IPBases 2.1: what’s new in the IP management system
Version 2.1 is about control and clarity: who can see what, what the numbers say, and how a new colleague learns the system on day one.
The Executive Brief: every report on one page
Partners rarely have time to open nine reports. The Executive Brief now puts all of them on one page. Four headline tiles show the live portfolio, filings this month, invoicing this month and unpaid balances. Below them, each report gets its own card: the renewal schedule for the next twelve months, outstanding balances by age, invoiced against collected, filings and registrations, the portfolio by status, country and client, work routed through associates, and open deadlines.
Every card links to its full report and, where you are allowed to export, to a CSV. The numbers use the same rules as the full reports, so the brief and the detail never disagree. Money cards only appear for users with financial access.
Permission groups with Allow and Never
Roles were a good start, but real firms have exceptions: the paralegal who handles invoices, the trainee who must never see fees. In 2.1 you build permission groups once and drop people into them. A group can allow extra permissions or mark them Never. A Never always wins, even over a user-level allow, so a group such as “No Financials” reliably removes every invoice, payment and dashboard money figure.
Each user’s permission page now has three settings per permission (Inherit, Allow, Never) and an analyzer that tells you why someone can or cannot do something: role default, a named group, or a personal override. Patents, industrial designs, the watch service and files have their own permissions in 2.1, and the sidebar hides links a user is not allowed to open.
A billing report you can trust
Firms that bill in several currencies need totals that add up. The billing report now converts every invoice to your base currency before adding it. Collections come from recorded payments, and invoices marked paid count as collected even when no payment line was entered. You get period shortcuts (this month, last month, quarter, year, last twelve months), overdue amounts, a split by status, the clients and associates you bill most, and an invoice table you can search and filter. A CSV export covers exactly the period on screen. More on the money side in our guide to trademark billing software.
A Help Center inside the system
New staff learn fastest when the explanation sits next to the work. The Help Center explains the three records everything hangs off — client, associate, trademark — with an animated diagram. It also shows who receives the invoice when a client comes through a foreign associate, what to do at each trademark status from Applied to Renewed, and the 4-step filing wizard. A first-ten-minutes checklist links straight into the right screens.
Also in the 2.x line
- Proposal generator — bilingual (English and Arabic) fee proposals built from associates’ rate cards, with margins you never show the client.
- Trademark watch service — gazette entries, client watch subscriptions and similarity hits in English and Arabic; escalating a hit creates an urgent action with the opposition deadline.
- Sign-in location check — staff signing in from outside your allowed countries confirm with an emailed code, and can trust a device for a set number of days.
- Client portal sections — choose per client whether they see trademarks, invoices, documents and their profile.
- Notice letters — filing, acceptance, publication and registration notices that list the client’s same-day marks in one table.
- Sticky notes — personal reminders or shared notes for everyone, chosen roles or chosen people.
- Sidebar shortcuts — clicking a menu icon opens its first page, for example Mail opens the inbox.
Upgrading keeps your data and settings. If you are comparing systems, our guide to the best IP management software lists what to check.
IPBases 2.1: frequently asked questions
What is new in IPBases 2.1?
Permission groups with Allow and Never rules, a per-user permission analyzer, an Executive Brief that summarises every report on one page, a rebuilt billing report with base-currency totals, and an in-app Help Center that teaches new staff how clients, associates and trademarks fit together.
Do existing users lose access when upgrading to 2.1?
No. Patents, industrial designs, the watch service and files now have their own permission keys. The upgrade copies them onto every user and group that had the matching trademark permission, so nobody loses access.
Is IPBases 2.1 a subscription?
No. IPBases is sold as a one-time perpetual license and installed on your own server. Updates such as 2.1 install over the existing system and keep your data and settings.
See IPBases 2.1 live
Click through the live demo, or book a walkthrough with your own portfolio questions.
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