Network-based system and method for accessing and processing emails and other electronic legal documents that may include duplicate information
First Claim
1. A method in a network for analyzing data produced for legal purposes, the method comprising:
- receiving, from a source that is external to the network for analyzing data produced for legal purposes, a plurality of electronic files, including email of which some have duplicative information, that are arranged according to a directory structure, that are subject to a legal proceeding, and that are produced by at least one party involved in the legal proceeding;
at a first server unit in the network at a back-end, providing the received electronic files in a searchable format;
at a second server unit in the network at the back-end, providing metadata associated with the received electronic files while preserving directory structure information of the directory structure;
identifying duplicative electronic files that are duplicative of each other or that contain information that is at least partially duplicative of other electronic files; and
under control of a network server at the back-end,receiving at the back-end a request for electronic files having a specified characteristic;
processing either or both the metadata in the second server unit and the electronic files in the searchable format to determine and communicate a set of electronic files having the specified characteristic that are responsive to the request, thereby facilitating processing of the determined set of electronic files for legal purposes; and
first applying a legal annotation to a particular electronic file having the specified characteristic and that is responsive to the request, and then applying in bulk same said legal annotation to each of a group of identified duplicative electronic files stored at the back-end and that each contain information that is at least partially duplicative of information contained in said particular electronic file, to eliminate having to separately apply said legal annotation to each of the group of duplicative electronic files.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A network-based system and method processes and analyzes email messages that have been communicated by parties involved in a legal proceeding. The email messages (or other electronic files) of the parties are delivered to a plurality of server units: metadata of the email messages (such as conversational thread information, directory path information, and other properties information) are directed a first server unit, contents of the email messages are directed to a second server unit, and read-only copies of the email messages are provided in a third server unit. If the email messages (or other electronic files) contain duplicate information, the duplicative email message is linked to an email message that has already been delivered to the server units. Once in the server units, users (such as legal professionals) at terminals on a network communicatively coupled to the server units can formulate and direct queries to the server unit(s) to review copies of the email messages (or other electronic files) that are responsive to the queries.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method in a network for analyzing data produced for legal purposes, the method comprising:
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receiving, from a source that is external to the network for analyzing data produced for legal purposes, a plurality of electronic files, including email of which some have duplicative information, that are arranged according to a directory structure, that are subject to a legal proceeding, and that are produced by at least one party involved in the legal proceeding; at a first server unit in the network at a back-end, providing the received electronic files in a searchable format; at a second server unit in the network at the back-end, providing metadata associated with the received electronic files while preserving directory structure information of the directory structure; identifying duplicative electronic files that are duplicative of each other or that contain information that is at least partially duplicative of other electronic files; and under control of a network server at the back-end, receiving at the back-end a request for electronic files having a specified characteristic; processing either or both the metadata in the second server unit and the electronic files in the searchable format to determine and communicate a set of electronic files having the specified characteristic that are responsive to the request, thereby facilitating processing of the determined set of electronic files for legal purposes; and first applying a legal annotation to a particular electronic file having the specified characteristic and that is responsive to the request, and then applying in bulk same said legal annotation to each of a group of identified duplicative electronic files stored at the back-end and that each contain information that is at least partially duplicative of information contained in said particular electronic file, to eliminate having to separately apply said legal annotation to each of the group of duplicative electronic files. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system to analyze data produced for legal purposes, including email that has been previously communicated over a network, the system comprising:
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at least a first recursive engine configured to receive over the network, from a source that is external to the system to analyze data produced for legal purposes, a plurality of electronic files that are subject to a legal proceeding and at least some of which have duplicative information, the electronic files produced by and belonging to at least one party involved in the legal proceeding and present on a medium, and to extract the plurality of electronic files from the medium and to identify duplicative electronic files that are duplicative of each other or that contain information that is at least partially duplicative of other electronic files; a network server that includes; a first server unit coupled to the first recursive engine configured to provide the received electronic files in a searchable format; a second server unit coupled to the first recursive engine configured to provide metadata associated with the received electronic files; and a second engine in communication with the first and second server units configured, when executed using instructions stored in a computer-readable medium, to receive a request communicated via the network for electronic files having a specified characteristic and to process either or both the metadata in the second server unit and the electronic files in the searchable format in the first server unit to determine a set of electronic files having the specified characteristic that are responsive to the request; and a user interface to present a particular electronic file from the determined set having the specified characteristic and that is responsive to the request, the user interface being adapted to first apply a legal annotation to the electronic file having the specified characteristic and that is responsive to the request and further adapted to then apply in bulk same said legal annotation to each of a group of identified duplicative electronic files stored at said server back-end and that each contain information that is at least partially duplicative of information contained in said particular electronic file to eliminate having to separately apply said legal annotation to each of the group of duplicative electronic files. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification