Case study
Copperpod: the foundation for an IP operations platform
- Client
- Copperpod, a patent litigation research firm with 50+ in-house subject-matter experts and offices in New York and Austin
- Timeline
- About two months, including iteration cycles
- Scope
- Client-and-project workspace, client portal, role-based access control, admin panel
“[It] gave us a steady platform to further build out a whole IP operating system for our clients as well as our delivery team. It has really accelerated our project management and client outreach strategy.”
About Copperpod
Copperpod provides technical research to IP attorneys: evidence-of-use analysis, source code review, prior art search and damages assessment. Its team has supported 300+ patent cases for a growing list of law firms.
The problem
Client work was scattered. Documents went out as Google Drive links. Updates and questions ran through WhatsApp. Invoices and proposals lived somewhere else again. Nothing tied a client, their projects and their paperwork together.
The brief
One place to run client work: who the client is, what projects are open, and every invoice, document and proposal attached to them. Plus a portal the firm's law-firm clients could log into themselves, in place of links and messages.
What we built
A client-and-project workspace. The data model follows how the firm works: Client → Projects → Invoices, Documents, Proposals. It is the firm's system of record, live and in daily use by the team.
A client portal. Each client gets their own login, at one URL, where they can reach their documents, proposals, invoices and project files. Onboarding a client takes an email. Each project has its own chat, with voice, so conversation stays next to the work it concerns. Copperpod has onboarded its clients, who now use the portal instead of Drive links and WhatsApp.
Access control built in from day one. Role-specific logins and role-based access control across the platform. Clients see only their own projects. An admin panel lets the firm decide which clients get access to which tools.
Three design decisions
Client first. Everything hangs off the client record, matching how the firm already organises its work.
Conversation next to the work. Project-level chat keeps discussion attached to the files and invoices it's about, instead of scattered across WhatsApp threads.
Permissions built in from day one. Access control was treated as a foundation rather than a feature, so new tools can be added and gated without rework.
What happened next
Copperpod has grown the platform into a full IP operations suite, built directly on the delivered code. They've added their own tools, including a patent damages calculator, and use the admin panel to control which clients can access them.
That's the third decision proving itself. The firm is extending the platform on its own, and the foundation holds.
Want something similar?
If your business needs a website, an app, AI automation or an ERP, book a call with CambreTech.