Intellectual property management method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A method for managing resource allocations within an intellectual property portfolio, said method comprising:
- (i) quantifying available resource capacity for an intellectual property activity managed via a computer tracking system;
(ii) assigning technology tags to the activity in the computer tracking system, the technology tags representing different technology areas of interest;
(iii) pre-apportioning as ideals the quantified available resource capacity for the activity to the different technology areas of interest in the computer tracking system based on a value assigned to each technology area of interest;
(iv) periodically inputting actual resource usage by technology area into the computer tracking system; and
(v) employing the computer tracking system in periodically generating a report indicative of the difference between the inputted actual resource usage and the pre-apportioned resource capacity ideals by technology areas of interest for use in managing resource allocation adjustments for the intellectual property activity.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An intellectual property management facility for proactively creating, developing and managing an intellectual property portfolio includes: determining available resource capacity for an intellectual property activity in a tracking system; assigning technical attributes to the activity in the tracking system; apportioning resource capacity for the activity by technical attribute based on the value assigned to each of the technical attributes and based on available resource capacity; obtaining actual resource usage by technical attribute from the tracking system; and managing resource allocation for the intellectual property activity by determining the difference between the actual resource usage and the resource allocation by technical attribute.
36 Citations
45 Claims
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1. A method for managing resource allocations within an intellectual property portfolio, said method comprising:
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(i) quantifying available resource capacity for an intellectual property activity managed via a computer tracking system; (ii) assigning technology tags to the activity in the computer tracking system, the technology tags representing different technology areas of interest; (iii) pre-apportioning as ideals the quantified available resource capacity for the activity to the different technology areas of interest in the computer tracking system based on a value assigned to each technology area of interest; (iv) periodically inputting actual resource usage by technology area into the computer tracking system; and (v) employing the computer tracking system in periodically generating a report indicative of the difference between the inputted actual resource usage and the pre-apportioned resource capacity ideals by technology areas of interest for use in managing resource allocation adjustments for the intellectual property activity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for managing invention disclosures, comprising:
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quantifying a desired number of invention disclosures based on available resources; pre-apportioning in a computer tracking system the desired number of invention disclosures by a plurality of technology tags, representing different technology areas of interest, based on a value assigned to each of the technology areas of interest; inputting an actual number of generated invention disclosures by technology area of interest into the computer tracking system, and employing the computer tracking system in periodically generating a report indicative of the difference between the inputted actual number of invention disclosures and the pre-apportioned desired number of invention disclosures by technology area of interest; and using the periodically generated report to proactively manage at least one of invention disclosure creation and invention disclosure evaluation for patent searching or patent application filing. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. Apparatus for managing resource allocations within an intellectual property portfolio, said apparatus comprising:
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means for quantifying available resource capacity for an intellectual property activity managed via a computer tracking system; means for assigning technology tags to the activity in the computer tracking system, the technology tags representing different technology areas of interest; means for pre-apportioning as ideals the quantified available resource capacity for the activity to the different technology areas of interest in the computer tracking system based on a value assigned to each technology area of interest; means for periodically inputting actual resource usage by technology area into the computer tracking system; and means for employing the computer tracking system in periodically generating a report indicative of the difference between the inputted actual resource usage and the pre-apportioned resource capacity ideals by technology areas of interest for managing resource allocation adjustments for the intellectual property activity. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. Apparatus for managing invention disclosures, comprising:
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means for quantifying a desired number of invention disclosures based on available resources; means for pre-apportioning in a computer tracking system the desired number of invention disclosures by a plurality of technology tags, representing different technology areas of interest, based on a value assigned to each of the technology areas of interest; means for inputting an actual number of generated invention disclosures by technology area of interest into the computer tracking system, and means for employing the computer tracking system in periodically generating a report indicative of the difference between the actual number of invention disclosures by technology area of interest and the pre-apportioned desired number of invention disclosures by technology area of interest; and means for using the periodically generated report to proactively manage at least one of invention disclosure creation, and invention disclosure evaluation for patent searching or patent application filing.
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35. At least one program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of managing resource allocations within an intellectual property portfolio, said method comprising:
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(i) quantifying available resource capacity for an intellectual property activity managed via a computer tracking system; (ii) assigning technology tags to the activity in the computer tracking system, the technology tags representing different technology areas of interest; (iii) pre-apportioning as ideals the quantified available resource capacity for the activity to the different technology areas of interest in the computer tracking system based on a value assigned to each technology area of interest; (iv) periodically inputting actual resource usage by technology area into the computer tracking system; and (v) employing the computer tracking system in periodically generating a report indicative of the difference between the inputted actual resource usage and the pre-apportioned resource capacity ideals by technology areas of interest for managing resource allocation adjustments for the intellectual property activity. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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Specification