📷 The Settings page showing the Internal Counsel section where administrators manage user roles
Key Capabilities
Role-based visibility — Navigation items, settings pages, and features appear or hide based on your assigned role. Inventors see a streamlined interface; internal counsel sees the full platform.
Granular permissions — Each role maps to a set of permissions covering data access (viewing patents, disclosures, inventors) and actions (running searches, generating reports, managing settings).
Multiple roles per user — A single user can hold more than one role. For example, someone may be both Internal Counsel and a Patent Committee member.
How It Works
When an administrator adds you to a workspace, they assign one or more roles. ArcPrime checks your roles every time you sign in and adjusts your interface accordingly. You do not need to configure anything yourself.
The available roles are:
Administrator — Full access to all features, settings, and data. Can manage users, configure workspace settings, and access all patents, disclosures, and analytics. Typically assigned to the Head of IP or an operations lead.
Internal Counsel — Access to patents, disclosures, analytics, strategy tools, reports, awards, trademarks, and workflow settings. This is the primary role for patent attorneys and Heads of Patents working within the organization.
Internal Paralegal — Same navigation access as Internal Counsel, including patents, disclosures, analytics, and reports. Focused on correspondence management, signature collection, and operational workflows.
Inventor — A streamlined view showing My Inventions, Awards, and basic disclosure submission. Inventors cannot access patent lists, strategy tools, reports, or workspace settings. The AI assistant is not available for inventor-only accounts.
External Counsel — Limited access for outside counsel. Can view assigned patents and correspondence. Cannot access inventor management, reports, or trademarks.
External Paralegal — Similar to External Counsel with access scoped to assigned cases and correspondence.
Patent Committee — Access to review disclosures and participate in filing decisions through the patent committee workflow.
Common Use Cases
Use Case | How ArcPrime Helps |
Head of IP needs full portfolio visibility | Assign the Administrator or Internal Counsel role for access to strategy, analytics, and all patents |
Inventor should only see their own submissions | Assign the Inventor role for a simplified view with My Inventions and Awards |
Outside counsel needs access to specific cases | Assign the External Counsel role, which scopes their view to assigned patents |
Paralegal manages signatures and correspondence | Assign the Internal Paralegal role for full operational access |
Getting Started
Role assignments are managed by your workspace administrator. If you need a different role or additional permissions, contact your administrator or reach out to support at [email protected].
To see your current role, open the user menu by clicking your avatar, then select Settings and open Profile. Your role is displayed under the Role heading.
Related Articles
Setting Up Your Profile — View your assigned role and update your profile details
What Is ArcPrime? — Overview of the platform and its key capabilities
Getting Started for IP Managers — Onboarding guide tailored to the Administrator and Internal Counsel roles
Inventor Portal Overview — What inventors can access with the Inventor role