Invention

John’s Transformation: A Leaner IP Workflow for a Large Tech Company

A large tech company's IP workflow is streamlined using Tangify, enhancing patent discovery and disclosures without overhauling the entire system.


How Tangify Helps Big Organizations Evolve Without Overhauling Everything

Struggling to Modernize a Legacy IP Process

John, the General Counsel at a well-established technology firm, felt trapped in a cycle of inefficient patent disclosures and drawn-out legal reviews. His company had a heritage of innovation (think decades-old R&D teams, like what you’d see at Motorola or Corning) but the IP workflow resembled a slow-moving relic. Junior engineers, product managers, and outside counsel all pointed fingers at each other:

  • Engineers complained that the standard invention disclosure forms were long and confusing.
  • Product teams pushed new features to market without a second glance at potential patents.
  • Outside counsel billed hours upon hours extracting the same technical details that got missed in initial disclosures.

John’s frustration was growing. Internally, teams asked for a leaner way to identify high-value patents. Externally, board members and investors questioned why IP spending was so high for so few filings. Meanwhile, John tested other “end-to-end” IP management tools, only to find they tried to replace the entire patent process, something too big and risky for a large organization used to incremental changes.

Hunting for a Targeted Solution—Then Finding Tangify

John realized he didn’t need to revamp every corner of their IP pipeline. He wanted one solution to handle the hardest part: discovering patentable ideas and creating solid disclosures. After scouring AI tools that offered full “AI for legal” overhauls, John finally discovered Tangify, a platform laser-focused on the invention discovery and disclosure-drafting stage.

  • Focus, Not Overreach: Tangify promised to enhance, not replace, John’s existing workflow.
  • Minimal Disruption: It integrated easily with how his company already operated, rather than demanding they adopt a sprawling new system.

Revamping with Tangify: One Key Process at a Time

John decided to run a pilot across two teams. He asked them to feed JIRA tickets (filed after each sprint) into Tangify, along with any relevant technical specs or marketing docs before they went public. The results were immediate:

  1. Rapid Identification of Novel Ideas
  2. Auto-Drafted Disclosures
  3. Time & Salary Savings
  4. Immediate ROI for Future Filings

Changing Internal Perception & External Momentum

For John, the biggest win wasn’t just the new patents, it was the shift in mindset:

  • Engineers realized that the small details in sprints could be major IP.
  • Product recognized that even marketing docs sometimes revealed hidden invention angles.
  • Leadership saw tangible metrics and cost savings, backing John’s argument to scale up the tool.

Meanwhile, the board and investors applauded the pivot, liking that the company wasn’t overhauling the entire legal process. By focusing on the single, critical stage of IP discovery and drafting, John maintained continuity while boosting patent output.

Looking Ahead: A Seamless, Incremental Evolution

John’s success with Tangify became a blueprint for how a big tech company can evolve a piece of its IP workflow without triggering massive organizational upheaval:

  1. Use Existing Tools: Reviewing JIRA ensures that every sprint or feature update is automatically reviewed for patent potential.
  2. Train Teams Gradually: A short tutorial taught engineers and product managers how to drop relevant docs into Tangify - no steep learning curve.
  3. Scale or Expand: As John sees results, he can extend usage to additional business units, including specialized R&D teams who might produce AI or hardware concepts.

Final Takeaway: A Focused Fix to a Big-Company Problem

John’s story shows that reining in an inefficient IP workflow doesn’t require a top-to-bottom transformation, just a smart solution that addresses the most time-consuming, error-prone step. By leveraging Tangify for invention discovery and disclosure drafting, he turned a tangled, meeting-heavy process into an always-on pipeline that finds high-value IP before it’s lost or overshadowed.

The end result is exactly what John envisioned:

  • Faster patent filings.
  • Reduced waste in salaries and overhead.
  • A stronger competitive advantage through timely, first-to-file protection.
  • Renewed faith in the IP program, from the C-suite to the engineering floor.

“We’re not re-inventing everything,” John likes to say. “But thanks to Tangify, we can finally keep up with the speed of our own innovation.”

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