidebar and then search, add, edit, or delete client records as needed.
IP Forecaster: Client Discount Management
We now support a variety of different fee arrangements, including discounts. To apply a discount to your standard fee schedule, put a discount percentage in the client record and the forecasting engine will handle the rest.
Patent Forecasting Improvements
We’ve made it easier to create PCT and EPC forecasts. We automatically fill in jurisdictions needed for those routes, ensuring you don’t accidentally miss out on important application fees in your forecast.
Improved Trademark Forecast Result Screen
Last week, we launched our updated patent forecast result screen; this week, we bring the same capabilities to trademark forecasts. Forecast parameters have been moved from the top of the screen to the bottom and collapsed to save space.
Smarter Route Recommendations
We’ve made Route Finder a bit smarter. It’s now trained to understand more complex filing scenarios and no longer recommends impossible routes – like nationalizing a PCT application directly in France.
Easier Management of Law Firm
Patent and Trademark Fee Schedules
Last week, we introduced law firm management. This week, we take it to a new level. Now, you can easily track the types of IP your firms are responsible for and the jurisdictions. Easily assign firms and their patent and trademark fees to jurisdictions and clients and use the right fees in forecasts or invoice review workflows.
Easy Law Firm
Patent and Trademark Fee Setup
We make setting up patent and trademark fees for your law firms easy. You can import Prokurio’s standard fees as a starting point or create your own. Once fees are imported, we lock down the import option so you can’t accidentally overwrite your fees – just in case 🙂
Extensive
Patent and Trademark Fee Configuration
We give you the ability to configure much more than costs. You can easily set the currency for a fee and the effective date if needed. You can also place the fee on a timeline relative to major milestones in the IP process, enabling you to fine-tune your timeline estimates.
July Product Updates
Improved Results Screen Layout
Forecast parameters have been moved from the top of the screen to the bottom and collapsed to save space. This makes it easier to work with large forecasts and simplifies the user interface.
Simplified Law Firm Management
We’ve consolidated all of the references to associates, international associates, and vendors within Prokurio to be more consistent. Domestic and international firms are now all called law firms. Firm data is now shared between Prokurio invoice reviews and forecasts, guaranteeing consistency.
Improved IP Forecasting Efficiency
We’ve reduced the number of workflow steps needed to create a forecast from three to two. Application details have been moved to the first screen and default parameters are now used for the forecast request, eliminating an entire screen and getting you to the results faster!
Easily Explore Filing Route Options and Costs
Not sure what filing route to pursue? We’ve got you covered – we show you the three lowest-cost options to help you optimize patent costs/trademark costs.
New Forecast Results screen
Quickly see cost forecasts for multiple countries in a new, easy-to-read financial summary. Once you have your results, you can drill down into the costs at the country, phase and detail level.
easily change parameters and re-run
Want to change your assumptions? Expand the forecast parameters, change settings, and re-run from the results screen.
Real-time Site Status Notifications
You can now subscribe for site availability notifications. You’ll receive emails before system maintenance and be notified of unscheduled maintenance or availability issues.
Simplified, Speedier Onboarding Experience
We’ve automated our onboarding process, enabling you to get set up to take advantage of Prokurio’s forecasting, invoice review, and patent and trademark fee capabilities in less than 20 minutes.
New Patent and Trademark Fee Alerts
Our weekly patent and trademark fee updates have been integrated into our messenger newsfeed, alerting you to recently updated patent and trademark fees as soon as you log in to the platform.
Updated Help Library
We’ve completely revamped our help articles and incorporated the content into our onscreen messenger. Quickly search for the answer you need; if you don’t find it, our support team is always available via live chat.
Improved Subscription Management
We’ve made it easier than ever to manage subscriptions. Easily sign up or cancel without any hassles. You can now easily see the status of your subscriptions and expiration dates in one location.
Improved home dashboard
You can now find the latest patent and trademark fee updates and fx rates for major currencies in one convenient location. Subscribe to fee notifications and receive weekly email fee updates
Dynamic IP Forecasting Questions
IP Forecaster questions are now dynamically generated based on the countries you select. You no longer need to enter pages, claims, or other application data if the information is not needed for patent and trademark fee calculations.
Enhanced Security for free trials
We’ve extended security management features to users on free trials. Invite other users to view invoice dashboards or run forecasts.
Self-Service Subscription Management
We’ve integrated with Stripe to enable you to request invoices and manage payments online.
New Filing Route Optimizer
Select the countries you want coverage in, and Prokurio will show you your different route options. Soon, you’ll be able to see estimates of the patent and trademark fees for your routes.
June Product Updates
new activation and group control options
Administrators can now easily change a user’s group or activation status with the click of a mouse. Inactive users are locked out of the system until reactivated by the system administrator.
improved country selection screen
We are working on several international patent and trademark cost forecasting features. To kick things off, we’ve revamped the country selection screen for IP Forecaster.
