TEAL  /  Operations
Managed · TEAL Operations

Hire your IP operations team. Without hiring.

TEAL Operations is the managed-delivery door of TEAL. Our team runs your docket, your mail triage, your filing prep, and your litigation calendars using software built by someone who spent 17 years inside IP firms. Your attorneys keep the judgment. We handle everything that surrounds it.

Subscription only · Operations only · Quote within 24 hours · No live call required

We serve attorneys · you own the judgment

The team you'd hire if you could

An IP operations team. Already trained. Already on shift.

Every TEAL Operations subscription is run by operators trained inside AmLaw 100 and AmLaw 200 IP practices — not a generalized outsourcing bench.

Docketing — runs underneath

Owns your docket. Computes every filing window from the rules and reconciles it against the office's own register. Surfaces what's due across TM, PAT, CR, Madrid, TTAB, and PTAB.

Reporting — runs underneath

When a matter's status changes at the office, the status report drafts itself into a review queue — computed dates included. Your attorneys approve; TEAL sends as your firm.

Why firms bring us in

The situations this exists for.

Nobody goes looking for managed IP operations in the abstract. It's almost always one of these.

TEAL Operations tiers

Four tiers. Three published, one custom for IP departments.

All tiers are monthly subscription with optional annual prepay (17% off). Engagement letter required before onboarding. IP Department engagements are limited — we take on a small number per year to protect quality.

What you're comparing it to.

Offshore docketing runs $3–15 per mark per month. That's data entry — records typed in. Not deadlines computed, not responses prepared, not a discrepancy caught before it becomes a missed date.

A senior paralegal in the U.S. reaches $98,990 at the 90th percentile (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024), and IP specialists run above that in high-demand markets. Loaded with benefits, taxes and overhead, that's roughly $10,000–12,000 a month — once you've spent ninety days finding one.

Dedicated coverage sits between those two numbers. Full operations sits above a single hire, because it's more than one person's job.

Single matter$150/hr

One filing, one response, one renewal. Single matters vary too much to price from a list — so they're billed hourly, with an estimate and a not-to-exceed figure before any work starts. Nothing past that figure happens without your approval.

$125/hr applies inside a retainer. $150/hr is the rate for single matters and open-scope work.

Docket reviewFrom $397/mo

Your docket checked against the register on a schedule. Discrepancies and deadlines at risk, documented — without anyone taking over the function. Engaged through TEAL Paralegal.

Solo ReviewUp to 75 active matters$397/mo
Boutique ReviewUp to 200 active matters$797/mo
Department ReviewUp to 400 active matters$1,497/mo
Dedicated paralegalFrom $1,250/mo

Coverage in the seat, priced by the size of your portfolio. In your stack, or on our platform. Engaged through TEAL Paralegal.

Solo SupportUp to 75 active matters · review plus up to 8 hours of work a month$1,250/mo
SoloUp to ~200 active matters$3,000/mo · $3,750 on platform
Boutique~200–750 active matters$5,500/mo · $6,750 on platform
Department~750–2,000 active matters$9,000/mo · $11,000 on platform

Work beyond the tier is billed at $125/hr, pre-approved before it starts. Solo Support hours don't roll over.

Full operationsFrom $5,000/mo

The whole function run for you — the paralegal coverage plus everything around it. Priced by practice-area scope rather than matter count, so it sits above dedicated coverage at every rung. Each tier is detailed in the cards below.

ProsecutionTM · PAT · CR · Madrid$5,000/mo · $50,000/yr
LitigationTTAB · PTAB · IP litigation$9,000/mo · $90,000/yr
Full IP OpsThe whole operations layer$15,000/mo · $150,000/yr

Annual billing is ten months for twelve. In-house IP departments are quoted custom.

