Matrixx0070 When to use
Use this once per organization to set house rules so every other IP skill applies consistent positions instead of ad-hoc judgment. Capture risk tolerance, jurisdictions, industry, brand/product portfolio, standard positions, preferred counsel, and dockets, then store the profile for reuse.
Not for: intake or routing of a single new matter (ipl-cold-start-interview), organizing one matter's files and deadlines (ipl-matter-workspace), or running a specific analysis like clearance or OSS review (ipl-clearance, ipl-oss-review).
Method
- Interview for the org profile. Industry, jurisdictions of operation, risk tolerance (conservative/balanced/aggressive), brand and product portfolio.
- Define default playbook positions per domain. Contractor IP-assignment default, acceptable OSS license tiers, C&D tone ladder, trademark clearance risk threshold, patent-vs-trade-secret default.
- Record escalation thresholds: the conditions under which a matter MUST go to named counsel.
- Decision point: for each position decide whether it is fixed policy (applied automatically) or case-by-case (flagged for human judgment). Fix only what is genuinely settled.
- ATTORNEY-ESCALATION GATE: setting risk thresholds and approving any position that waives rights or accepts liability must be signed off by an attorney or GC. You capture and structure preferences — you do not set legal policy, and nothing here is legal advice.
- Store versioned. Save as a reusable profile with an owner and a review date; re-review on a set cadence.
Example
A B2B SaaS company, balanced risk, US + EU. Positions set: contractors sign IP-assignment by default (fixed); OSS permissive tier auto-approved, copyleft case-by-case (fixed); C&D starts at a soft "friendly notice" rung (fixed); trademark clearance escalates to counsel above a "moderate confusion" threshold (case-by-case). GC signs off on the thresholds. Profile v1.0, review in 12 months.
Pitfalls
- Fixing positions that should stay case-by-case. Over-automation applies the wrong rule to an edge case.
- No named counsel or owner. A profile no one owns drifts stale and gets ignored.
- Copying another org's tolerance. Risk appetite is specific to industry and stage — capture it fresh.
- Skipping GC sign-off on rights-waiving positions. Any default that waives rights or accepts liability needs attorney approval.
Output format
ORG IP PROFILE — <company> | v<n> | owner: <name> | review: <date>
Industry / jurisdictions / risk tolerance:
Trademark clearance risk threshold: <fixed|case-by-case>
Patent vs trade-secret default: <fixed|case-by-case>
Acceptable OSS license tiers: <permissive auto | copyleft ...>
C&D tone ladder: <rungs>
Contractor IP-assignment default:
Escalation thresholds (→ named counsel):
Preferred counsel / dockets:
Attorney/GC sign-off:
Reference
Customizable levers per domain: trademark clearance risk thresholds (tie to likelihood-of-confusion factors); patent filing vs trade-secret defaults (tie to patentability bars, §§101/102/103/112); acceptable OSS license tiers, permissive vs copyleft obligations; and DMCA/takedown response SLAs (tie to §512 elements).
These levers feed the sibling skills — a profile set here is what ipl-clearance, ipl-fto-triage, ipl-oss-review, and ipl-takedown read as house rules. Keep the profile versioned and attorney-reviewed; nothing here is legal advice.