Roche Selects Thomson Reuters to Transform the Management of Its Intellectual Property Assets

- Thomson IP Manager to unify work processes and foster global collaboration

BINGHAM FARMS, Michigan, Sept. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters, the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today announced that The Roche Group, a leading provider of pharmaceutical and diagnostic products and services, has selected Thomson IP Manager® to manage the organization's expanding international patent portfolio. Thomson IP Manager, a premier intellectual asset management (IAM) software solution, will improve company-wide IP work processes and collaboration across the organization.

Headquartered in Switzerland, Roche is a research-focused company, discovering, developing and providing innovative diagnostic and therapeutic products and services to patients and healthcare professionals worldwide. With twelve patent group sites in Asia, Europe and the United States, Roche needs a global solution that will allow it to efficiently and effectively manage its valuable IP asset portfolio, which grows by nearly 500 rights annually.

Roche initiated a global patent group project, taking a democratic approach as part of its selection process. Patent and law professionals evaluated several high-potential IAM software solutions before making the decision to use Thomson IP Manager.

"Having been involved in various mergers and acquisitions, which culminated with the Genentech merger in 2009, IP asset management has been a challenge within our organization. Different business units around the world were using different systems to manage our patent portfolio," said Karin Bruehlmann, Head of Controlling, IT & Services Group Patents, The Roche Group. "Thomson IP Manager is a modern, global solution that will help us minimize our current workload by reducing manual processes and enabling effective collaboration between departments to ensure our critical innovation assets remain protected."

According to Mrs. Bruehlmann, Roche also will utilize the Thomson IP Manager integrated Data Validation Service to proactively identify and correct data discrepancies in their patent portfolio, comparing data against the Thomson Reuters Global Patent Collection. This comprehensive database comprises over 76 million patents for more than 70 issuing authorities. It ensures errors that could affect critical prosecution and maintenance dates can be quickly caught and fixed, reducing the risk of lost rights and costly delays.

"We are pleased to partner with Roche to provide unified workflow processes for the IP team that will accelerate the time from idea to commercialization," said Cynthia Murphy, senior vice president and general manager, Innovation and Asset Management, Thomson Reuters. "As a leading provider of intellectual asset management solutions, we are committed to supporting Roche in eliminating the structural and geographical boundaries that exist due to the global and acquisitive nature of their business."

For more information visit: https://thomsonipmanagement.com.

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world's largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche's personalized healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. Roche has 80,000 employees worldwide.

About Thomson IP Management Services
Businesses and law firms at the forefront of intellectual asset management partner with Thomson IP Management Services. From ideation through prosecution and commercialization, Thomson IP Management Services helps clients maximize the value of their portfolio, keep it aligned with their business strategy and drive global competitiveness. Their solutions integrate state-of-the-art portfolio management technology, comprehensive IP payment services, IP management consulting and a world-class IP rules collection to provide unparalleled support of clients' patents, trademarks, licenses and other intellectual assets.

About Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial and risk, legal, tax and accounting, intellectual property and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs approximately 60,000 people and operates in over 100 countries. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.