Prosecution
TM · PAT · CR · Madrid
$5,000/mo
$50,000/yr · ten months for twelve
  • TM Office Action deadlines, SOU/ext, Section 8/15, renewals
  • Patent maintenance, OAs, PCT national stage, priority dates, IDS
  • Copyright registration intake + group registration prep
  • Madrid Protocol downstream tracking
  • Inbound USPTO / WIPO / foreign-agent mail triage
  • Monthly portfolio status reports
  • Foreign agent coordination
  • Up to 100 active matters · 5 attorneys served
Get a quote
Full IP Ops
The whole operations layer
$15,000/mo
$150,000/yr · ten months for twelve
  • Everything in Prosecution + Litigation, plus:
  • New-matter intake + conflict-check kickoff
  • Full client-facing status reporting
  • Cross-portfolio analytics
  • Dedicated TEAL operations lead
  • Custom integrations (Anaqua, Foundation IP, Patricia, AltLegal)
  • Unlimited matters and active litigation
  • Priority response SLA
Get a quote
IP Department
We are your IP ops team
Custom pricing/mo · custom
Quote-led · annual prepay available
  • Everything in Full IP Ops, plus:
  • Dedicated TEAL operations lead (named person)
  • Dedicated docket custodian (senior human + automation pair)
  • White-glove onboarding · 10 business days
  • Custom reporting cadence + monthly executive review
  • Priority on roadmap + custom integrations
  • Built for 500+ active matters · 20+ jurisdictions · 20+ attorneys served
  • Replaces an in-house IP operations team of 3–5 people
Request Custom Quote
Brand protection

Enforcement is operations too.

Watch notices, marketplace takedowns and domain portfolios all run on deadlines and evidence — the same discipline as prosecution, and the same division of labor. We monitor, gather, prepare and file. Your attorneys decide whether and how to act.

Enforcement support

  • Watch notice review and reporting
  • Online infringement monitoring
  • Evidence of use — collection and preservation
  • Cease-and-desist letters prepared for attorney signature
  • TTAB oppositions and cancellations — ESTTA filing and docketing
  • Extensions of time to oppose
  • Customs recordation with U.S. CBP
  • Settlement and coexistence agreement docketing

Domain portfolio

  • Registrar consolidation and renewal docketing
  • ccTLD and defensive registrations
  • Registrant and contact record maintenance
  • Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) — sunrise and claims records
  • UDRP and URS — preparation support and filing administration
  • Transfer and acquisition coordination

Marketplace programs

  • Amazon Brand Registry — enrollment and maintenance
  • Amazon Transparency and Project Zero
  • Report a Violation submissions and tracking
  • eBay VeRO · Walmart Brand Portal · Etsy · Alibaba IPP
  • Takedown notices and counter-notice tracking
  • Listing and seller evidence packages

We do not decide whether a mark is infringed, whether to enforce, or on what terms to settle. Those are legal judgments and they stay with your attorneys.

Getting started

What we need — and what we don't.

Bringing in outside help usually means an IT review, a security questionnaire and a paid seat in your docketing system before anyone touches any work. That isn't necessary here.

An email address on your domain

So correspondence goes out from your firm, to your clients, the way it always has.

Your document management system

Whatever you already use — iManage and Worksite included. Files stay where your firm keeps them.

The docket

However you can send it — an export, a report, a spreadsheet. It doesn't need to be tidy.

That's the whole list

No new vendor account, no migration, nothing for your team to learn.

You don't have to give us a seat in your docketing software.

If we have the docket, the work gets done without it. Access is requested only when a specific task genuinely requires it — and it stays yours to grant or refuse. When it is needed, these are systems already worked in, so there's no learning curve on your matters: CPI · PATTSY · Anaqua · Patricia · AIM.

How it works

From quote to running docket in under two weeks.

Our onboarding is intentionally not instant. Setup takes 3 to 5 business days to do correctly. We configure your tenant, learn your stack, and align with your paralegal handoff preferences before we touch a matter.

01

Quote (within 24 hours)

Fill the intake form: your firm size, IP mix, existing docketing system (Anaqua, Foundation IP, Patricia, AltLegal, or spreadsheets), annuity service, paralegal handoff scopes. We build your personalized walk-through and send it within 24 hours. No live call required. If you'd rather talk to a human, you can request one, but most prospects don't need to.

02

Engagement letter signed

Operations scope spelled out unambiguously. Your firm's attorneys remain responsible for the legal matter; we provide administrative operations support under their supervision. The bright line is on paper before we touch anything.

