IP management software: Managing assets, not admin
The Spanish IP profession looked very different from how it does today when Francisco Bernardo Noriega co-founded ABG IP with two fellow patent attorneys in 2003. Following his MSc and a research stint in organic chemistry, Noriega had spent 11 years as a European Patent Office (EPO) examiner before “deciding to see what it was like on the other side”, passing the European Patent Attorney qualifying exams and joining a Spanish pharmaceutical company, ultimately becoming the head of its patent department.
It was this EPO and in-house perspective, together with the thrill of developing his own project, that planted the seeds for ABG.
“Spain was fairly backward in its approach to patent assets at the time, with few filings and few IP professionals in comparison to other European countries, such as Germany and the UK,” Noriega explains that the importance of IP was not really seen, especially not as an asset but just as an admin function.
“It wasn’t simply that IP awareness within companies was under-developed at that time; the same was true in many IP law firms, most of which were focused solely on IP administration.”
He saw a gap in the market, and together with two fellow patent attorneys, Juan Arias and Vicente González, decided to set up a firm that, at first, was focused specifically on patents.
“We wanted to help clients build up patent assets that reflected and supported their business goals,” says Noriega.
