BlueIron as your Fractional Chief IP Officer
You know IP is a business asset. Run it like one.
Your board sets business goals. Your patent attorney writes patents.
Who connects the two?
A fractional Chief IP Officer fills that gap.
You and your board get the framework — and the data — to make confident investment decisions.
What the CIPO Does
A business case for every patent
What business purpose does this patent serve? Can infringement be detected? Does it target the right competitor? Can they design around it?
Your board gets a clear recommendation with a written rationale tied to your business strategy — before any money is spent.
Business strategy drives prosecution
Every patent gets a prosecution playbook before outside counsel writes a single claim. Target infringer. Claim architecture. Continuation strategy — all driven by your business objectives.
Your patent attorney becomes a partner
No more chasing you for approval. No more guessing what the claims should target. Clear direction. Fast decisions. The CIPO is the single point of contact who speaks their language.
Quality stays visible
Every draft and office action response reviewed before submission. You know the standard is being met — without reading patent claims yourself.
Cost management
Every patent investment is validated before money is spent and tracked against budget through prosecution. Clear direction and good preparation eliminate the back-and-forth that drives unnecessary attorney hours. Your board sees what the portfolio costs and what it produces.
Every patent has a deployment plan
IP-collateralized lending, leveraged negotiations, outbound licensing, asset sales, or strategic abandonment. Your board decides how each patent serves the business — with the data and options to decide well.
This is how Microsoft, IBM, and Qualcomm run their IP: strategic oversight, clear prosecution direction, patents built for deployment.
Filing patents is not IP strategy. Counting patents is not defensibility.
In IP-driven industries, the executive who governs this function commands total compensation well into the high six figures — frequently into seven figures. Most companies that need this role cannot justify the permanent headcount.
A fractional CIPO delivers that level of strategic oversight — scaled to your stage, your portfolio, and your budget — without the permanent executive overhead.
The Engagement
The right engagement depends on where your company is today.
| Stage | You need | |
|---|---|---|
| Funded & Pre-Revenue | Every dollar on IP competes with product and revenue. Remove the emotion from filing decisions, say no to bad patents, and make the ones you file count. | Learn more → |
| High-Growth | Your IP should be giving you options — IP-backed lending, blocking patents, cross-licenses, competitive positioning, and acquisition leverage. | Learn more → |
| Established | Your portfolio should be working — outbound licensing, standards and patent pools, FTO protection, technology space clearing, and portfolio optimization. | Learn more → |
Common Questions
How does this work with my existing patent attorney?
They keep drafting and prosecuting — but with clear instructions, complete invention disclosures, and fast decisions. The adversarial dynamic disappears. It becomes a working partnership.
Do you replace my patent attorney?
No. The CIPO provides the framework and data. Your board makes the business decisions. Outside counsel executes. Because the CIPO is a business function with a legal background, we can give unbiased evaluations without the conflicts of interest of outside counsel.
What do the first 90 days look like?
The scope depends on your company stage. For pre-revenue companies, we spend 90 days building the strategic foundation — invention evaluation framework, prosecution playbooks, quality standards, cost tracking, and board reporting — then shift to monthly light oversight. For high-growth companies, we map your competitive landscape, evaluate IP-backed lending opportunities, and build a deployment plan across licensing, cross-licensing, blocking, and acquisition positioning. For established companies, we assess every active patent against your current business strategy, map the competitive landscape, identify licensing targets and standards opportunities, and deliver a full deployment plan. Each engagement produces a concrete roadmap with next steps by day 90.
Are we adding cost to the patent process?
No. In fact, we are typically lowering patent costs — or making the same budget go farther. Streamlined communication and pre-packaged invention disclosures minimize attorney time. Alternative prosecution strategies get your patents issued in months instead of years — all at lower cost.
Why does IP need to be a board-level function?
Patent decisions have 20-year consequences. They affect valuation, fundraising, competitive positioning, and exit options. Those decisions belong at the C-suite and board level.
