Article One Partners (AOP) was an innovative intellectual property research company that specialized in crowdsourcing patent and non-patent literature searches. Founded in 2008, AOP built a global community of tens of thousands of researchers to provide services like prior art searching, patent validity challenges, and IP landscape analysis. Their model aimed to deliver faster, more comprehensive, and cost-effective results than traditional methods. Article One Partners was acquired by CPA Global in February 2017, which was subsequently acquired by RWS Holdings plc (RWS Group) in October 2020. The capabilities and community of Article One Partners are now integrated into RWS Group's extensive suite of intellectual property services, particularly enhancing their patent research and analytics offerings.
The headquarters served as the central operational hub, managing its global researcher community, developing its technology platform, client relations, and strategic business development.
As a technology-driven company, its HQ likely featured collaborative workspaces and infrastructure to support its online platform and distributed workforce, rather than large-scale manufacturing or unique architectural elements.
The work culture at Article One Partners was likely innovative, fast-paced, and focused on leveraging technology and a global community to solve complex IP challenges. Emphasis would have been on quality, efficiency, and disruptive thinking in the IP services space.
The New York HQ was significant as the command center for a pioneering crowdsourcing model in the traditionally conservative field of patent research, allowing it to engage with major corporations and law firms.
Prior to its acquisition, Article One Partners supported its clients globally through its crowdsourcing platform. This platform connected companies and law firms with a distributed network of tens of thousands of researchers in over 170 countries. Functions supported globally included patent and non-patent literature searching, prior art identification, patent validity assessments, and freedom-to-operate studies. While its physical office presence was limited, its operational reach was extensive, leveraging talent worldwide to deliver IP research services.
[Specific pre-acquisition street address not readily available, commonly cited as New York City]
New York
NY
USA
Address: N/A (Distributed Network)
To provide diverse, localized expertise and access to non-patent literature in various languages and technical fields, enabling comprehensive prior art searches globally.
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As of April 2025, Article One Partners' leadership includes:
Article One Partners has been backed by several prominent investors over the years, including:
As Article One Partners was acquired by CPA Global in 2017, which was subsequently acquired by RWS Group in 2020, there are no independent executive new hires or exits for 'Article One Partners' as a standalone entity in the last 12 months. Any leadership changes related to its former services now occur within the RWS Group structure.
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Prior to its acquisition, Article One Partners likely used common corporate email formats. These email formats are no longer in active use for 'Article One Partners' as an independent entity, as communications are now handled through RWS Group.
[first_initial][last]@articleonepartners.com
Format
jsmith@articleonepartners.com
Example
0 (domain inactive for direct company communication or redirects; company acquired)%
Success rate
RWS Group • October 1, 2020
RWS announced the completion of its acquisition of CPA Global. This acquisition brought together two major players in the IP services industry, with Article One Partners' capabilities (acquired by CPA Global in 2017) becoming part of the enlarged RWS Group....more
PR Newswire (via CPA Global) • February 28, 2017
CPA Global announced its acquisition of Article One Partners, the world's largest patent quality research community. The acquisition aimed to enhance CPA Global's patent search and analytics services by integrating AOP's crowdsourced research capabilities....more
Business Wire • November 18, 2014
Article One Partners announced it closed a $10 million financing round. The funding was intended to accelerate product development, expand its global researcher community, and increase sales and marketing efforts for its crowdsourced patent research services....more
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