“IP is about solving very difficult problems. We were founded by IP professionals who understood those challenges and were committed to creating innovative solutions for the IP industry.”
- Justin Crotty, CEO of Anaqua
Our Story
From life-saving medicine to manufacturing and semiconductor innovation, our software and services enable IP teams and innovators to protect the ideas that move the world forward.
“IP is about solving very difficult problems. We were founded by IP professionals who understood those challenges and were committed to creating innovative solutions for the IP industry.”
- Justin Crotty, CEO of Anaqua
Our story began in 2004 in the IP departments of two major corporations. IP leaders from Ford and British American Tobacco (BAT) were frustrated by using a series of commercial and self-created systems for IP management that were not as efficient or connected as their teams needed.
Together, they collaborated on a new web-based solution for IP management that would help to automate and manage the full lifecycle of patents, trademarks, designs and contracts. A few of our first clients included Kimberly-Clark, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft, and all of these are still customers today.
IP teams face growing volumes of data across their patents, trademarks, designs, and trade secrets; a continuously shifting global regulatory landscape; and the rapid rise of AI. Our vision is simple: to make managing IP easier for the teams behind innovation.
Anaqua’s purpose-built platform for IP supports teams end to end, across every stage of the IP lifecycle. So, our clients can focus on what really matters: protecting ideas, making confident decisions, and moving innovation forward.

Our evolution as a business has matched the evolution of the industry. Two decades ago, a key challenge was to create a system that effectively managed both patents and trademarks and provided IP insights to leaders to manage their portfolio more effectively. Over time, the challenges IP professionals face continue to evolve.
To meet these evolving needs, Anaqua develops and integrates solutions that expand upon our industry-leading IP management platforms - AQX®, AQX Law Firm, PATTSYWAVE®, and RightHub® - and our diverse IP services.

We’re constantly evolving our technology to make IP work easier for the people who rely on it. Everything we build is shaped by real client input—listening closely to IP professionals through the Anaqua Client Community and turning their challenges into practical innovation.
“Innovation is why our clients collaborate and partner with us. Innovation is at the heart of what our clients do, and it is at the heart of what we do. We never sit on our laurels – we are always moving forward. The pace of our internal innovation is relentless, and that is by design. It comes from our software DNA.”
- Erik Bailey, Chief Information Officer