Find the Inventions Already in Your Code
Your engineers have solved hard problems nobody flagged. Get a ranked shortlist of the inventions already in your codebase, screened against prior art.
Audit
From working code to invention candidates
discovery-scan / src/platformWhy Codebase Invention Audit Matters
Most valuable technical work never reaches a patent attorney. It ships, it works, and it sits unprotected until a competitor copies it or a diligence team asks why there are no filings. The audit gives you a clear inventory of what you already own, so you can decide what to protect before a launch, a raise or a deal.
Our Audit Process
A focused, fixed-scope review with read-only access under NDA.
NDA and Scope
You choose the repositories and systems in scope. Access is read-only, under NDA, with terms set in the engagement agreement.
Read-Only Code Review
Engineers review architecture, core algorithms, data handling and performance work to find novel technical methods.
Engineer Interviews
Short sessions with your technical leads confirm what is new, how it works and who conceived it.
Prior Art Screen
Each candidate is screened against published patents and literature so counsel sees relevant references early.
Ranked Shortlist
Candidates ranked by business value and novelty signal, each with a patent, trade secret or skip recommendation for counsel to confirm.
Counsel Handoff
Disclosure summaries for top candidates, ready for independent patent counsel to assess.
Industry Landscape
The audit covers what your team has already built. It does not create new inventions. Creating new inventions with our proprietary invention engine is part of the full engagement. Rankings reflect our research and judgment and are not a patentability opinion.
Key Coverage Areas & Applications
Before a Funding Round
Investors and diligence teams increasingly ask what a company owns beyond its product. An audit gives you an inventory of protectable technology and a record of how it was identified, so the IP section of your data room reflects real engineering work rather than good intentions.
Before a Launch
Public demos, conference talks and release documentation can narrow the filing options for the inventions they describe. Companies often run the audit in the weeks before a major release, so counsel can decide what to file while the details are still confidential.
Before M&A Diligence
Buyers ask hard questions about technology ownership. Knowing what you hold, with disclosure summaries already prepared, lets you answer those questions with evidence instead of assembling records under deadline pressure.
Few or No Filings
Companies that have never filed often assume the moment has passed. Years of shipped work can still contain protectable methods. The audit is a contained way to see what a portfolio could be built from before committing to a broader program.
Engineering Turnover
When the engineers who built a system move on, the reasoning behind its novel methods becomes difficult to reconstruct. Recording that work while those people are still available protects the documentation and the inventorship record counsel will later need.
Trade Secret Planning
Not every invention belongs in a published patent. The audit flags candidates where confidentiality may be the better path, giving counsel the context to sort patents from trade secrets deliberately rather than by default.
Platform and Infrastructure Work
Migrations, internal tooling and architecture rebuilds routinely produce novel methods that go unfiled because the work is considered infrastructure. The audit reviews that work with the same lens applied to customer-facing features.
Ongoing IP Hygiene
Some teams repeat the audit on a cadence, reviewing the repositories that changed most since the last pass. That keeps the invention record current without pulling engineers into a large one-time effort every few years.
Codebase Invention Audit: Common Questions
Our Credentials
Founded by James Borzilleri, named inventor and technology founder
James Borzilleri built this practice around a problem he met personally. He is a named inventor on an issued U.S. patent and on multiple pending U.S. patent applications, and working through that first filing himself showed him where the process tends to break: inventions that were never written down, records that arrive too thin for counsel to work from, and valuable work that leaves with the engineer who created it.
Rather than accept those gaps, he designed the technology and the working method behind Idea Partnership himself, then refined them across years of founding and advising technology companies in fintech and adjacent fields. The result is a repeatable way to turn what your team already builds, and what your roadmap still needs, into a documented invention record that patent counsel can file from.
Idea Partnership is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice, opinions, or patent filing or prosecution services. We work alongside each client's qualified patent counsel, who is responsible for all legal advice, opinions, drafting, filing, and prosecution.
Ready to Get Started with Codebase Invention Audit?
Schedule a strategy call to discuss which systems an audit should cover and your timing.
Book Your Free 15-Min CallIdea Partnership is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice or file patent applications. Patentability assessments and filings are made by independent licensed patent counsel. No patent grant or commercial outcome is promised.
Related Guides
Deep-dive resources for further reading
Where Patentable Inventions Hide in a Mature Codebase
Read guideBefore You Launch: An IP Checklist for Product and Engineering Leads
Read guideEngineering Turnover and Lost Inventions
Read guideFew or No Filings? Starting a Patent Portfolio From Work You Already Paid For
Read guideKnow What You Own Before a Buyer Asks: A Technology Inventory for M&A
Read guidePatent or Trade Secret? A Decision Framework
Read guide