System and method for managing intellectual property

• US 7,797,253 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2005
• Issued: 09/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Beckham, Carol T., Van Ehrlich, Mary, McLendon, Martin L., Jaffe, Adam, Sherman, JoAnn M., Bishop, Michael, Baker, LaVeria, Frank, Scott M., Sherwood, Amy, Short, Shannon M., Meadows, Vernon, Arena, Christopher M., Stevens, Michael Charles, Overcash, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): OUELLETTE, JONATHAN P
• Application Number:
  US11/289,859
• Publication Number:
  US 20060085219A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,749 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/1.1, 705/310
• US Class Current: 705/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management

Abstract

The present invention relates to methods and systems for intellectual property management. In an embodiment, a system includes an intellectual property asset inventory system to manage an inventory of intellectual property assets. A product inventory system manages an inventory of products, where the inventory of products correspond to a plurality of products and one or more of the products of the plurality of products are associated with one or more of the intellectual property assets of the plurality of intellectual property assets. A marketing management system manages a plurality of marketing projects, where one or more of the marketing projects of the plurality of marketing projects are associated with at least one of (i) one or more products of the plurality of products, and (ii) one or more intellectual property assets of the plurality of intellectual property assets.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive and store intellectual property asset protection data, wherein the intellectual property asset protection data includes protection data corresponding to a plurality of intellectual property assets comprising at least one of an issued patent, a registered trademark, and a copyright, wherein the intellectual property asset protection data further includes a plurality of intellectual property asset protection data records corresponding to the plurality of intellectual property assets, wherein each intellectual property asset protection data record includes a plurality of types of information regarding the licensing or sale of the at least one of the plurality of intellectual property assets, wherein the intellectual property asset protection data record includes at least one of a patent number corresponding to the issued patent and a trademark registration number corresponding to the registered trademark;

generate a draft contract associated with the licensing or sale of at least one of the plurality of intellectual property assets, the draft contract based at least in part on a template contract;

track a series of revisions to the draft contract made during negotiations involving the licensing or sale of at least one of the plurality of intellectual property assets; and

associate a final contract with at least one intellectual property asset protection data record corresponding to at least one particular intellectual property asset, the final contract associated with the licensing or sale of the at least one of the plurality of intellectual property assets after the negotiations are completed.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 having further computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

communicate one of the revisions to a decision-maker associated with the contract, wherein responsive to receiving a negative decision from the decision-maker, an automatic communication is generated to terminate a contract project.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, having further computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

track execution of a final contract in the series of revisions.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein to generate the draft, the computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

generate the draft contract based at least in part on a previously executed contract involving one of the parties to the draft contract.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein to generate the draft, the computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

generate the draft contract based at least in part on a term sheet prepared during a pre-negotiation.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, having further computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

communicate the term sheet to a contract department.

7. A computer-implemented method for managing a plurality of intellectual property assets, the computer-implemented method comprising computer-implemented operations for:

receiving and storing, through a computer having a processor and a memory, intellectual property asset protection data, wherein the intellectual property asset protection data includes protection data corresponding to a plurality of intellectual property assets comprising at least one of an issued patent, a registered trademark, and a copyright, wherein the intellectual property asset protection data includes a plurality of intellectual property asset protection data records corresponding to the plurality of intellectual property assets, wherein each intellectual property asset protection data record includes a plurality of types of information regarding a licensing or sale of at least one of the plurality of intellectual property assets, wherein the intellectual property asset protection data record includes at least one of a patent number corresponding to the issued patent and a trademark registration number corresponding to the registered trademark;

generating, through the computer, a draft contract associated with at least one of the plurality of intellectual property assets, the draft contract based at least in part on a template contract, the draft contract configured to license or sell the at least one of the plurality of intellectual property assets;

tracking, through the computer, a series of revisions to the draft contract made during negotiations involving the licensing or sale of the at least one of the plurality of intellectual property assets; and

associating, through the computer, a final contract with at least one intellectual property asset protection data record corresponding to at least one particular intellectual property asset, the final contract associated with the licensing or sale of the at least one of the plurality of intellectual property assets after the negotiations are completed.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising computer-implemented operations for:

communicating, through the computer, one of the revisions to a decision-maker associated with the contract, wherein responsive to receiving a negative decision from the decision-maker, an automatic communication is generated to terminate a contract project.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising computer-implemented operations for:

tracking, through the computer, execution of a final contract in the series of revisions.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the generating further comprises computer-implemented operations for:

generating, through the computer, the draft contract based at least in part on a previously executed contract involving one of the parties to the draft contract.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the generating further comprises computer-implemented operations for:

generating, through the computer, the draft contract based at least in part on a term sheet prepared during a pre-negotiation.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising computer-implemented operations for:

communicating, through the computer, the term sheet to a contract department.

13. A system for managing a plurality of intellectual property assets, the system comprising:

storage for receiving and storing intellectual property asset protection data, wherein the intellectual property asset protection data includes protection data corresponding to a plurality of intellectual property assets comprising an issued patent, a registered trademark, and a copyright, wherein the intellectual property asset protection data includes a plurality of intellectual property asset protection data records corresponding to the plurality of intellectual property assets, wherein each intellectual property asset protection data record includes a plurality of types of information regarding a licensing or sale of at least one of the plurality of intellectual property assets, wherein the intellectual property asset protection data record includes a patent number corresponding to the issued patent and a trademark registration number corresponding to the registered trademark;

a contract generator configured to generate a draft contract associated with one of the plurality of intellectual property assets, the draft contract based at least in part on a template contract, the draft contract configured to license or sell the one of the plurality of intellectual property assets;

a revision tracker configured to track a series of revisions to the draft contract made during negotiations involving the licensing or sale the at least one of the plurality of intellectual property assets; and

association logic associating a final contract with at least one intellectual property asset protection data record corresponding to at least one particular intellectual property asset, the final contract associated with the licensing or sale of the at least one of the plurality of intellectual property assets after the negotiations are completed;

wherein the revision tracker is further configured to communicate one of the revisions to a decision-maker associated with the contract;

wherein responsive to receiving a negative decision from the decision-maker, an automatic communication is generated to terminate a contract project.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the revision tracker is further configured to track execution of a final contract in the series of revisions.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the contract generator is further configured to generate the draft contract based at least in part on a previously executed contract involving one of the parties to the draft contract.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the contract generator is further configured to generate the draft contract based at least in part on a term sheet prepared during a pre-negotiation.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the term sheet is communicated to a contract department.