Improved Access to Invoice History
We’ve made it easy to locate and review older invoices. Simply access your invoice history and click the results button to see your previously analyzed invoices. We freeze previously analyzed invoices so you can be certain that the results you see today are the same you saw when the invoice was originally analyzed.
Don’t want a dashboard any longer? Just click the delete button, and it will be removed after confirmation.
Don’t want a dashboard any longer? Just click the delete button, and it will be removed after confirmation.
New User Management Console
Last week, we began introducing user management features – this week, we added several new capabilities
You can now easily manage users in one location and monitor activity on one screen.
new password management options
It’s easy to send users a password reset or delete them with the User Management Console
New Effective Date Logic
Our original approach to managing effective dates for patent and trademark fees wasn’t very… effective.
We’ve now integrated a beginning and ending effective date for all fees, making spotting conflicting patent or trademark fees easy.
User Manager
We’ve had requests to make it easier for administrators to invite users, so we are creating a new, centralized “User Management” system to simplify user management.
We’ve started by making it easy to send invitations to users within your organization or externally. Once invited, they simply follow a link and have access to the platform based on the role they are assigned to.
Benchmark Agent Fees
The early version of Solo, our Self-Audit tool, was limited to jurisdictions that don’t require an agent.
We’ve added benchmark agent fees to Solo for our invoice review clients, making it easy to spot excessive currency and agent charges.
Updated Website
We like to keep things fresh, so we’ve freshened our website, giving it a cleaner, more modern look and feel.
We are increasingly working with law firms and companies, so we’ve also made it easier for each group to find content relevant to their needs.
Free Public Access to Solo
We’ve added Solo to our public website, making it easy to audit your invoices.
Simply click on a country and the year of the annuity, and you’ll instantly see what the official fee is and you’ll be able to compare with your invoice charges.
Patent and Trademarks Separated
To make configuring specific settings for patent and trademark forecasts easier, we have separated the setup and access of the two types of forecasts.
Now, patent and trademark forecasts can have different default currencies, durations, or other forecast-specific settings.
New Claims Modeling In Filing Fees
Last week, we added claims modeling capabilities to the maintenance tab of the Country Fee Manager. This week, we added the same capabilities to the other tabs.
Now you can easily see the impacts of different numbers of claims on your filing costs – including independent and total claims. No setup or forecast is required.
Solo Self-Audit
Last week, we launched Solo, our free self-audit toolkit. We’re serious about making it easy for organizations to monitor maintenance costs, so we’ve automated the process.
Enter a country, the year of the annuity, the date of your invoice, and invoice currency, and we’ll tell you how much you should be paying (in dark or light green).
Forecast Assumptions Update
Forecast assumptions were originally in the center of the page, to free up the space for other information (and to clean up the interface in general), the forecast assumptions have been moved to the bottom of the page and made smaller.
May Product Updates
New Claims Modeling In Country Fees
We’ve added a new feature that allows you to model different claim costs without running a forecast.
Want to know what Japanese maintenance costs are with six claims? Get what you need in a couple of clicks. Also, switch between USD and JPY currencies at the click of a button.
Improved IP Forecaster Save & Reuse
With this update, we’ve reconfigured the save and re-run options and added a “Save as New” option. You can now rerun a forecast as many times as you would like without saving. You can also save a forecast at any time, and if it has already been saved, you can save it with a new name.
new Free trial program
We’ve been doing a lot of trials with early adopters lately, and the setup and management of the process have been largely manual – which isn’t how we like to do things. With this update, registration is completely self-service, and everybody gets ten free IP forecasts for any number of jurisdictions.
invoice review support for claims
With this update, automated invoice analysis can be done in jurisdictions where maintenance costs include claim fees, like Japan or the Republic of Korea. IP Forecaster now supports claim-based maintenance fees in all relevant jurisdictions.
Easily Identify Special Associate Fees
Last week, we added the ability to add patent and trademark fees for associates, which may not be needed for forecasts but might be useful for reference purposes. This week, we updated the list views to make it easier to distinguish forecast-related associate fees from these reference fees.
Improved Excel Output
Spreadsheets are an essential way to share data with clients and the business, so we’ve improved the look and feel of our Excel export results. Easily see and share patent and trademark fee forecasts in an easy-to-read layout.
New Invoice Review Metrics
We’ve added additional currency metrics to our patent annuity and trademark renewal dashboards. You can now easily evaluate your foreign currency costs and compare them with benchmark rates.
More Help Content!
To date, our help content hasn’t been very helpful. That’s all changing! This week we added a lot of new content and will continue to increase coverage over the next several weeks.
Simplified Forecast Defaults
IP Forecast default settings used to be scattered all over the place. Now, they are accessible via a single button in the patent and trademark request screen.
