IAM is a London-based business intelligence platform serving the global intellectual property profession, covering patents, licensing, litigation and the commercial strategies that turn intangible assets into corporate value. Originally launched as a bi-monthly print magazine titled Intellectual Asset Management, IAM has grown into a multi-channel media operation combining daily news and analysis, weekly newsletters, annual rankings, specialist research and a programme of international conferences. Its flagship rankings — the IAM Patent 1000, the IAM Strategy 300 and the IAM Market Makers list — are among the most cited directories of IP practitioners in the world. The platform is operated by Law Business Research, the London legal information group that acquired the business in 2018.
Overview and mission
IAM describes itself as the world's leading IP business media platform, treating intellectual property as a business asset and strategic tool rather than merely a legal right. Its coverage focuses on how organisations maximise the value of their patents, trademarks, trade secrets and other intangibles. This boardroom-oriented positioning distinguishes IAM from titles that address IP primarily through the lens of legal doctrine or prosecution practice. The platform's reporting spans patent licensing deals, litigation, policy developments, monetisation strategies, patent pools, standard-essential patents, IP-backed finance and the corporate management of innovation portfolios. Readers include in-house IP counsel, chief IP officers, private practice lawyers, patent attorneys, investors, intermediaries and executives in technology transfer.
Founding and early history
IAM was established in July 2003 as Intellectual Asset Management, a bi-monthly magazine launched to address the need for organisations to maximise the value of their intellectual property and other intangibles. The founding premise was that patents and related rights were becoming central corporate assets, yet executives lacked a publication examining the strategies for extracting value from them. The magazine was created within Globe Business Media Group's intellectual property division, alongside World Trademark Review, which covered the trademark side of the market. From the outset, IAM combined reported features with analysis of licensing markets, litigation trends and corporate IP strategy, and it quickly established a reputation for access to senior figures in the licensing and patent monetisation world.
The magazine and daily news service
The original bi-monthly IAM magazine publishes in-depth features, interviews, roundtables and survey-driven analysis. Over the years the portfolio expanded to include a daily news and analysis service at iam-media.com, covering breaking developments in patent litigation, transactions, policy and regulation across the world's major IP jurisdictions. A weekly newsletter summarises the most important stories for subscribers. By the mid-2010s IAM reported that its weekly newsletter reached a subscriber base of approximately 27,000 professionals. The editorial operation is organised into work areas including transactions, licensing, litigation, policy and trademarks, reflecting the breadth of the IP value-creation ecosystem.
Growth into a media platform
From its origins as a magazine, IAM developed into a diversified information business. The platform now produces regular special reports, surveys and data products, hosts industry conferences, and operates an online marketplace for patent transactions. This expansion mirrored the maturation of the IP market itself: the rise of non-practising entities, the smartphone patent wars of the early 2010s, the emergence of patent litigation finance, and the growing role of data and trade secrets all created demand for specialist business intelligence. IAM positioned itself as the connective tissue of that market, providing a forum in which IP owners, intermediaries, investors and advisers meet.
The IAM Patent 1000
The IAM Patent 1000 is a standalone annual guide identifying the leading patent professionals and firms in the world's key jurisdictions. Produced by a dedicated research team through interviews with practitioners and clients, the guide ranks individuals and firms across prosecution, litigation, transactions and licensing. Coverage extends to around 50 jurisdictions and a range of US states, with firms sorted into tiers — including gold and silver bands — and individual practitioners recommended at various levels. The rankings process follows a published research schedule with submissions from law firms, and the guide is widely used by corporate IP departments when selecting external counsel. The online edition is published at iam-media.com alongside the print and digital versions.
The IAM Strategy 300 and other rankings
The IAM Strategy 300 is an annual listing of the world's leading IP strategists — individuals with established track records in developing and implementing IP value-creation programmes. Unlike the Patent 1000, which focuses on private practice, the Strategy 300 includes in-house practitioners, and since 2015 it has been open to corporate IP heads alongside external advisers. A related product, the IAM Strategy 300 Global Leaders, draws a shorter list from the main ranking. IAM also publishes the IAM Market Makers ranking, a countdown-style listing of the individuals shaping the IP transactions market. These directories have become significant career credentials within the profession, frequently cited in law firm announcements and executive biographies.
Events and the IP Business Congress
IAM hosts a series of events around the world, anchored by the IP Business Congress, an annual symposium on IP value creation and management that brings together senior corporate IP executives, investors, intermediaries and advisers. The programme also includes industry-themed conferences focused on sectors such as automotive, software and energy, where IP issues intersect with specific technology markets. In addition, IAM convenes the Global IP Awards, a gala dinner — historically held in London — honouring law and attorney firms for outstanding work in litigation, prosecution and transactions during the preceding year. The events business has become a core part of IAM's franchise, generating networking value for sponsors and delegates alike.
IAM Market
IAM Market is an online marketplace that allows IP owners to profile their licensing and sales operations, technology transfer programmes and specific rights they wish to transact. Launched as an adjunct to the editorial business, it was designed to give corporations a cost-effective way to signal the availability of patent assets to the wider IP community without engaging an intermediary or broker. Early participants included major corporate vendors from the technology and industrial sectors, and the platform offered initial users flat-fee listing arrangements. The venture reflected IAM's broader ambition to serve not just as an observer of the IP market but as its infrastructure.
Ownership: from Globe Business Media to Law Business Research
IAM was launched and developed within the IP division of Globe Business Media Group, a business-to-business content company headquartered in London with an office in Hong Kong, whose legal and IP brands also included the Lexology platform and World Trademark Review. In July 2018, Law Business Research Ltd, a London-based provider of information services to the international legal community, announced that it had partnered with management to acquire Globe Business Media Group. The combination created one of the largest providers of business intelligence to the global legal services market. IAM's parent company has since been identified in the platform's own reporting as Law Business Research Ltd, and the group's activities are recorded under UK company number 03281866.
Audience and readership
IAM serves a worldwide community of senior corporate decision makers, intermediaries, lawyers and investors active in intellectual property. The platform's claim to uniqueness rests on its appeal to the boardroom: it presents itself as the only IP publication that many senior corporate executives read regularly, a positioning supported by its coverage of IP as a driver of shareholder value rather than as a purely legal discipline. Its rankings and events give it reach deep into private practice as well, making it one of the few IP brands with standing across both the in-house and law firm segments of the market.
Editorial access and subscription
IAM operates a mixed model: much of its daily news is available through the iam-media.com website, while in-depth features, rankings research and premium analysis sit behind subscription. Print and digital editions of the magazine and the annual directories are available to subscribers, and the weekly newsletter delivers curated stories by email. Industry sources and law firm announcements confirm that the brand remains active and continues to publish rankings, news and events into the mid-2020s, maintaining its position as a central reference point for the global IP value-creation community.
