Cost Forecasts

The Forecasts functionality allows users to see future costs and estimates for the lifespan of their IP portfolio, as well as for future filings and custom extension strategies. The tool uses a Questel API to retrive the cost information.

Users can create a new forecast in Equinox at any time. A forecast can be based on:

- Existing client portfolio (whole portfolio or selection)
- Future filings
- A combination of existing portfolio costs and future filings

For the existing portfolio, a forecast can be created based on combinations of the below filters:

- Case category
- Family
- Client
- Billing Location
- Country
- Specific case codes

For future filings, the user inputs the number and countries of expected filings over a specific time period, such as 100 new UK patent filings next year, 120 new UK patent filings the following year and son on.

The user can also define filing extension strategies to be included in the forecast, including percentage changes of specific country extensions.

After forecasts are created, the results are visible in the system and can then be filtered as required. Multiple forecasts can be created and viewed either individually or together. The forecast results provide a breakdown of each charge included in the forecast, and splits out local fees, agent fees, and official fees. Forecast results are available to export to a CSV file.