System, method, and computer program product for managing and analyzing intellectual property (IP) related transactions

• US 20070208669A1
• Filed: 08/31/2006
• Published: 09/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/1993
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DataCloud Technologies, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Rose Blush Software LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Park, Brian, Smith, David, Hohmann, Luke, Schnitz, Matthew, Alcabes, Harvey, Goretsky, David, Jackson, Adam, Thornthwaite, Warren, Puglia, David, Brannon, Donald, Rappaport, Irving, Rivette, Kevin, Rabb, Charles, Muller, Robert, Navarrete, Jorge
• Granted Patent: US 7,949,728 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5846 using extracted text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/80 of semi-structured data, e.g. markup language structured data such as SGML, XML or HTML content-based retrieval of web data G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2216/11 Patent retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product for processing data are described herein. The system maintains first databases of patents, and second databases of non-patent information of interest to a corporate entity. The system also maintains one or more groups. Each of the groups comprises any number of the patents from the first databases. The system, upon receiving appropriate operator commands, automatically processes the patents in one of the groups in conjunction with non-patent information from the second databases. Accordingly, the system performs patent-centric and group-oriented processing of data A group can also include any number of non-patent documents. The groups may be product based, person based, corporate entity based, or user-defined. Other types of groups are also covered, such as temporary groups. The processing automatically performed by the system relates to (but is not limited to) patent mapping, document mapping, patent citation (both forward and backward), patent aging, patent bracketing/clustering (both forward and backward), inventor patent count, inventor employment information, patent claim tree analysis, and finance. Other functions and capabilities are also covered, including the ability to utilize hyperbolic trees to visualize data generated by the system, method, and computer program product, and to track, analyze, and report on information related to intellectual property (IP) transactions, including license and related agreements.

Claims

1-51. -51. (canceled)

52. A computer based method of managing intellectual property (IP) related transactions, comprising the steps of:

(1) allowing a user to define an index to increase searching performance;

(2) accessing a database comprising information representative of at least one IP asset having said user-defined index;

(3) accessing a database comprising information representative of at least one IP asset package each comprising one or more of said at least one IP asset;

(4) accessing a database comprising information representative of at least one license agreement each associated with one or more of said at least one IP asset package; and

(5) enabling processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset, (b) said at least one IP asset package, and (c) said at least one license agreement.

53. The method of claim 52, further comprising the steps of:

(5) accessing a database comprising information representative of at least one royalty statement each associated with one or more of said at least one license agreement;

(6) accessing a database comprising information representative of at least one payment each associated with one or more of said at least one license agreement; and

(7) enabling processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset, (b) said at least one IP asset package, (c) said at least one license agreement, (d) said at least one royalty statement, and (e) said at least one payment.

54. The method of claim 52, further comprising the step of:

(8) accessing a database comprising information representative of entities and entity roles;

wherein said at least one license agreement specifies one or more of said entities as parties to said at least one license agreement.

55. The method of claim 52, wherein said at least one IP asset comprises at least one of:

(a) a patent asset, (b) a copyright asset, (c) a trade mark asset, (d) a trade secret asset, and (e) a know how asset.

56. The method of claim 52, wherein said at least one IP asset package comprises at least one of:

(a) a standard IP asset package, (b) a group IP asset package, and (c) a descriptive IP asset package.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein said standard IP asset package comprises any user selected combination of said at least one IP asset.

58. The method of claim 56, wherein said group IP asset package is associated with a group, said group IP asset package comprising any assets in said group.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein said group includes one or more patents, and wherein said group IP asset package comprises said one or more patents.

60. The method of claim 56, wherein said descriptive IP asset package is associated with a description, and wherein said descriptive IP asset package comprises assets satisfying said description.

61. The method of claim 52, wherein said at least one IP asset package comprises a revenue allocation percentage for each of said at least one IP asset in said at least one IP asset package.

62. The method of claim 52, wherein said at least one license agreement comprises one or more user specified compensation terms.

