Intelligent Database Scanning
First Claim
1. A method of identifying information that is relevant to an intellectual property, comprising the steps of:
- scanning a computer database of patent data, wherein the patent data includes information about patent application prosecutions; and
as a result of a scan, locating information that an indicator of the intellectual property is cited in a patentability opinion issued in a patent application.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Locating potential licensees and infringers of a patent or other intellectual property can be facilitated by determining whether someone other than the property owner is trying or has tried to patent the same or related subject matter. For example, if an applicant files a patent application but does not respond to an action or other patentability opinion by a patent office that cites prior art references, then it can be presumed that one or more of the cited references must be of interest for the applicant, and vice versa with respect to the owners of the cited references. References cited and, if desired, whether an applicant has responded to a patent office'"'"'s patentability opinion can be determined from patent data publicly available in computer databases maintained by many patent offices around the world.
-
Citations
16 Claims
-
1. A method of identifying information that is relevant to an intellectual property, comprising the steps of:
-
scanning a computer database of patent data, wherein the patent data includes information about patent application prosecutions; and as a result of a scan, locating information that an indicator of the intellectual property is cited in a patentability opinion issued in a patent application. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
- 7. An apparatus for identifying information that is relevant to an intellectual property, comprising a user computer in electronic communication with a computer database of patent data that includes information about patent application prosecutions, wherein the user computer is configured to query the database and receive query results that include information that an indicator of the intellectual property is cited in a patentability opinion issued in a patent application.
-
11. A computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program for identifying information that is relevant to an intellectual property, wherein the computer program when executed causes the computer to perform the steps of:
-
scanning a computer database of patent data, wherein the patent data includes information about patent application prosecutions; and as a result of a scan, locating information that an indicator of the intellectual property is cited in a patentability opinion issued in a patent application. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
Specification