METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING LEGAL MATTERS
First Claim
1. A database system for managing intellectual property matters and associated legal costs comprising:
- an intellectual property matter management portion of said database system, said matter management portion adapted to store, organize and docket intellectual property matter data, and to calculate payments relating to said intellectual property matters, and an invoice management portion of said database system in relational communication with said matter management portion of said database system, said invoice management portion adapted to receive and perform analysis on invoice data relating to said intellectual property matter data to determine if charges for a legal service relating to one of said intellectual property matters have exceeded a cost target for said legal service, said database system adapted to provide reports that include selected intellectual property matter data and selected invoice data, which both relate to said legal service.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
This invention generally relates to a system and method for managing legal services as well as legal matters, assets, expenses and/or invoices and more particularly relates to a computer assisted system that stores, organizes and/or performs operations on data relating to legal services, legal matters, assets, costs, invoices and the like allowing a user of the system to search, sort, report, track, docket, sum, average and/or perform other operations on this data to generate legal service performance review reports, invoice review reports and/or various expense reports as well as calculate accounts payable, calculate inter-company charges and/or otherwise may manage the same by identifying internal and legal service provider inefficiencies and by identifying unnecessary and excessively priced services and expenses.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A database system for managing intellectual property matters and associated legal costs comprising:
- an intellectual property matter management portion of said database system, said matter management portion adapted to store, organize and docket intellectual property matter data, and to calculate payments relating to said intellectual property matters, and an invoice management portion of said database system in relational communication with said matter management portion of said database system, said invoice management portion adapted to receive and perform analysis on invoice data relating to said intellectual property matter data to determine if charges for a legal service relating to one of said intellectual property matters have exceeded a cost target for said legal service, said database system adapted to provide reports that include selected intellectual property matter data and selected invoice data, which both relate to said legal service.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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7. A system for comparing and managing intellectual property costs comprising:
- a database adapted to store, relate and analyze business legal matter data relating to legal matters and legal service provider invoice data relating to fees and expenses, said system relates portions of said legal matter data and portions of said invoice data to a plurality of service types, said service types comprising at least one patent application preparation service type and at least one patent application processing service type, said at least one patent application preparation service type is defined to include all services relating to preparing a patent application for filing and said at least one patent application processing service type is defined to include all services relating to filing and processing said patent application through a final disposition of the patent application, said system calculates a sum of all said fees and expenses for one said service type relating to one of said legal matters and compares said sum to a standard for said one service type such that when said sum exceeds said service type standard, said system identifies selected legal matter data and invoice data.
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12. A computer assisted method for managing legal services and all associated costs comprising the steps of:
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a. entering service types and cost targets for said service types into a database system; b. entering legal matter data into said database system relating to a plurality of legal matters; c. entering legal service provider invoice data relating to said service types and said legal matter data into the database system, said invoice data including charge data; d. using said database system to determine if said invoice data has been correctly related to said legal matter data and said service types; e. correcting any said invoice data that is identified by said determination; f. using said database system to sum all said charge data relating to one of said service types, which relates to one of said legal matters; g. using said database system to compare said sum to said cost target for said one service type; h. using said database system to report selected legal matter data and selected invoice data relating to any said sum that exceeds said cost target for said one service type; i. providing legal service providers with at least a portion of said selected legal matter and invoice data such that said legal service providers can provide comments on said selected data; j. entering legal service provider comments relating to said selected legal matter and invoice data into said database system; k. providing an analytical user of said database system with at least a portion of said related comments and relevant legal matter and invoice data such that said analytical user can provide analysis relating to said selected legal matter and invoice data and said related comments; l. entering analytical user analysis relating to said selected legal matter and invoice data into said database system; and m. using the database system to compile reports that summarize said selected legal matter and invoice data, said related comments and said related analysis.
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Specification