63. The method of claim 62, wherein said at least one license agreement further comprises information pertaining to expected revenue of said at least one license agreement.

64. The method of claim 63, wherein said expected revenue is automatically calculated for said one or more user specified compensation terms.

65. The method of claim 53, wherein said at least one royalty statement comprises information pertaining to one or more royalty statement details, wherein each of said one or more royalty statement details corresponds to a product and comprises information indicative of a number of units of the product sold during a period of said at least one royalty statement, revenue generated by the sales, and royalty due.

66. The method of claim 53, wherein said at least one payment is allocated to one or more terms of said at least one license agreement.

67. The method of claim 53, wherein said at least one payment is allocated to one or more details of one or more royalty statements associated with said at least one license agreement.

68. The method of claim 53, wherein step (4) comprises the steps of:

(i) comparing any payment amounts allocated to said at least one license agreement to any expected revenue amounts of said at least one license agreement; and

(ii) generating a payment exception report based on results of step (i).

69. The method of claim 53, wherein step (4) comprises the step of:

(i) generating an IP asset report listing any license agreements involving said at least one IP asset package, wherein the IP asset report includes information indicative of any payment amounts allocated to said at least one IP asset package, and any expected revenue of said at least one IP asset package.

70. The method of claim 53, wherein step (4) comprises the step of:

(i) generating a licensee profile report comprising information indicative of total allocated payments and total expected revenue for each of said at least one license agreement.

71. The method of claim 53, wherein step (4) comprises the step of:

(i) generating an agreement summary report comprising information indicative of at least contact information and compensation terms of said at least one license agreement.

72. The method of claim 53, wherein step (4) comprises the step of:

(i) generating a licensee asset package summary report comprising information indicative of any asset packages and any IP assets licensed to each licensee.

73. The method of claim 53, wherein step (4) comprises the step of:

(i) generating a payment allocation report comprising information indicative of any payments associated with said at least one license agreement, and allocation of said any payments to terms of said at least one license agreement.

74. The method of claim 53, wherein step (4) comprises the step of:

(i) generating a royalty statement summary report comprising information indicative of any royalty statements, and details of said any royalty statements, associated with said at least one license agreement.

75. The method of claim 53, wherein step (4) comprises the step of:

(i) generating a historical royalties report listing any license agreements that license an IP asset, and comprising information indicative of royalties earned for said IP asset per license agreement.

76. The method of claim 53, wherein step (4) comprises the step of:

(i) generating a summary of IP report comprising information indicative of overall licensing revenue of an IP asset.

77. The method of claim 53, wherein step (4) comprises the step of:

(i) generating an IP license summary report that provides a summary of license agreements for each licensee.

78. The method of claim 53, wherein step (4) comprises the step of:

(i) generating a royalty expense allocation report that tracks royalty earnings posted in a general ledger but not yet verified.

79. The method of claim 53, wherein step (4) comprises the step of:

(i) generating a licensee historical earned royalty report comprising information indicative of Guaranteed Minimum, Actual Payment, Expensed payment, and Term Required totals for said at least one license agreement.

80. The method of claim 53, wherein step (4) comprises the step of:

(i) generating an IP historical earned royalty group comprising information indicative of G/L total and Expensed total for an IP Asset.

81. The method of claim 53, wherein step (4) comprises the step of:

(i) generating an Overdue Payment report comprising information indicative of Statement Received dates, Term total by due date, and Payment total by payment date.

82. The method of claim 52, wherein said at least one license agreement comprises one or more terms related to at least one of territorial restrictions and field-of-use restrictions.

83. The method of claim 62, wherein said one or more user specified compensation terms comprises one or more of an ongoing royalty per unit term, royalty per sales term, minimum guarantee term, advance term, ongoing fee term, and lump sum fee term.

84. The method of claim 62, wherein said one or more user specified compensation terms comprises at least one term that includes a recurring payment.

