IP Management Software Market

Market Overview

The global IP management software market size was valued at USD 8.15 billion in 2022. It is estimated to reach USD 33.66 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 17.07% during the forecast period (2023–2031). There is an increase in patent and trademark filing worldwide, which demands better management of IPs, thereby boosting market expansion. Large enterprises are rapidly outsourcing IP management services due to several benefits like cost saving, increasing productivity, and efficiency, among others, driving market growth.

Intellectual property (IP) management software is an application businesses and law firms utilize to manage and protect intellectual property such as trademarks, licenses, inventions, patents, copyrights, royalties, and brands. It facilitates the automation of forms and correspondence for new and existing IP ownership and the tracking of cases of infringement and potential violations of legal rights that may result in subsequent prosecution.

Intellectual property (IP) management software also aids in the preparation and execution of IP filings, such as patent applications, trademark rights acquisition, and litigation. Moreover, this software facilitates paperless work and supports contract renewal, disclosure agreements, client payment processing, and the resolution of intellectual property disputes. Since intellectual properties are important commercial assets that give businesses a competitive advantage, IP management software has recently been incredibly popular.

Market Dynamics

Global IP Management Software Market Drivers

Growing Patent and Trademark Applications

The use of a diverse array of patents to manufacture a product and augment its capabilities is experiencing a rise in prevalence within the market, thereby compelling organizations to improve their intellectual property management. Therefore, the global patent filings have seen significant growth in recent times. Similarly, according to the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent), the number of trademark applications filed in Russia increased by around 7.3% in 2020 compared to 2019 (93,926 applications filed in 2020 and 87,509 in 2019).

Moreover, patents contribute a major share of revenue in various industries. According to Mondaq in 2021, EPO recorded 188,600 patent applications worldwide last year, 4.5% more than in the previous year. Growing at 24%, Chinese companies recorded the highest rate among the 30 leading patent filing countries. Such developments add to the importance of IP management software solutions, thereby boosting market growth.

Growing Outsourcing of IP Management Services by Large Enterprises

The increasing willingness of large enterprises to outsource IP management services is driving market expansion. The maintenance of internal IP addresses is a procedure that requires a significant amount of time and resources, resulting in considerable expenses. Outsourcing IP management benefits SMEs and large corporations by increasing productivity and profitability, protecting revenues, and reducing expenses. Therefore, it is anticipated that enterprises' increasing emphasis on boosting revenues, securing innovations, and streamlining corporate operations will increase the intellectual property services segment, thereby supporting the expansion of the market over the forecast period.

Global IP Management Software Market Restraint

Lack of Awareness about Intellectual Property Outsourcing

Despite the rising importance of the value of various intangible assets, multiple businesses do not fully use IP management solutions, often because of a lack of awareness, understanding, or concern regarding costs. Although firms and researchers are involved in various fields of development and innovation, awareness of intellectual property rights is significantly low in various regions.

Companies are more skeptical about outsourcing their intellectual property information to third-party vendors over security concerns. Even though these relationships present opportunities for businesses to improve product and service quality and leverage economies of scale to compete more effectively in their respective markets, they also pose risks. In addition, they carry the risk of exposing data and classified information as well as mismanaging technology and other IP assets. All these factors restrict market growth.

Global IP Management Software Market Opportunities

Surging Focus on Digitalization

With a growing emphasis on digitalization, the market is expected to gain momentum over the forecast period. In February 2020, India, for instance, announced plans to establish a digital platform for the application and capture of intellectual property rights. The National IP Policy is the most recent step in India's infrastructure development for intellectual property rights over the past few years.

Enhancing intellectual property rights (IPR) will create a more conducive economic climate. India invests in its innovation and startup ecosystem by developing a digital platform for simplified application submission, technology transfer centers, and prototyping/proof of concept facilities. This is anticipated to provide substantial opportunities for market expansion.

Regional Analysis

Based on region, the global IP management software market is bifurcated into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. 

Asia-Pacific Dominates the Global Market

Asia-Pacific is the most significant global IP management software market shareholder and is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of 19.94% during the forecast period. According to the World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPO), Asia manifested its lead as the largest origin of international patent applications, accounting for 54.1% of all applications in 2021, up from 38.5% in 2011, with China driving overall growth in demand for intellectual property (IP) rights. Moreover, in light of the growing need for intellectual property (IP) management in the area, the market exhibits noteworthy instances of mergers and expansions aimed at enhancing brand recognition and expanding the client base. For instance, MaxVal Group Inc. ("MaxVal"), the foremost provider of comprehensive intellectual property solutions, established a new office in Noida in March 2022. Following Bengaluru, Chennai, and Coimbatore, the company's fourth facility in India is in Noida. The new office will accommodate more than one hundred employees.

Furthermore, the region has witnessed increased government activities encouraging international patent filing. For instance, India and Japan's patent offices inked an expeditious grant of patents to Indian entities and individuals. Recently, the Union Cabinet affirmed a Bilateral Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program between the Indian Patent Office and patent offices of other interested countries. These factors boost the regional market expansion.

North America is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of 18.45% over the forecast period. The intellectual property management software market's major driving factors are companies' growing emphasis on protecting intellectual assets and surging demand for efficient and effective management of intellectual properties, along with a rising number of innovations in the North American region. With the increasing number of patent applications and approvals and the complexity of intellectual property, governments, and other regional private players are utilizing IP management software to keep the process simple and effective for all stakeholders. For instance, in May 2020, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) launched a web-based intellectual property (IP) marketplace platform named Patents 4 Partnerships. The platform aims to resemble a user-friendly, searchable database of patents and published patent applications associated with the COVID-19 pandemic that is indicated as being available for licensing.