Rerun Forecasts from Results screen
Want to make changes to your forecast after you see the results? No problem! Simply change your parameters and rerun the forecast without leaving the results screen.
new Timeline Feature
Our new timeline maintenance feature makes it easy to link tasks associated with patent and trademark fees with critical events in the IP lifecycle. This will be important for a new timeline visualization tool we are preparing for launch.
easy access to A World of Fees
We want Prokurio to be your go-to source of IP fees, so we collect every fee. This can get confusing when they are mixed with fees that are used for forecasts. So, we created a new user interface to keep everything straight.
cleanup and Bug fixes
Even the best software has issues sometimes! We fixed pagination issues on the associate fee screen and increased the number of digits after the decimal for currency rates on the currency conversion screen.
Updated Forecast Duration
We’ve switched the default forecast duration back to the life of the patent or the term of the trademark. It’s a small update, but saves a ton of time!
April Product Updates
Trademark Filing and Associate Fees
Trademark Forecasts can now include filing and associate costs, with support for all of the single and multi-class pricing schemes in place around the world.
Updated Trademark Fee Content
To support our new forecasting features, we have added global content from PTOs and surveys of international associates.
Additional Associate Fee Options
You can now easily modify our default fees or add your own associate fees, which involve pricing based on a number of classes.
Saving & Retrieving Forecasts
We’ve made it easier than ever to save and retrieve a forecast. Once a forecast has been run, simply select “Save Forecast”, give it a name, and you can then access and run it at any time.
Customizable Office Action Settings
To prepare for advanced forecasting and budgeting features, we’ve added the ability to quickly configure and override our default office action parameters.
Simplified Forecast Duration
Patent forecasts now default to the patent’s life, and trademark forecasts default to the term of the trademark. You can also override the default and specify a custom date range.
Simplified cost customization
It’s now easier than ever to override Prokurio default costs or create your own costs. We’ve also made it easier to identify costs that have been overridden, ensuring you don’t duplicate effort.
Trademark Forecasting
IP Forecaster now supports trademarks, enabling you to get single-country estimates of official fees from around the world. Development of international forecasts is underway!
Easily Manage Effective Dates For Fees
Is an associate changing their rates? You can easily manage rate updates for associates, as well as when the update becomes effective, within the fee maintenance screen.
March Product Updates
Home Page Updates
We’re revamping the home page to provide the latest fee updates and currency data. We’ll be integrating forecast and invoice analysis results throughout March and April.
IP Forecaster Filters
You now have more flexibility with forecasts, enabling you to request forecasts by filing type.
Countries & Fees UI improvements
We’ve eliminated unnecessary columns on the country detail screen and the country list view, simplifying the user experience and removing clutter.
Custom Tasks and Fees
We’ve made it easier than ever for you to override our default fees or create your own custom fees. Quickly make fees global, jurisdiction-specific or associate-specific (or any combination).
Centralized Access to all PTO Fees
We’ve enhanced the country module to make it easy for you to access all of the official fees for a jurisdiction, including fees for pages and claims.
Effective Dates Now Visible For Fees
All fees now have effective dates, making it easier to manage and track fee changes. Effective dates can also be set for custom fees, making it easy to track fee changes for associates.
Unitary Patent Management
We are now tracking the Unitary Patent Jurisdictions and adding fees. This will support our upcoming Unitary/EPC comparison tool and will facilitate forecasting for Unitary patent filings.
Auto Logout Improvements
We’ve improved the security feature that automatically logs users out after a period of inactivity. You will now get a message letting you know when and why you have been logged off.
February Product Updates
Renewal Watch Trademark Invoice Analysis
This new feature instantly analyzes trademark renewal invoices for high foreign currency costs and above-market agent or country charges.
New Localization Capabilities
We now leverage browser settings to automatically set languange, currency and date settings.
Improved Timeline Configuration
We’re making it easier to configure default settings, including centralizing timeline settings within the country/fee maintenance screen.
Improved Trademark fee Screen
We’ve simplified the user interface when looking up trademark fees and made it easier to read (and understand).
List View Improvements
The list views now have the same look and feel and utilize more intuitive icons. We’ve also made the delete process more consistent across all views.
Maintenance Forecaster
We’ve introduced the first of our forecasting features, enabling you to create maintenance forecasts for patents or trademarks in all jurisdictions.
January Product Updates
Annuity Watch Patent Invoice Analysis
This new feature instantly analyzes patent annuity invoices for high foreign currency costs and above-market agent or country charges.
Improved Company/Firm Personalization
We’ve added the ability to upload your logo and set company-specific defaults, like invoice currency and home country.
Chat Support
We’ve integrated Intercom’s chat functionality throughout the site to simplify the process of getting support. Prokurio team members respond to chat requests during office hours.
improved list management
We’ve improved the sorting and filtering for all of the list views and improved the pagination.
Unified Country/Fee Screen
We’ve unified the country and the fee screens into an integrated information hub. You’ll have access to important country and fee information in a single, intuitive interface.
Enhanced Invoice Upload
