Management device and management method

Abstract

To provide a management apparatus and management method for notifying a customer of an industrial property right appropriate to a license of right.SOLUTION: A management apparatus 10 which manages procedures of an industrial property right requested from a customer includes a storage unit 11 and a control unit 12. The storage unit 11 stores information on the industrial property right. The control unit 12 notifies, when the industrial property right satisfies conditions for LOR recommendation appropriate to a license of right, the customer of information on the license of right.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a management device and a management method. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a management device that manages the payment of fees required to maintain industrial property rights such as patents. The management device inquires of customers about the need to pay maintenance fees for industrial property rights, and pays the maintenance fees based on the customer's response.

[0003] Non-Patent Document 1 describes a system called the license of right (LOR), in which the patent holder declares that they are willing to provide a license, in exchange for a reduction in maintenance fees. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-2401 [Non-patent literature]

[0005] [Non-Patent Document 1] https: / / pari.ifi.u-tokyo.ac.jp / publications / working_paper / Segawa_Kobayashi_&_Watanabe_Working_Paper2.pdf Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The license of rights described in Non-Patent Document 1 has only been adopted in some foreign countries, and although it is a system that can reduce maintenance costs, it has not been widely adopted by patent holders.

[0007] The object of the present invention is to inform customers of industrial property rights eligible for license of rights. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] A management device according to a first aspect of the present invention includes: A management device for managing industrial property procedures requested by a customer, a storage unit for storing information relating to the industrial property right; a control unit that notifies the customer of information about the license of right when the industrial property right satisfies the conditions for being an LOR recommended target for the license of right; It is equipped with:

[0009] A management method according to a second aspect of the present invention includes: 1. A method for managing industrial property procedures requested by a client using a processor, a non-transitory recording means for recording computer-readable instructions executed by the processor, and a memory unit for storing information relating to industrial property rights, the method comprising: If the industrial property right satisfies the conditions for being an LOR recommended for a license of right, the client is notified of information regarding the license of right. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the present invention, it is possible to inform customers of industrial property rights that are eligible for a license of right. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration of a management device according to this embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 shows an example of the rights information database. [Figure 3] Figure 3 shows an example of a legal database. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 shows an example of a customer database. [Figure 5]FIG. 5 illustrates the flow of maintenance annuity payment processing executed by the control unit. [Figure 6] Figure 6 is an example of a screen displayed on the customer's terminal. [Figure 7] Figure 7 is an example of a screen displayed on the customer's terminal. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is another example of a screen displayed on the customer's terminal. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 shows another example of the flow of maintenance annuity payment processing executed by the control unit. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 shows another example of the rights information database. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 shows another example of the flow of the LOR recommendation process executed by the control unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the configuration of a management device 10 according to this embodiment. The management device 10 is communicably connected to a customer terminal 30 via a wireless communication network 20. The management device 10 is a device for managing the payment of fees required to maintain industrial property rights (hereinafter simply referred to as maintenance annuities) requested by the customer. The management device 10 is, for example, a device managed by a pension management company. In this example, the management device 10 is connected to multiple customer terminals 30 so as to be able to notify them, and manages the payment of maintenance annuities for each customer's industrial property right. The payment of maintenance annuities for industrial property rights is an example of an industrial property right procedure.

[0014] A customer uses terminal 30 to request the annuity management company to manage the payment of maintenance annuities for industrial property rights. Specifically, the customer notifies management device 10 of the industrial property rights for which the customer requests management of maintenance annuity payments via terminal 30. When the customer receives an inquiry about maintenance annuity payments from management device 10, the customer uses terminal 30 to instruct management device 10 on whether or not maintenance annuity payments are required. The customer may be, for example, an applicant for an industrial property right pending application or a right holder of a registered industrial property right, who requests management of maintenance annuity payments for one or more industrial property rights held by the customer and instructs payment. Alternatively, the customer may be an agent for the applicant or right holder. Note that customer terminal 30 may be a terminal owned by the customer, or a terminal not owned by the customer that the customer logs in to. The terminal may be a personal computer, a tablet terminal, or a mobile phone terminal.

[0015] The term "industrial property rights" used in this specification includes not only registered industrial property rights but also industrial property rights that are pending registration but have not yet been registered. In other words, the term "annual fees for maintaining industrial property rights" used in this specification includes not only the costs required to maintain industrial property rights that arise after registration, but also the costs required to maintain industrial property rights that arise during the application period. Hereinafter, industrial property rights that are pending application will be referred to simply as "industrial property rights."

