A multi-tenant SaaS platform built for Crystal Ninja to run patent enforcement, licensing and settlement, with infringement scanning, four role-based portals and Stripe payments.
Project overview
LegalApp is a multi-tenant SaaS platform we built for Crystal Ninja, a US patent holder, to run patent enforcement, licensing and settlement in one system. It is a custom web application development project from the ground up: the workflow it handles did not exist in any product the client could buy and configure.
Before the platform, the enforcement programme ran across spreadsheets, email threads and separate payment records. Each infringement, settlement and licence had to be reconciled by hand between the rights holder, outside counsel and the sellers involved.
What the client needed
Crystal Ninja needed four kinds of user to work from one record without seeing each other's data: the platform operator, the rights holder's own team, outside counsel, and the sellers being asked to settle or take a licence. Payments had to happen inside the workflow rather than through separately chased invoices.
Automated infringement scanning
A product scanner crawls online marketplaces for listings that may infringe the client's patents. Each listing it finds is captured with its evidence and flagged for review, so a person confirms a shortlist instead of searching from scratch.
Every confirmed infringement becomes a case record that carries through to licensing and settlement. This is the kind of business process automation that replaces a job somebody would otherwise do by hand, indefinitely.
Four role-based portals
The platform is split into four panels, each with its own permissions and its own sign-in, built on role-based access control so no user can reach data outside their remit.
- Super Admin: platform-level control over tenants, users, roles and configuration.
- Admin: the rights holder's workspace for sellers, flagged products, settlements, licences, billing and reporting.
- Lawyer: a portal for outside counsel to review licensing, settlement and enforcement records across the whole portfolio.
- Seller: where an infringing seller reviews a settlement, signs the agreement, submits sales records, pays and manages an ongoing licence.
Settlement and licensing workflow
A case moves from flagged product to signed settlement to active licence inside the same system. Settlement terms, signed agreements, payment status and amounts collected are recorded against the case, and licensed sellers then report sales against their licence for ongoing compliance.
Counsel and the rights holder work from the same record, so there are no longer two versions of the truth to reconcile.
Integrated payments
Settlement payments and licence invoices are taken in the platform by card or ACH through Stripe. Payment status updates against the case automatically instead of being matched to a separate merchant account at the end of the month.
Security and access control
Access is controlled per role and per portal. The admin panel supports magic-link sign-in alongside passwords, with email-based two-factor verification, encrypted sessions and rate limiting on every endpoint. The seller and lawyer portals add their own verification step at sign-in.
A system that holds settlement agreements and payment data needs the security work designed in from the start rather than added afterwards.
Android application
Sellers can manage their account, review settlements and complete payments from a companion Android app, so the people being asked to pay do not depend on a desktop browser to do it.
What was delivered
- A Laravel and MySQL application structured as a multi-tenant SaaS, with separate authentication and permissions for each portal.
- The infringement scanner, case records, and the settlement and licensing workflow.
- Stripe card and ACH payments tied to each case.
- The seller Android app.
Limitations
The scanner produces a shortlist; a person still confirms each listing before it becomes a case. The Android app covers the seller portal only, so admin and lawyer users work in the browser. Decisions about whether a listing infringes stay with the client and their counsel; the platform records and tracks them.
If you need custom web application development at this level, a working product rather than a brochure site, describe what you are building and we will reply with a fixed quote in writing.
Screens from the project
