Prior art management

Abstract

System and method permit prior art management. A method may comprise maintaining a database of patent portfolios and a database of patents with each patent stored in the database of patents associated with one or more patent portfolios stored in the database of patent portfolios. A method and system of prior art management may include maintaining a database of prior art portfolios, a database of patent matters, and a database of prior art reference citations, at least some of the prior art reference citations being associated with at least one of the patent matters stored in the database. Prior art references may be cross-cited between patent matters and portfolios.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61 / 542,515 filed Oct. 3, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and made a part hereof.[0002]This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 605,030, entitled“Patent Mapping” by Steve W. Lundberg and Thomas G. Marlow filed Oct. 23, 2009, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and made a part hereof. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 605,030 claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119 (e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61 / 107,930 filed Oct. 23, 2008, which is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and made a part hereof.[0003]This application is further related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 494,278, entitled “Patent Mapping,” by Steven W. Lundberg, Janal M. Kalis, and Pradeep Sinha, filed Jul. 27, 2006, which is incorporated herein by reference; and is f...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent text describes a system and method for identifying and mapping patents, ranking and rating them, and searching for relevant information. The system uses various search tools and data structures to quickly analyze patents for various purposes such as claim coverage and value. The technical effects of the patent include improved efficiency in identifying relevant patents, better presentation of search results, and improved user interface for managing prior art.

Problems solved by technology

However, such tools are still limited to only performing Boolean queries and displaying a list of results.

These search tools often provide large numbers of results, most of which are irrelevant.

These tools fail to present results in a manner allowing for quick relevancy determinations.

The presentation also fails to provide enough detail suggesting how to adjust a search for obtaining only relevant results.

As these terms are taken from the claims, they may be thought of as limitations in the sense that if the term cannot be read on an accused device, the claim probably does not cover the accused device.

Thus, it may not be advisable to narrow a concept without being certain every patent claim in the system adheres to the modified concept.

For example, if a matter already contains Version 1 of reference R, the system will not allow Version 2 of Reference R to flow into the same matter.

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