System and method for selecting and protecting intellectual property assets

• US 8,121,852 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2008
• Issued: 02/21/2012
• 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: Lantz, Harrison, Frank, Scott M., Sherwood, Amy L., Beckham, Carol T., Arena, Christopher M., Evans, Sandra J., McLendon, Martin L., Short, Shannon M., Bishop, Michael, Meadows, Vernon, Delgado, Marcus
• Primary Examiner(s): OUELLETTE, JONATHAN P
• Application Number:
  US12/327,413
• Publication Number:
  US 20090083109A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,175 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/1.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

The present invention relates to systems and methods for intellectual property asset selection and protection. In an embodiment, an intellectual property selection system receives from an innovator an innovation submission describing an innovation. An intellectual property protection system receives at least a portion of the innovation submission and manages obtaining an intellectual property legal right related to the innovation. An intellectual property asset management system receives and stores at least one of an innovation description is based at least in part on the at least a portion of the innovation submission and the intellectual property legal right description is based at least in part on the intellectual property legal right.

Claims

1. A method for use with a computer for managing marketing of a plurality of intellectual property rights assets, the method comprising:

receiving, at a processor of the computer, intellectual property rights asset protection data, wherein the intellectual property rights asset protection data includes protection data corresponding to the plurality of intellectual property rights assets, wherein the plurality of intellectual property rights assets are defined and maintained as assets by the existence of legally-enforceable intellectual property protection rights pertaining to the plurality of intellectual property rights assets;

determining, at the processor, a market value for an intellectual property rights asset of the plurality of intellectual property rights assets; and

generating, at the processor, a marketing project plan for the intellectual property rights asset based on both a template plan and on the market value determined.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the intellectual property rights asset protection data in an intellectual property rights asset protection database including a plurality of intellectual property rights asset protection data records, wherein an intellectual property rights asset protection data record of the plurality of intellectual property rights asset protection data records corresponds to the intellectual property rights asset.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the marketing project plan includes a schedule of marketing tasks, and wherein determining the market value includes determining the market value based on information in an intellectual property market value database.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing the market value for the intellectual property rights asset to a further market value for another intellectual property asset.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing the market value for the intellectual property rights asset to a further market value for another intellectual property asset, wherein the further market value of the another intellectual property rights asset is obtained from at least one of a website, an electronic publication, or a database.

6. A method for integrating data for determining a utilization decision for managing protection and licensing of intellectual property rights assets, the method comprising:

receiving intellectual property rights asset protection data, wherein the intellectual property rights asset protection data includes protection data corresponding to a plurality of intellectual property rights assets, wherein the intellectual property rights assets are defined and maintained as assets by the existence of legally-enforceable intellectual property protection rights pertaining to the intellectual property rights assets;

integrating, in a computer system, the intellectual property rights asset protection data with intellectual property rights asset marketability data to produce integration result data that is dependent on the integration of the intellectual property rights asset protection data and the intellectual property rights asset marketability data, wherein the integrating includes receiving user input to determine a utilization decision regarding how an intellectual property rights asset of the plurality of intellectual property rights assets should be utilized based upon the intellectual property rights asset marketability data, and automatically updating an intellectual property rights asset protection database based upon the utilization decision; and

outputting the integration result data that is dependent on the integration of the intellectual property rights asset protection data and the intellectual property rights asset marketability data.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising storing the intellectual property rights asset protection data in the intellectual property rights asset protection database including a plurality of intellectual property rights asset protection data records, wherein each intellectual property rights asset protection data record of the plurality of intellectual property rights asset protection data records in the intellectual property rights asset protection database corresponds to one of the plurality of intellectual property rights assets, and wherein the integrating further includes providing information from an intellectual property rights asset protection data record in the intellectual property rights asset protection database corresponding to the intellectual property rights asset to an intellectual property utilization system.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the integrating further includes integrating the intellectual property rights asset protection data and the intellectual property rights asset marketability data to produce a virtual intellectual property data packet associated with the intellectual property rights asset, wherein the virtual intellectual property data packet includes at least a portion of the intellectual property rights asset protection data and at least a portion of the intellectual property rights asset marketability data.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the integrating further includes mapping between the intellectual property rights asset protection data associated with the intellectual property rights asset and the intellectual property rights asset marketability data associated with the intellectual property rights asset.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the integrating further includes mapping, using tagging data, between the intellectual property rights asset protection data associated with the intellectual property rights asset and the intellectual property rights asset marketability data associated with the intellectual property rights asset.