85. The method of claim 52, wherein step (4) comprises the step of generating a report based on said processing, wherein said report comprises at least one hyperbolic tree to visualized data resulting from said processing.

86. A computer based method of managing intellectual property (IP) related transactions, comprising the steps of:

(1) allowing a user to define an index to increase searching performance;

(2) accessing a database comprising information representative of at least one IP asset having said user-defined index;

(3) accessing a database comprising information representative of at least one license agreement each associated with one or more of said at least one IP asset; and

(4) enabling processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset, and (b) said at least one license agreement.

87. The method of claim 86, further comprising the steps of:

(4) accessing a database comprising information representative of at least one royalty statement each associated with one or more of said at least one license agreement;

(5) accessing a database comprising information representative of at least one payment each associated with one or more of said at least one license agreement; and

(6) enabling processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset, (b) said at least one license agreement;

(c) said at least one royalty statement; and

(d) at least one payment.

88. A system for managing intellectual property (IP) related transactions, comprising:

means for allowing a user to define an index to increase searching performance;

means for accessing a database comprising information representative of at least one IP asset having said user-defined index;

means for accessing a database comprising information representative of at least one license agreement each associated with one or more of said at least one IP asset; and

means for enabling processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset, and (b) said at least one license agreement.

89. The system of claim 88, further comprising:

means for accessing a database comprising information representative of at least one royalty statement each associated with one or more of said at least one license agreement;

means for accessing a database comprising information representative of at least one payment each associated with one or more of said at least one license agreement; and

means for enabling processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset, (b) said at least one license agreement;

(c) said at least one royalty statement; and

(d) at least one payment.

90. A computer program product comprising control logic stored in a computer useable medium, said control logic comprising:

means for enabling a computer to allow a user to define an index to increase searching performance;

means for enabling a computer to access a database comprising information representative of at least one IP asset having said user-defined index;

means for enabling a computer to access a database comprising information representative of at least one license agreement each associated with one or more of said at least one IP asset; and

means for enabling a computer to enable processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset, and (b) said at least one license agreement.

91. The computer program product of claim 90, wherein said control logic further comprises:

means for enabling a computer to access a database comprising information representative of at least one royalty statement each associated with one or more of said at least one license agreement;

means for enabling a computer to access a database comprising information representative of at least one payment each associated with one or more of said at least one license agreement; and

means for enabling a computer to enable processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset, (b) said at least one license agreement;

(c) said at least one royalty statement; and

(d) at least one payment.

92. A method of managing intellectual property (IP) related transactions, comprising the steps of:

(1) enabling a user to define an index to increase searching performance;

(2) enabling a user to enter information representative of at least one IP asset having said user-defined index;

(3) enabling a user to enter information representative of at least one license agreement each associated with one or more of said at least one IP asset; and

(4) enabling processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset, and (b) said at least one license agreement.

93. The method of claim 92, further comprising the steps of:

(4) enabling a user to enter information representative of at least one royalty statement each associated with one or more of said at least one license agreement;

(5) enabling a user to enter information representative of at least one payment each associated with one or more of said at least one license agreement; and

(6) enabling processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset, (b) said at least one license agreement, (c) said at least one royalty statement, and (d) said at least one payment.

94. A system for managing intellectual property (IP) related transactions, comprising:

means for allowing a user to define an index to increase searching performance;

means for enabling a user to enter information representative of at least one IP asset having said user-defined index;

means for enabling a user to enter information representative of at least one license agreement each associated with one or more of said at least one IP asset; and

means for enabling processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset, and (b) said at least one license agreement.

95. The system of claim 94, further comprising:

means for enabling a user to enter information representative of at least one royalty statement each associated with one or more of said at least one license agreement;

means for enabling a user to enter information representative of at least one payment each associated with one or more of said at least one license agreement; and

means for enabling processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset, (b) said at least one license agreement, (c) said at least one royalty statement, and (d) said at least one payment.