[0016] The management device 10 has a memory unit 11. The memory unit 11 includes a rights information database 111, a legal database 112, and a customer database 113. The rights information database 111 stores information about industrial property rights in association with management numbers assigned to each industrial property right. Every time a customer requests management of the payment of maintenance annuities for a new industrial property right, the information about the requested industrial property right is added to the rights information database 111.

[0017] The information on industrial property rights includes bibliographic information on industrial property rights and maintenance annuity information. The bibliographic information on industrial property rights includes, for example, information such as the country of application, type of right, application number, registration number, priority date, application date, registration date, applicant, right holder, customer, customer serial number, etc. The maintenance annuity information on industrial property rights includes, for example, information such as the annual maintenance annuity fee, payment due date, estimated payment amount, and payment status.

[0018] 2 shows an example of the rights information database 111. In this example, the rights information database 111 records the application country, right type, application number, application date, registration number, registration date, right holder, customer, customer serial number, the due date for the next annual maintenance annuity payment, and the estimated amount of maintenance annuity payment, all of which are associated with a management number.

[0019] The legal database 112 stores information about license of right systems in each country. The information about license of right systems includes, for example, whether or not a license of right system exists, the reduction rate of maintenance annuity costs that is reduced by applying the license of right system, and the status of use of the license of right system. The status of use of the license of right system includes, for example, information such as whether an application for use of the license of right system is in progress or whether use of the license of right system has been registered.

[0020] 3 shows an example of the legal database 112. In this example, the legal database 112 records the country of application, the type of right, whether or not a license of right system is in place, and the discount rate.

[0021] The customer database 113 stores customer identification information, passwords, customer names, and the like. FIG. 4 shows an example of the customer database 113. The customer identification information and passwords are used in a login process in which a customer connects to the management device 10 using a terminal 30. The customer identification information is information for identifying a customer, and is set appropriately by the management device 10. An example of the customer identification information is a customer identification number, etc. The password is set appropriately by the customer.

[0022] 1, the management device 10 has a control unit 12. The control unit 12 is communicably connected to a storage unit 11 via a network. The control unit 12 may be configured to be integrated with the storage unit 11 into a single device.

[0023] The control unit 12 is configured to carry out procedures for payment of maintenance annuities for industrial property rights. Specifically, the control unit 12 inquires of the customer about payment of maintenance annuities for industrial property rights, and carries out procedures for payment of maintenance annuities based on instructions from the customer.

[0024] Furthermore, the control unit 12 is configured to notify the client of information regarding the license of right when the industrial property right satisfies the conditions for being an LOR recommended target suitable for the license of right.

[0025] FIG. 5 illustrates the flow of maintenance annuity payment processing executed by the control unit 12.

[0026] 5, first, the control unit 12 refers to the right information database 111 and extracts industrial property rights whose maintenance annuity payment due dates fall within a predetermined period (STEP 1). For example, the predetermined period can be a period of six months from the present into the future. The control unit 12 executes the processing of STEP 1, for example, at predetermined intervals (for example, once a month).

[0027] For example, if the specified period is set to a period of six months from the present into the future and the date on which STEP 1 is executed is June 1, 2021, cases with management numbers 001 to 005 whose payment deadlines are before December 1, 2021 will be extracted from the rights information database 111 shown in Figure 2.

[0028] Next, the control unit 12 determines whether the extracted industrial property right satisfies the conditions for being an LOR recommended target (STEP 2). The condition for being an LOR recommended target is, for example, that the country in which the industrial property right was filed is a country in which the license of right system is applied. The control unit 12 references the rights information database 111 and the legal database 112 to determine whether the country in which the industrial property right was filed is a country in which the license of right system is applied. For example, the legal database 112 registers countries in which the license of right system is applied.

[0029] For example, the case with control number 001 shown in FIG. 2 is a German patent application. The control unit 12 references the legal database 112 and determines that the case with control number 001 meets the conditions for being an LOR recommended target because Germany is registered in the legal database 112 as a country to which the license of right system applies. On the other hand, the cases with control numbers 002 and 0004 shown in FIG. 2 are Japanese patent applications. Furthermore, the cases with control numbers 003 and 005 are American patent applications. The control unit 12 references the legal database 112 shown in FIG. 3 and determines that Japan and the United States are not registered in the legal database 112 as countries to which the license of right system applies, and therefore determines that the cases with control numbers 002 to 005 do not meet the conditions for being an LOR recommended target.

