Track every filing, renewal, and reminder you set.
An IP practice is a long series of dates attached to a portfolio. Esqase opens each filing type from its own template, keeps the numbers on the matter, and reminds you before a date you set.
Open each filing type from its own template
A trademark filing, a patent prosecution, and a copyright registration do not move the same way. Give each its own matter template, with its checklist, its dates, and the fields it turns on.
Track the application number, the class, and the registration date as fields, so the portfolio detail stays visible.
Custom fieldsTask lists and templates
The prosecution checklist for that filing type, written once and reused.
Custom fields
Application numbers and classes, held as fields on the matter.
Track the date, draft the reply, bill the time
A renewal falls due months after the work that created it. Put it on the firm calendar as an event that reminds everyone invited, draft the response from your template, and bill the hours.
What every filing type carries with it.
Read the custom fields docsCustomization
Custom fields
Track what a filing turns on: the application number, the class, and the registration date.
Chosen per template
The matter template sets which fields open with it.
Read on the matter
Values sit on the file, not in a spreadsheet.
Tasks
Task lists and templates
Build the prosecution checklist a filing type moves through, and reuse it on the next one.
Filing-type checklists
One list per trademark, patent, or copyright.
Due dates relative to open
Deadlines that count from when the matter opened.
Documents
Document templates
Draft the office action response or the assignment from wording your firm has settled on.
Reusable drafts
One template, copied fresh for every filing.
Placeholders included
Type each client and mark detail once.
Set up the template, its fields, and its list.
Browse the docsFAQs
Docketing scope, renewals, portfolio fields, and drafting.
Is Esqase an IP docketing system?
Not in the rules-based sense. Esqase does not connect to the USPTO or any other registry, and it does not calculate a due date from a statutory rule. It tracks the dates you enter: as custom fields on the matter, as tasks that appear on the firm calendar on their due date, and as calendar events that remind everyone invited.
How do we track renewal dates across a portfolio?
Record the renewal date as a custom field on the matter, put it on the firm calendar as an event with a reminder, and add a task for the work that has to happen first. Tasks show on the calendar on their due dates, so the portfolio reads in one place.
Can we keep trademark and patent matters apart?
Yes. Each practice area carries its own stages and matter types, and each filing type gets its own matter template, which decides the checklist and the custom fields a new matter opens with. A trademark matter and a patent matter need not carry the same fields at all.
Can a prosecution checklist repeat for every new filing?
Yes. Build a task list template with the steps a filing type always needs and due dates set relative to the matter's open date, then attach it to a matter template so every new matter opens with the checklist running.
How much of an office action response can I reuse?
All of the wording. Save it as a template with placeholders for the client, the mark or application, and the dates, then fill each one in once on the new draft and every place it appears updates with it.
Can we bill IP work by the hour and on flat fees?
Yes. Each matter carries its own billing method, hourly, flat rate, or contingency fee, so a flat-fee filing and an hourly prosecution can run side by side and still bill from the same invoicing system.