NLPatent Rebrands to Clerq as Patent Surge Drives Automation

The backlog discourages innovation, Curcio said, because inventors wait months to hear back about an invention. Patent offices at large corporations and law firms are struggling to keep up. In Canada, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office recorded a one-percent drop in patent filings year over year in 2024. In the US, filings fell nine percent that year. Still, the absolute number of applications remains high enough to strain capacity.

Clerq's platform now includes an AI triage assessment for screening inventions and a patentability report that checks whether an invention is patent-worthy given existing records. The company is integrating with RPX Corporation, a risk-management provider for patents, and Park IP, which offers global patent translations and foreign filing services. Clerq said the new platform reduces many common patent-related workloads from days to minutes.

The company has roughly 25 employees and sells to patent and IP lawyers at law firms like Gowling WLG, as well as in-house patent teams at corporations. It counts about 100 client organizations and thousands of users.

Clerq is also adding an IP expert to its executive team. Michael Chernoff, who most recently led a patent research team at Murgitroyd and previously served on Clerq’s client advisory board, will lead enterprise sales support and customer success while setting new product directions.