03

Tenant onboarding (3-5 business days)

We configure your tenant on our platform: docketing system integration, annuity service routing, foreign agent network, paralegal handoff preferences, your firm's letter templates, and your integrations (Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace / Chrome River / Intapp as applicable).

04

Daily operations begin

TEAL surfaces every deadline. Our operators drive the queue. Your attorneys review the daily queue, approve client communications, sign filings. Monthly portfolio reports land in your inbox the first of every month.

The bright line · UPL boundary

What TEAL Operations does not do — ever.

The line between operations and the practice of law is the line we built our company around. Operations is administrative work that paralegals and case managers have done for decades. The practice of law is reserved for licensed attorneys. We never cross it.

We never:

  • Draft substantive responses to Office Actions, motions, briefs, demand letters, or opinion letters
  • Provide trademark clearance opinions or freedom-to-operate analyses
  • Recommend filing strategy or settlement positions
  • Sign pleadings, substantive correspondence, or anything binding the client
  • Substitute for licensed attorney judgment in any way

Your engagement letter spells this out before we begin. Your attorneys are licensed; we're not. The scope discipline is what makes operations outsourcing safe for your firm and your clients. We operate, we don't opine.

Trust & data handling

What protects you when you let us operate.

Outsourcing IP operations means giving an outside team access to your docket, your matters, and your client correspondence. Here's the safety stack behind every TEAL Operations engagement.

E&O

Errors & Omissions insurance

Professional liability coverage active on first revenue. Minimum-viable policy at Phase 2 launch, scaled with engagement count. Policy details available under NDA before signing your engagement letter. You're not the first line of risk if we make an operational error.

Engagement letter — scope-locked

Drafted in-house and reviewed by outside counsel. Spells out what we touch (calendar entries, package preparation, status emails, vendor coordination, mail triage) and what we never touch (anything that would be the practice of law). Your attorneys retain supervisory responsibility for every matter.

Confidentiality & data residency

Customer matter data lives in your tenant on our platform — not on our laptops or in third-party tools we control. We log in to your tenant the same way your paralegals would. Standard NDA + the TEAL platform's audit log on every action we take.

U.S.-based · trained inside AmLaw 100 and 200 IP practices · extensive foreign filing experience

Operations led by a former Trademark Department Manager who ran the docket inside multiple IP firms. The operations playbook is the one your peers' firms already use internally — not a generalized outsourcing model. No offshoring. No data leaving the US.

Subscription only — cancel monthly

Monthly subscription. No annual commitment required (annual prepay is optional, 17% off). If the fit is wrong, cancel at the next billing cycle. We hand back the tenant + a clean docket. The relationship is the test, not the contract.

Every action audited & reportable

Every docket entry, every email, every package we prepare is logged with timestamp + operator name inside our platform. Monthly portfolio reports surface what we touched, what we didn't, and what we flagged for attorney attention. Total visibility into what we did on your behalf.

Built on procedural knowledge

Every deadline traces to a rule in our IP knowledge bases.

Eight curated knowledge bases covering the procedural depth of US and international IP practice. Citations, not assertions. Procedure, not advice. Two new bases are coming with Phase 2: docketing-procedure depth and litigation-operations specifics (TTAB practice, PTAB scheduling).

KB-01Trademarks
KB-02Patents
KB-03Copyrights
KB-04Trade Secrets
KB-05Madrid
KB-06PCT
KB-07International
KB-08Enforcement
Who you're hiring

Seventeen years. Every seat but the attorney’s.

The first seat — trademark assistant, boutique IP firm. Docketing and project tracking for U.S. and international matters in a high-volume practice. The bottom of the ladder, where you learn what a missed date actually costs.

Then patent, at one of the largest global law firms in the world. Filings and prosecution documents across multiple jurisdictions, annuity schedules, and the reporting templates that gave attorneys visibility into prosecution status. Patent and trademark are different disciplines; most people only ever learn one.

Then a full-service IP legal team — prosecution and enforcement across domestic and international jurisdictions, liaising between clients, the USPTO and foreign counsel.

