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Transform trademark operations, benefit of AI, blue sky
Blog Post / Published, November 9, 2026

How to Transform Your Global Trademark Operations with AI

overview

To manage global trademark portfolios effectively, IP teams must embed strategic decision-making, brand consistency, and cost control into their day-to-day operations. As workloads increase, fees rise, and IP tasks become more complex, however, this is easier said than done. Fortunately, by combining AI-powered tools, centralized knowledge banks, and specialized expertise, leading IP teams are now creating smarter and more scalable IP operations. 

For many organizations, valuable intellectual property (IP) knowledge is spread across teams, software platforms, jurisdictions, and external partners, adding significant time and inconsistencies into day-to-day operations — and impeding decision-making and budget control. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers significant opportunities to address these challenges, but technology alone is not the answer. As we covered in our recent webinar on ‘From AI to Expertise: Transforming Global Trademark and IP Operations’, the right combination of AI, knowledge management, and human expertise can help make global trademark and IP operations more efficient, consistent, and scalable.  

A Combined Solution to Modern Trademark Challenges

  • AI technologies help IP teams move faster: AI is now empowering teams with search and reporting assistance, application drafting, and document translation and summarization, as well as automating routine IP workflows, from online brand protection to proof-of-use management.
  • Centralizing IP knowledge turns it into a strategic asset: Centralized knowledge management ensures teams can access the information they need more easily and apply it consistently across their operations.
  • Human experts take a more strategic role: Technology provides scalability and automation, while experienced IP professionals bring the context, judgment, and specialist knowledge to make more informed decisions. 
How does this work in practice?  

In our recent webinar, Luca Valente, Managing Director at Build IP, provides practical insights into the role technology and expertise can play in modern IP operations, and explains how Questel’s software-as-a-service platforms and expert services support their team in their trademark strategy. 

Watch webinar 
AI benefits for IP, image of three

From Reactive to Proactive Trademark Management with AI 

Adoption of AI technologies among IP practitioners is rising, and for good reason. Whether they are looking for trusted solutions to automate time-consuming IP workflows or seeking a personal digital assistant to support drafting and translation activities, corporate IP teams and law firms are now turning to AI to address some of their biggest operational challenges. 

However, the evolution of AI in IP is now extending beyond individual productivity tools. By connecting AI, knowledge management, and expert services, IP teams can establish more comprehensive platforms for managing legal and IP knowledge. From trademark management and brand protection to broader enterprise legal operations, IP teams can now harness AI to turn fragmented legal information into strategic and actionable intelligence. 

How to Transform Your IP Operations:
3 Steps to Success 
Part three, AI in chemical industry report, number three
1. Move Faster With AI

AI tools have increased a lot in capability and reliability in the past two years, believes Luca Valente. In our recent webinar, he gave as an example the AI-powered platform his team uses to classify and manage trademark proof of use. “The way AI can assist us in collecting evidence, for example, or preparing a case is unbelievable.”  

AI is now empowering teams with search and reporting assistance, application drafting, and document translation and summarization, as well as automating routine IP workflows, from online brand protection to proof-of-use management. 

These AI solutions for trademark productivity enable in-house teams, IP agents, and law firms to: 

  • Control growing IP workloads and cross-border complexity;
  • Improve consistency across teams and jurisdictions;
  • Make institutional knowledge easier to access;
  • Find relevant precedents more efficiently;
  • Prepare translations, summarizations, and first drafts for review;
  • Reduce repetitive manual work; and
  • Scale IP operations while controlling costs and risk. 

The result is an IP function that is faster, more consistent, and better equipped to support business objectives.  

“AI helps us to complete certain trademark tasks faster. For example, AI analysis of search and watch reports or automated prosecution workflows,” says Luca. "We still need to validate the output [and] take into consideration additional factors, but these kinds of activities have definitely improved time allocation and enable us to service clients effectively.” 

2. Centralize IP Knowledge  

Another key factor for improving speed and accuracy is the ability to promptly access relevant data. This is where platforms for centralizing knowledge play a critical role by ensuring teams can access the information they need more easily and apply it consistently across their operations. 