[0030] If the control unit 12 determines that the industrial property right does not satisfy the conditions for being an LOR recommended subject (NO in STEP 2), it inquires of the customer only about the payment of maintenance annuities (STEP 3).

[0031] On the other hand, if the control unit 12 determines that the industrial property right satisfies the conditions for LOR recommendation (YES in STEP 2), it notifies the customer of an inquiry regarding the payment of maintenance annuities and information regarding the license of right (STEP 4).

[0032] Specifically, the control unit 12 refers to the rights information database 111 and creates a list of industrial property rights for which an inquiry regarding payment of maintenance annuities should be made for each customer. For industrial property rights that meet the conditions for being subject to LOR recommendation, the control unit 12 adds information about licenses of right to the list. Examples of information about licenses of right include information indicating that the right is subject to LOR recommendation (for example, characters, symbols, or marks).

[0033] Then, the control unit 12 outputs a list of the corresponding industrial property rights to each customer's terminal 30. For example, the control unit 12 sends the list of industrial property rights to the customer's terminal 30 by email or an electronic file exchange system. Alternatively, the control unit 12 displays a screen including the list of industrial property rights on the web browser of the management device 10. By logging in to the management device 10, the customer can check the screen including the list of industrial property rights on the display unit of the terminal 30. The control unit 12 may also output web page address information of the screen including the list of industrial property rights to the customer's terminal 30.

[0034] FIG. 6 is an example of a screen displayed on the terminal 30 of customer ABC. The list of industrial property rights includes information about customer ABC's industrial property rights (cases with control numbers 001 to 003). In FIG. 6, the statutory deadline is the legally required deadline for payment of maintenance annuities to the Japan Patent Office. The response deadline is a deadline set before the statutory deadline by which the annuity management company requests a response from the customer to prompt a response from the customer. In this example, the response deadline is set one month before the statutory deadline. The LOR recommendation column displays information about whether or not a case is eligible for LOR recommendation. Case 001 meets the conditions for LOR recommendation, so a "Yes" is displayed in the LOR recommendation column. Cases 002 and 003 do not meet the conditions for LOR recommendation, so the LOR recommendation column is blank. Note that the LOR recommendation column may display other characters, symbols, or marks instead of a "Yes" symbol. Alternatively, the LOR recommendation column may display a statement such as "License of Light is available."

[0035] 7 is an example of a screen displayed on the terminal 30 of customer BCD. The list of industrial property rights includes information about customer BCD's industrial property rights (cases with control numbers 004 and 005). The cases with control numbers 004 and 005 do not meet the conditions for LOR recommendation, so the LOR column is left blank. Note that if, as in this example, all industrial property rights do not meet the conditions for LOR recommendation, the list does not need to include the LOR recommendation column.

[0036] 5, the control unit 12 receives an instruction from the customer regarding the payment of the maintenance annuity and determines whether the customer's instruction is an instruction to pay the maintenance annuity (STEP 5). The control unit 12 receives the customer's instruction, for example, from the customer's terminal 30 via email or an electronic file exchange system. Alternatively, the control unit 12 receives the customer's instruction by the customer's input on a screen displayed on the web browser of the management device 10. If the customer's instruction indicates that they do not wish to pay the maintenance annuity (NO in STEP 5), the control unit 12 does not carry out the maintenance annuity payment procedure and terminates the process.

[0037] On the other hand, if the customer's instruction is to pay the maintenance annuity (YES in STEP 5), the control unit 12 determines whether the customer's instruction includes an instruction to use the license of right system (STEP 6).If the control unit 12 determines that the customer's instruction does not include an instruction to apply for the license of right system (YES in STEP 6), it performs the maintenance annuity payment procedure (STEP 7).

[0038] For example, the control unit 12 pays the maintenance annuity to the patent office system 40, which is communicatively connected via the wireless communication network 20. Alternatively, the control unit 12 instructs the annuity payment agent system 50, which is communicatively connected via the wireless communication network 20, to pay the maintenance annuity.

[0039] On the other hand, if the control unit 12 determines that the customer's instructions include an instruction to use the license of right system (YES in STEP 6), it applies for use of the license of right system and performs the maintenance annuity payment procedure (STEP 8). Specifically, the control unit 12 applies for use of the license of right system to the patent office system 40, which is communicatively connected via the wireless communication network 20. Alternatively, the control unit 12 instructs the annuity payment agent system 50, which is communicatively connected via the wireless communication network 20, to apply for use of the license of right system. Then, after confirming that the application for use of the license of right system has been approved, the control unit 12 performs the payment procedure for the maintenance annuity that has been reduced by the license of right. In addition, the control unit 12 updates the license of right usage status in the rights information database 111.