96. A computer program product comprising control logic stored in a computer useable medium, said control logic comprising:

means for enabling a computer to allow a user to define an index to increase searching performance;

means for enabling a computer to enable a user to enter information representative of at least one IP asset having said user-defined index;

means for enabling a user to enter information representative of at least one license agreement each associated with one or more of said at least one IP asset; and

means for enabling processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset, and (b) said at least one license agreement.

97. The computer program product of claim 96, wherein said control logic further comprises:

means for enabling a computer to enable a user to enter information representative of at least one royalty statement each associated with one or more of said at least one license agreement;

means for enabling a computer to enable a user to enter information representative of at least one payment each associated with one or more of said at least one license agreement; and

means for enabling a computer to enable processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset, (b) said at least one license agreement, (c) said at least one royalty statement, and (d) said at least one payment.

98. A method of processing data including data related to intellectual property (IP) related transactions, comprising the steps of:

(1) allowing a user to define an index to increase searching performance;

(2) accessing at least one patent database of information representative of patents having said user-defined index;

(3) accessing one or more groups, each of said one or more groups comprising any of said patents represented in said at least one patent database;

(4) accessing at least one IP asset package comprising assets specified in at least one of said one or more groups;

(5) accessing a database comprising information representative of at least one license agreement each associated with one or more of said at least one IP asset package; and

(6) enabling processing of, in a manner specified by a user command, information representative of at least one of;

(a) said at least one IP asset package, (b) said at least one license agreement, and (c) said one or more groups.

99. A method of processing data, comprising the steps of:

(1) allowing a user to define an index to increase searching performance;

(2) accessing at least one first database of information representative of patents having said user-defined index;

(3) accessing at least one second database of non-patent information;

(4) accessing at least one group formed according to non-patent criteria of interest to a user, said at least one group comprising one or more patents represented in said at least one first database that map to said non-patent criteria; and

(5) automatically processing at least one patent in said at least one group with further consideration of at least one of;

(i) patent information and (ii) non-patent information.

100. The method of claim 99, wherein said non-patent information comprises information related to intellectual property (IP) related transactions.

101. A method of processing data, comprising the steps of:

(1) allowing a user to define an index to increase searching performance;

(2) accessing at least one first database of information representative of patents having said user-defined index;

(3) accessing at least one second database of non-patent information;

(4) accessing at least one group formed according to one or more of the following criteria;

a product, a group of products, one or more technologies, one or more field of uses, one or more product applications, one or more processes, one or more product-by-processes, one or more prior art references, one or more prior art citations, one or more citing patents, frequency of prior art citations, one or more patent classes, one or more patent subclasses, one or more related patent applications, one or more related issued patents, one or more corresponding foreign patent applications, one or more corresponding foreign issued patents, one or more patent application filing dates, one or more patent issue dates, one or more patent claims, one or more pending patent application claims, one or more issued patent claims, one or more patentees, one or more inventors, one or more authors, one or more patent assignments, one or more patent application assignments, one or more assignors, one or more assignees, one or more licensors, one or more licensees, one or more license agreements, one or more competitors, one or more infringers, one or more litigations, one or more litigation parties, one or more patent annuity payment due dates, one or more patent maintenance payment due dates, one or more bill of materials, sales data, one or more publications, one or more product trademarks, one or more trademark licenses, one or more service marks, one or more service mark licenses, one or more copyrights, one or more copyright licenses, one or more trade secrets, one or more trade secret licenses, know-how, one or more know-how licenses, one or more mergers, one or more acquisitions, one or more transfers of ownership, one or more corporate entities, one or more prosecuting law firms, one or more responsible patent examiners, one or more inventors, one or more persons associated with patents, one or more patent statuses, and one or more transfers of licenses, wherein said at least one group comprises one or patents from said first database that map to said one or more criteria; and

(5) automatically processing at least one patent in said at least one group with further consideration of at least one of;

(i) patent information and (ii) non-patent information.

102. The method of claim 101, wherein said non-patent information comprises information related to intellectual property (IP) related transactions.