Then running it. IP Department Manager at an IP boutique: directing and mentoring a team of paralegals, designing the SOPs for docketing, intake and portfolio reporting, leading vendor negotiations, and evaluating and integrating new docketing platforms. Primary client contact for project planning and prosecution strategy alongside partners.

Most recently, global portfolios for consumer and media clients — hundreds of active marks across multiple jurisdictions, brand enforcement and C&D coordination, clearance searching, Madrid and WIPO filings. On-time filing compliance was held at 100%, and the evidence-tracking SOP built there was adopted firm-wide across multiple offices.

Assistant, specialist, executive support, department manager — every position in intellectual property short of the attorney roles, worked in order. What the assistant needs, what the specialist misses, and what the manager is accountable for have all been done here.

Not an attorney, and never presented as one. All work is performed under your attorneys' supervision. Legal judgment stays with your firm.

Résumé available on request, or with a request for services.

We are not a SaaS company that learned IP docketing from a deck. We are the kind of operations practice your firm has tried to hire and couldn't.

— The TEAL team
Frequently asked

Questions firms ask before signing.

Is this UPL? Can a non-attorney really do this work?
No, it's not UPL — for the same reason it isn't UPL when your in-house paralegal calculates a Section 8 deadline or prepares an SOU package. Operations work (calendar math, package prep, status correspondence, vendor coordination) is administrative work paralegals and case managers have done for decades. The line is substantive legal judgment: clearance opinions, OA strategy, freedom-to-operate, settlement positions. That stays with your licensed attorneys. Our engagement letter draws this line explicitly.
Where does our matter data live? Does it leave our tenant?
Matter data lives in your tenant on our platform. Our operators log into your tenant — we don't pull data out to our own systems. There is no shared spreadsheet, no third-party CRM holding your client matters. The TEAL platform itself logs every action we take (timestamp + operator + matter ID), so you have a complete audit trail of what we did on your behalf.
What's the difference between the platform and TEAL Operations?
Same software, different driver. The platform is the self-serve product — your paralegals and attorneys log into the workspace and operate the queue themselves. TEAL Operations is the managed delivery — our team logs into your tenant and operates the queue on your behalf. The only difference is who's pressing the buttons.
What happens if we want to leave?
Cancel at the next monthly billing cycle. We hand the tenant back to your team — every matter, every deadline, every document we created. You can either continue running it self-serve as a platform subscription (we pre-configure that handoff in the engagement letter) or migrate the data out via standard export. No lock-in clauses. No hostage data.
Do we still need our in-house docketing paralegal?
Depends on your firm. Smaller firms (solo through low-end boutique) often hire TEAL Operations instead of bringing on a docketing-only paralegal — the operations cost works out to less than a full-time hire. Larger firms typically keep their internal team and use TEAL Operations as capacity — overflow during heavy filing periods, coverage during PTO, or specialized depth for TTAB/PTAB calendars they don't see often.
What does the engagement letter look like? Can we see it before signing?
Yes. We send the engagement letter as part of the quote. It's drafted in-house and reviewed by outside counsel; you're encouraged to have your own counsel review it before you sign. Standard form clauses around confidentiality, scope of operations, fee structure, termination terms, and indemnification.
What does TEAL Operations cost?
Standard pricing: Prosecution $5,000/mo, Litigation $9,000/mo, Full IP Ops $15,000/mo. Annual prepay is ten months for twelve. IP Department engagements are quoted custom.
Will you operate alongside our existing docketing system (Anaqua, Foundation IP, Patricia)?
Yes. TEAL runs alongside your current stack, never as a replacement. Full IP Ops tier includes integrations for Anaqua, Foundation IP, Patricia, and AltLegal. Prosecution and Litigation tiers operate inside our platform as the docketing surface; your existing system stays the system of record for whatever you keep there.
TEAL Operations

Get your quote.

Fill the intake form. We build your walk-through within 24 hours and send it to your inbox — no live call required. If you'd rather talk to a human, you can ask for one. If we're the right fit, you'll have the engagement letter and onboarding plan within a week.

Need someone in the seat instead?

Automation, never judgment. TEAL serves attorneys, who own all legal judgment. TEAL provides operations and intelligence — we operate; we don't opine. TEAL IP is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.