Because granted patents enjoy a long term of legal protection (often 20 years), it can be easy for a business to take its portfolio for granted and neglect key decisions for growing and maintaining it. Just like neglected fencing, after a while incursions start to incur and it becomes increasingly difficult for the owner to even identify the boundaries of her own property! This type of creeping catastrophe was brought to Drake & Associates when a client who had long enjoyed a place of market preeminence noticed more and more competitors chipping away at the margins of its business. The customer had once had a robust patent portfolio but had not reviewed it in quite some time. We analyzed the client’s portfolio and determined that what was once a strong and vital patent estate had become much weaker with age. Many patents that had been exemplars of the client’s innovative competitive advantage were coming to the end of their terms and the client had simply relied on them without filing applications directed to new innovations. Drake & Associates quickly went to work with the client’s R&D personnel to identify new developments and to create a system that ensured an ongoing pipeline of new patents. As a result, the client recaptured and expanded market share over the course of a few short years. The newly robust portfolio also served as a basis for new marketing campaigns and created a significant challenge for competitors to overcome.