About us and the platform Proofbox
We enable fast, compliant and cost-efficient defensive publishing - without attracting attention!
Born out of necessity. Built with legal precision.
Strategize, not oversize your IP budget: Guided by this principle, and in light of today’s ubiquitous AI language models, we believe in the acceleration of IP processes. This requires new tools and services such as modern and online-based defensive publishing. Existing providers of such services typically connect to a fully searchable public archive. This is not necessarily desired by inventors and companies who seek legal certainty without unwanted exposure and dissemination. This concern is justified, particularly considering that such full public integration is not legally required as long as the disclosure process itself is properly structured.
The Problem
There was no tool and no platform to defensively publish legally compliant an without dissemination simultaneously. That's when the idea for Proofbox was born: a privacy-first, legally robust online archive designed exclusively for digital defensive disclosures without unwanted exposure. Our unique approach closes this critical gap – providing innovators and legal professionals with a trusted alternative that respects confidentiality and fulfills formal legal requirements.
The Solution
Therefore, our online-only archive is unique. We've developed a dedicated mechanism to legally ensure the permanent discoverability and availability of every defensive publication, without relying on external public databases such as the WIPO.
We are proudly independent
Proofbox is bootstrapped and fully self-funded. Instead of seeking outside investment, we're committed to building a sustainable business, powered by the value we create for our users. This independence gives us full control over product decisions, ensures user interests remain our top priority, and allows us to grow in a healthy, focused way.
We are small and move fast
We're a lean, cross-functional team of legal minds, engineers, and creators. Our small size is our superpower: we work fast, stay close to our users, and iterate without friction. Every feature we ship is guided by deep legal insight and a strong commitment to privacy and transparency. Proofbox may be a small player in the legal tech landscape – but our infrastructure, security, and service quality meet the highest industry standards.
Our Vision
The development and description of technical innovations is being dramatically accelerated by the use of large language models (LLM). Prior art research, the drafting of technical texts, and the identification of new solution approaches can now be carried out more efficiently than ever before. At the same time, the examination and granting of intellectual property rights remains a time-consuming and costly process – all of these trends, combined with the need to optimize IP spending.
Proofbox bridges the resulting gaps between rapid innovation, delayed IP protection and the desire for lean preservation of inventions. The platform enables legally secure, immediate publication of technical content – either as a defensive disclosure or as a strategic post-publication directly after filing a patent application or by cascaded disclosures. In doing so, Proofbox helps innovators to preserve their developments in terms of Freedom-To-Operate and fosters transparency in the state of the art.
Our Mission
Proofbox aims to simplify and accelerate the publication of technical inventions in order to enable their legal preservation and commercial viability at an early stage. By enabling immediate and legally secure disclosure, the platform prevents third parties from obtaining intellectual property rights for identical or potentially equivalent content that lacks distinguishing novelty and/or inventive step.
In doing so, Proofbox helps companies focus on their core development and business activities. In particular, our platform offers an efficient and cost-effective solution for documenting and strategically securing inventions with low or uncertain IP value – conserving resources and eliminating the need for building extensive in-house IP infrastructures.