NLPatent Rebrands to Clerq; Unveils the Next Generation of IP Intelligence Built to Execute Patent Work End-to-End
The pioneer behind patent workflow intelligence enters its next chapter with the launch of agentic workflows, new partnerships with RPX and Park IP, and the addition of veteran IP strategist Michael Chernoff.
TORONTO, Aug. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- NLPatent, the company behind one of the industry's first AI-powered patent research engines, today rebrands to Clerq and introduces the next generation of patent intelligence: an agentic AI platform that executes patent research-based tasks end-to-end, collapsing work that traditionally takes days or weeks into roughly ten minutes. Supporting this next phase of growth, Clerq also announced strategic partnerships with RPX Corporation and Park IP, as well as the addition of veteran IP strategist Michael Chernoff as Director of IP Strategy.
"We've spent years building the essential research and intelligence engine that underpins nearly every patent workflow," said Stephanie Curcio, CEO and Co-Founder of Clerq. "Now we've put an agentic layer on top of it that actually does the work. This isn't a smarter version of the same software-as-a-service model; it's service as software. This is a capability that didn't exist before - work that used to be delegated down or sent out now happens in minutes, under the direction of the professional accountable for it."
Meet Clerq: Patent Research Executed End-to-End
Since launching in 2021, NLPatent's proprietary language models—developed before the release of ChatGPT—have helped patent professionals search, monitor, and analyze hundreds of millions of patent and non-patent literature documents.
As Clerq, the platform now executes complete patentability workflows end-to-end, under professional direction. Two workflows launch today: a rapid triage assessment for screening high volumes of invention disclosures, and a full patentability report with feature-by-feature reasoning and cited references. Each returns a completed, citation-backed work product with full reasoning laid out, so the responsible attorney can review, refine, and reach a decision without waiting on a chain of internal or external handoffs. Invalidity and freedom-to-operate workflows will follow.
"Our journey has mirrored the evolution of the technology itself," said Curcio. "We became early adopters of language models before anyone else in this space was talking about them, and now we're early movers in the agentic era with Clerq—that five-year foundation in patent research gives our agents the context they need to deliver work product that stands up to expert review. We've stayed a step ahead at every turn, and Clerq is the clearest expression of that yet."
The company's new name references a law clerk, a professional who executes substantive work under an attorney's direction: exactly how Clerq's agentic workflows operate. The full story behind the rebrand is available here.
Strategic Partnerships: RPX and Park IP
Alongside the rebrand, Clerq announced two new cross-referral integrations with RPX Corporation and Park IP that link Clerq's platform directly to each partner's environment, and vice versa.
The integration with RPX connects its patent-specific research engine to RPX Empower, the company's patent intelligence ecosystem, extending Clerq's research and analysis capabilities to a platform built to aggregate and manage patent risk at scale. Its integration with Park IP embeds that same research layer into Park IP's global patent translations and foreign filing services.
"Assessing patent risk hinges on the quality of the patent research supporting each determination. Connecting Clerq's patent-specific intelligence to our ecosystem strengthens that foundation," said Steve Chiang, Chief IP and SaaS Officer of RPX. "Our collaboration reflects our shared vision for the market's evolution towards connected capabilities, rather than isolated tools."
"Our clients are asking for fewer disconnected systems and more connected outcomes. Bringing Clerq's patent intelligence into our global IP execution platform reduces friction, preserves strategic context, and helps organizations move innovations into markets more efficiently," comments Erin Wynn, General Manager, Park IP.
Deepening Leadership: Michael Chernoff Joins as Director, IP Strategy
Clerq also announced the addition of Michael Chernoff as Director of IP Strategy. In this role, Chernoff will lead enterprise sales support and customer success for Clerq's agentic workflows while helping guide the company's product roadmap, strategic partnerships, and market strategy.
Chernoff began his career as a USPTO patent examiner, moved into private practice, later served as Chief Patent Counsel at a Fortune 500 company and Chief IP Officer at an investment bank, and most recently, spent a decade running a 30-person patent search practice at the patent and trademark firm Murgitroyd. For eleven consecutive years, Chernoff has been named on the IAM Strategy 300, a list recognizing the world's leading IP strategists.
"Back when I was in-house, this is exactly what I wished existed, and it didn't," said Chernoff. "Now Clerq has built it, with scientists, engineers, and IP professionals who have done this work themselves. That's the kind of company I am eager to help grow."
About Clerq
Clerq (formerly NLPatent) is the agentic AI clerk for patent professionals. Founded on a proprietary large language model developed years before the rise of generalist AI tools, Clerq is purpose-built to understand and interpret patent language and non-patent literature, powering search, landscaping, monitoring, and analytics from a single underlying intelligence layer. With agentic workflows, Clerq now executes full patent research tasks end-to-end, starting with patentability and expanding into invalidity and freedom-to-operate, with a professional in the loop at every step.
Clerq is ISO 27001 certified and SOC 2 Type II compliant, runs its proprietary models in a private cloud environment, and does not train on client data. The platform is trusted by corporate IP teams and law firms handling significant patent volumes across nearly every technology category. Agentic AI is limited by what it knows, and Clerq's workflows are built on a five-year foundation in patent-specific retrieval. That same intelligence layer powers research inside partner platforms. To learn more, visit clerq-ip.com.
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