[0040] In order to maintain industrial property rights, it is necessary to pay a reasonable amount of maintenance annuities. Therefore, from the perspective of cost reduction, right holders may decide not to maintain industrial property rights that are not currently being exercised and are not deemed to have high value. On the other hand, if the cost of maintenance annuities can be reduced to a certain extent, right holders may decide to maintain industrial property rights that are not currently deemed to have high value, but are also not low, taking into account the possibility that the value of the industrial property rights may increase in the future.

[0041] The License of Right system is a system in which maintenance annuities are reduced in exchange for a declaration of readiness to provide a license as a means of reducing maintenance annuity costs. However, despite the system being able to reduce maintenance annuities, the License of Right system is only adopted in some foreign countries and is not widely used by rights holders.

[0042] According to the management device 10 of the embodiment of the present disclosure, if an industrial property right meets the conditions for being an LOR recommended suitable for a license of right, information about the license of right is notified to the client. In this example, if the country in which the industrial property right is filed is a country in which the license of right system is applied, information about the license of right procedure is notified. This allows the client to understand which industrial property rights are eligible for the license of right procedure and consider using the license of right system.

[0043] In this embodiment, whether or not an industrial property right is subject to LOR recommendation is displayed in the LOR recommendation column shown in Figures 6 and 7. However, for example, if the license of right system is already in use or if an application to use the license of right system is in progress, the LOR recommendation column may display "Already in use" or "Application in progress."

[0044] In addition, in this embodiment, when notifying information regarding the license of right procedure, the control unit 12 may be configured to present information regarding the estimated amount of maintenance annuity that will be reduced by using the license of right system.

[0045] 8 is another example of a screen displayed on the terminal 30 of customer ABC. In this example, the list of industrial property rights displays both the planned amount of maintenance annuities to be paid in the normal case (the "Payment Amount" column) and the planned amount of maintenance annuities to be paid if the license of right system is used (the "Applied LOR Amount" column). The planned amount of maintenance annuities to be paid if the license of right system is used can be calculated, for example, by referring to the planned amount of payment in the rights information database 111 and the reduction rate in the legal database 112. Note that the list may also display the reduction rate of maintenance annuities if the license of right system is used in addition to or instead of the planned amount of maintenance annuities if the license of right system is used.

[0046] The rate of reduction in maintenance fees when using the License of Right system varies depending on the country of application and the number of years of maintenance fees to be paid. Therefore, by presenting information on the estimated amount of maintenance fees that will be reduced by using the License of Right system, customers can decide whether to use the License of Right system based on the estimated amount of maintenance fees that will be reduced.

[0047] In this embodiment, the maintenance annuity payment process shown in Fig. 5 is executed at predetermined intervals. However, the maintenance annuity payment process may be executed when login processing is performed based on login input by the customer.

[0048] Fig. 9 shows another example of the flow of maintenance annuity payment processing executed by the control unit 12. Processing that is substantially the same as the processing described with reference to Fig. 5 is given the same reference numerals, and repeated explanations will be omitted.

[0049] 9, when a customer enters login information, the control unit 12 performs login processing (STEP 11). Specifically, the customer uses the terminal 30 to enter the customer's identification information and password into a login screen provided by the management device 10. If the control unit 12 determines that the customer's identification information and password entered by the customer are the same as the customer's identification information and password recorded in the customer database 113, it permits the customer to log in.

[0050] Next, the control unit 12 refers to the right information database 111 and identifies the industrial property right associated with the customer's identification information (STEP 12). Specifically, when customer ABC inputs customer identification number A001 and password xxx, the control unit 12 determines that the customer is ABC from the customer database 113 shown in Fig. 4, and identifies the industrial property right of customer ABC in the right information database 111 shown in Fig. 3. Note that the customer database 113 may not include the customer's name, and customer identification information may be recorded in the right information database 111.

[0051] Then, the control unit 12 extracts industrial property rights associated with the customer's identification information, whose maintenance annuity payment due dates fall within a predetermined period (STEP 1). For example, the predetermined period can be a period of six months from the present into the future.

[0052] With this configuration, every time a customer connects to the management device 10, the customer can check which industrial property rights are nearing the deadline for payment of maintenance annuities, and can also know which industrial property rights are eligible for license-of-right procedures.