Case Study: Qthena

For a recent project, Questel created a knowledge library for a large worldwide company in our all-in-one digital trademark workflow automation, data, and collaboration workspace, Qthena. 

This centralized repository included all relevant files for each client’s brand strategy, from registrations to coexistence license agreements. As Elena Galletti, Head of Trademark Services Architecture for Questel, explained in our recent webinar: “This meant that every time one of the attorneys needed to work on a file for a specific client, they could access the data directly and live chat with the dedicated AI assistant in the same platform, asking it to retrieve a specific document, prompt it to create a first draft, or run a trademark search, for example, without leaving the platform.”  

The ability to access the full history and strategy of the client, as well as related business productivity tools (from email to Word and web search) in one place, boosts the working practices of the attorneys, and not just by saving them time.  

“Sometimes there are some trademark battles that are pending prosecution, litigation, and opposition cases all over the world that have been years in the making,” commented Luca. “We could be talking about hundreds of documents or a complex background of problems and issues. That kind of client history requires considerable time for review, especially in tight litigation time periods. In such an instance, this type of tool would be extremely useful if used systematically.” 

Find out more about Qthena 

3. Human Experts Remain in Control

When employing AI technologies, the human factor remains decisive. Not only does IP require specialist knowledge, but human experts are responsible for verifying all output in case of errors, hallucinations, or misinterpretations. Technology provides scalability and automation, while experienced IP professionals bring the context, judgment, and specialized knowledge needed to make more informed decisions. 

Generic vs. IP-Specific AI Solutions 

When it comes to adoption of AI, not every solution is equal.  

“Using AI technologies that have been built specifically for IP purposes, so trained with IP law and IP workflows in mind, is key,” emphasized Elena. “You will not get the same results using a generic, general-purpose AI tool online. Unfortunately, there have been thousands of cases of attorneys using general AI tools in legal proceedings, only for it to emerge that the AI had hallucinated much of the argument.” 

“It’s crucial to be skeptical if using a general AI tool,” agreed Luca. He gave as an example a test he ran to compare the output of the two types of tools for a fictional trademark application. “In the test, the general AI incorrectly told me not only that I could proceed with a certain strategy that the IP-specific tool, and my own knowledge, knew was not possible, but it also hallucinated justifications to make its argument plausible and compelling.”  

He adds: “If you are a senior attorney and have been working in IP for decades, then, of course, you will spot such errors – but what if you’re new to the profession? Specialist AI tools for IP help to mitigate the risk, but training and verification of AI output remain important.” 

Evolution in AI technologies is also impacting IP professionals in other ways. For example, it was suggested that AI could completely remove the role of the IP administrator or paralegal, but this is far from being the case. Questel’s IP Administrative Support service remains in demand among clients who need a trusted pair of hands to support their efforts to prepare and manage document collection and upload tasks. AI may speed up the data collection process, but a human expert still needs to verify it, manage the tool, and oversee the information collection strategy.  

"You can’t blindly upload documents into a tool,” agrees Luca, “because you need to know what you’re uploading and especially what you are not uploading. So, to me, that is a task that has to be done by a human — and a human who knows what they are doing and understands the context and subject. After all, if you don’t know what is and what isn’t in the tool, how can you rely on its output?”  

Security is also another key issue, particularly in criminal cases, adds Luca. “Of course, trademark data is generally already online and available via registry. But, for complex litigation cases, you also need to be careful where confidential and sensitive data is being held. If I’m uploading anything to an external tool, I must be 100% sure of where data is stored, if third parties can access it, and so on. The same should apply to anything confidential or strategic, and I think in the next few years user awareness and knowledge of that fact is going to drive IP professionals away from entering their data (or that of their clients) into general AI tools online — and rightly so.”  

Looking to save time, control costs, and build consistency across your global trademark operations? Watch our recent webinar 'From AI to Expertise: Transforming Global Trademark and IP Operations’ to discover more best practices for AI adoption in IP or contact our subject matter experts for specialist advice.