Additionally, market players are investing in acquisitions and partnerships to gain competitive growth. For instance, in March 2022, ProLung Inc. announced it would acquire OT Acceptance LLC to own all the intellectual property used for cancer detection. This indicates the demand for IP in the healthcare sector of North America.

Europe is growing at a significant pace. According to the World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPO), the European Patent Office received 188,600 patent applications worldwide in 2021. The growing number of international players due to the availability of new markets, diversification, and gaining competitive advantage through investments in developed regions like Europe is also one of the major factors driving the soaring demand for IP management software in the region. For instance, in March 2022, ClarkeModet announced it would bring the European continent closer to its clients in Asia and the United States with a new office in Munich to manage its intellectual property portfolio. By implementing this initiative, the organization is embarking on a new phase of growth aimed at establishing itself as the foremost intellectual property operator in the European market.

The Middle East and Africa region accounted for the least market share. However, the region is expected to grow as various nations, like Saudi Arabia, try to enhance their IP regime. Currently, it lacks the established infrastructure and product conceptualization. Saudi Arabia also recently launched the new "Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property" (SAIP), consolidating all the different IP departments under one umbrella. The newly established authority plans to implement a national IP strategy, update the rules and regulations, and provide IP products and services regularly. This aims to increase IP awareness for all stakeholders, including inventors, creators, entrepreneurs, and consumers, and coordinate IP enforcement efforts with other Ministries and Departments. Such initiatives by the region's regulatory authority are expected to provide a growth environment for IP management software vendors and boost growth during the forecast period.

Segmental Analysis

The global IP management software market is segmented by deployment, solution, type, and end-user industry.

Based on deployment, the global IP management software market is segmented into on-premise and cloud segments. 

The cloud segment owns the highest market share and is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 19.12% during the forecast period. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), or cloud-based software, has been increasingly adopted by businesses worldwide for mission-critical applications. Businesses with fluctuating bandwidth requirements must be able to increase and decrease their capacity quickly. Cloud technology provides organizations with the scalability to increase or decrease their bandwidth based on their business requirements. This method can reduce expenses and give companies a competitive edge. All businesses are planning for the worst-case scenario regarding data and IT systems.

Moreover, the implementation of disaster recovery plans can pose a significant financial burden for small enterprises with limited financial resources and a lack of specialized knowledge in this area. Software over the cloud helps them with these issues as most cloud technologies now have built-in disaster recovery processes. Therefore, the cloud may provide many advantages in storing, sharing, and collaborating on IP projects.

Based on the solution, the global IP management software market is bifurcated into software and services. 

The software segment dominates the global market share and is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 18.13% over the forecast period. Managing and tracking all the developments, obligations, and tasks associated with an enterprise's intellectual properties are tedious and prone to avoidable risks. Moreover, storing such critical information on traditional/old solutions or generic systems makes it highly vulnerable to a data breach and non-compliance, resulting in a definite loss of revenue. The IP Management software provides a centralized IP management solution enabling enterprises to securely manage their IP-related data, documents, tasks, and obligations on a centralized system that includes patents, trademarks, designs, and copyrights across domestic or foreign filings and oppositions. It uses artificial intelligence to assist in detecting violations and infringement cases, keeping up with the growing volume of digital IP infringements. These instruments support contract renewal, disclosure agreements, and the resolution of IP issues. They encourage collaboration among scientists, engineers, researchers, IP teams, business executives, and legal departments.

Based on type, the global IP management software market is divided into patent intellectual property management, trademark intellectual property management, copyright intellectual property management, design intellectual property management, and other types. 

The patent intellectual property management segment is the largest revenue contributor and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 18.46% throughout the forecast period. Patent IP management has observed a significant shift toward digitization in recent years. In 2021, the number of patent filings had increased significantly. For instance, according to a Japan Patent Office report published in August 2021, NTT emerged as the foremost company in Japan in terms of AI-related patent applications, boasting a total of 788 domestic patent applications for which the patent publication had been officially published as of May 2021.

Other major Japanese corporations like Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Canon followed NTT. In a report published in February 2022, the international patent applications filed through WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which is amongst the widely used metrics for measuring innovative activity, grew by 0.9% in 2021 to reach 277,500 applications. Therefore, the increase in patent filing is expected to boost the market growth.

Based on the end-user industry, the global IP management software market is divided into BFSI, healthcare, automotive, IT and Telecom, research institutes, and other end-user industries. 

The IT and Telecom segment owns the highest market share and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 18.82% throughout the forecast period. The IT and telecom industry is a highly innovative and rapidly changing area. The industry encompasses new developments in emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence, 5G, machine learning, and big data. With the flourishing amount of data produced worldwide owing to IoT and Internet penetration, the development of data centers has increased significantly. In April 2021, HPE, Facebook, and Microsoft announced to make hundreds of data center patents available for free to scale the adoption of low-carbon technologies. Such initiatives require IP management software.

Additionally, the growth in cloud technologies and the transition of the IT and telecom sector to cloud-based technologies led to the development of cloud-based IP management software. For instance, in December 2021, Amazon announced the addition of a new feature to its Virtual Private Cloud called the IP Address Manager to automate the workflows and network administrators and manage IP addresses.

Recent Developments

• September 2023- Clarivate Plc displayed its next-generation intellectual property (IP) management software, IPfolioTM, at Japan's 2023 Patent Information Fair & Conference (PIFC). IPfolio is a comprehensive IP management software solution for corporate IP teams that require maximum control over their portfolios of IP assets, including patents, trademarks, and designs, with minimal effort.
• May 2023- IPv4.Global, a division of Hilco Streambank, announced the release of ReView, the first digital IP address auditing tool of its kind, at RIPE 86. ReView was created in collaboration with 6connect, the creators of ground-breaking provisioning and IP address management software.