Patent Watch

What do they actually do

Patent Watch is a software tool that turns patent claims into discrete elements, searches public product and technical sources for matches, and flags likely infringements. It then generates claim chart–style reports with per‑element citations and links that teams can use for internal review, licensing outreach, or litigation prep, and it supports ongoing monitoring of competitors and markets for changes that may affect infringement risk blog monitoring homepage.

Today it is used by in‑house IP teams, patent attorneys, licensing managers, and diligence teams to speed up detection and documentation of potential infringement. The company is an active YC Fall 2025 startup and is marketing demos/pilots; public materials indicate early commercial use by corporate IP teams YC profile homepage.

Who are their target customer(s)

• In‑house IP counsel / patent managers: They need fast, defensible evidence to show whether company or competitor products map to specific claim elements, but manual claim‑charting and continuous monitoring are slow and error‑prone. Repeatable reports and alerts help prioritize legal work without redoing research each time YC profile blog.
• Patent litigation attorneys (outside counsel): They must assemble court‑ready claim charts and prior art under deadlines, but gathering product documentation and traceable citations takes significant billable hours. Tools that produce element‑by‑element matches and sources help keep cases on schedule and budget blog.
• Licensing managers / business development: They need to find and document potential licensees with clear, defensible evidence, yet current processes rely on manual screening and weak materials that undercut negotiations. Structured claim‑element matches with excerpts support prioritization and deal justification YC profile.
• M&A and diligence teams: They need quick assessments of patent risk and value, but standard diligence can miss embedded infringements and takes time. Reproducible product‑to‑claim mappings reduce uncertainty for deal decisions homepage.
• Heads of R&D / product teams: They worry about inadvertent infringement and costly redesigns, but can’t track every competitor change. Continuous monitoring tied to specific claim elements helps engineering act before issues become legal problems monitoring.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Use founders’ network, YC introductions, and friendly law‑firm contacts to run hands‑on pilots on one patent/portfolio, delivering a claim‑chart report plus monitoring in exchange for a testimonial and referral blog YC profile.
• First 50: Build a targeted outbound list of in‑house IP teams and mid‑market law firms, sell short paid pilots with fixed deliverables, and convert with case studies; sign referral agreements with 2–3 boutique litigation/licensing firms for warm leads homepage monitoring.
• First 100: Productize pilots into playbooks: publish anonymized case studies/sample claim charts for SEO, add a self‑serve paid pilot on the site, hire 1–2 enterprise sellers, and expand channel partnerships with national law firms and IP service vendors for co‑sell opportunities homepage YC profile.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

The clearest category figure is the global patent analytics/monitoring market, estimated at roughly $1.1B in 2024, with multi‑year growth expected as automation/AI adoption increases source. Related buyer pools include ~52.7k USPTO‑registered patent practitioners and ~140.8k U.S. in‑house counsel who influence purchases USPTO roster ACC tracker.

Bottom-up calculation:

A pragmatic bottom‑up view: assume ~15,000 law firms/corporates globally have ongoing patent monitoring/analytics needs and would buy at an average of $15k/year, with ~3,000 larger organizations buying higher‑tier plans averaging $50k/year. That implies roughly ~$375M in near‑term software spend, expandable with enforcement/licensing workflow features.

Assumptions:

• ~12,000 small/mid buyers at ~$15k ARR and ~3,000 large buyers at ~$50k ARR
• Buyers are concentrated among active patent filers, IP‑heavy corporates, and litigation firms
• Expansion into enforcement/licensing workflows increases ARPA over time

Who are some of their notable competitors

• LexisNexis PatentSight: Enterprise patent analytics platform used by corporates and law firms for portfolio benchmarking and competitive intelligence; a long‑standing category leader in IP analytics PatentSight.
• Clarivate Derwent Innovation: Global patent search and analytics software built on Derwent data (DWPI), widely used for prior art, monitoring, and analytics in enterprises and firms Derwent Innovation.
• Questel Orbit Intelligence: Patent search and analytics suite with monitoring and portfolio analysis features, part of Questel’s broader IP software and services stack Orbit Intelligence.
• Patsnap: AI‑driven patent and R&D intelligence platform covering patents, scientific literature, and related datasets; used for landscape analysis and competitive tracking Patsnap.
• PatSeer (Gridlogics): Patent search, analytics, and monitoring platform with AI‑assisted workflows and collaboration features for corporates and law firms PatSeer.