[0053] In the above-described embodiment, the conditions for which the LOR is recommended are set based on the country in which the industrial property right is filed. However, the conditions for which the LOR is recommended may be set based on information other than the country in which the industrial property right is filed.

[0054] For example, the conditions for LOR recommendation can be set based on the planned amount of maintenance annuities for industrial property rights. The control unit 12 can be configured to refer to the rights information database 111 and notify information about license of right when the planned amount of maintenance annuities is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount. The predetermined amount can be set, for example, depending on the customer. With this configuration, the customer can consider using the license of right system for industrial property rights that they may abandon due to the high planned amount of maintenance annuities.

[0055] Alternatively, the conditions for LOR recommendation may be set based on the filing date or priority date of the industrial property right. The control unit 12 may be configured to refer to the rights information database 111 and notify information about license of right when a predetermined period has elapsed since the filing date or priority date of the industrial property right. The predetermined period may be appropriately set, for example, to the period from the filing date to the year before the maintenance annuity becomes high. For example, if the maintenance annuity payment amount for the year 14 or more years after the filing date exceeds $1,000, the predetermined period may be set to 14 years from the filing date. The predetermined period may also be set according to the customer. With this configuration, license of right information is notified when the maintenance annuity payment amount increases as the time elapsed since the filing date or priority date increases. This allows the customer to consider using the license of right system for industrial property rights that they may abandon due to the high maintenance annuity payment amount.

[0056] Alternatively, the conditions for LOR recommendations may be set based on information about the applicant or right holder of the industrial property right. The control unit 12 may be configured to refer to the rights information database 111 and notify information about license of right when the industrial property right is a sole application or sole right. When the industrial property right is a joint application or sole right, the maintenance annuity costs are borne by multiple applicants or multiple right holders. On the other hand, when the industrial property right is a sole application or sole right, the maintenance annuity costs are borne entirely by a single applicant or sole right holder. Therefore, license of right information is notified when the industrial property right is a sole application or sole right and the applicant or right holder is expected to bear a large amount of maintenance annuity costs. This allows customers to consider using the license of right system for industrial property rights that may be abandoned due to the large maintenance annuity costs. Furthermore, when the industrial property right is a joint application or sole right, applicants or right holders may discuss whether or not to use a license of right. However, when the industrial property right is a sole application or sole right, such discussions are not necessary, making it easier to consider using the license of right system.

[0057] Alternatively, the conditions for LOR recommendation may be set based on the value of the industrial property right. Value information indicating the value of the industrial property right is stored, for example, in the rights information database 111. The control unit 12 may be configured to refer to the rights information database 111, and to notify information about the license of right when the value indicated by the value information is equal to or greater than a first threshold and less than a second threshold.

[0058] The value of industrial property rights is assessed, for example, from the perspective of protecting the rights holder's business, or acting as a check on the business of other companies, etc. Specifically, the value of industrial property rights is calculated by comprehensively evaluating one or more items and is expressed numerically or by letters.

[0059] In the case where the value information is set so that a higher value is represented by a larger numerical value, the first threshold value may be set to any value greater than the value of an industrial property right that is unlikely to be maintained. The second threshold value may be set to any value less than the value of an industrial property right that is likely to be maintained. The first and second threshold values ​​may be set by the customer.

[0060] Examples of items used to calculate value include the degree of attention to the application, the status of implemented products, the status of implementation by other companies, etc. Each item is calculated and evaluated using various existing methods.

[0061] Application attention refers to the attention related to the examination of industrial property rights. For example, application attention includes attention by the applicant, attention by the examiner, and attention by third parties. For example, if a request for accelerated examination is made, the attention by the applicant is evaluated as high. For example, the more times an application is cited in the rejection of other industrial property rights, the higher the attention by the examiner is evaluated. For example, if an invalidation trial or opposition is requested, the attention by third parties is evaluated as high. The value of an industrial property right is evaluated higher the higher the application attention.

[0062] The status of implemented products refers to the status of products in which industrial property rights are implemented. For example, product status may include the number of products in which industrial property rights are implemented, the sales figures or sales volume of each product, sales ranking, or the percentage of the market in which products in which industrial property rights are implemented. The value of industrial property rights is evaluated higher the greater the number of products in which industrial property rights are implemented and the sales figures or sales volume of each product.

[0063] The implementation status of other companies refers to the implementation status of other companies related to the industrial property right. For example, the implementation status of other companies includes the number of competitors' products related to the industrial property right, the sales or sales volume of each product, and the degree of connection between the industrial property right and the competitors' products. The value of the industrial property right is evaluated higher the greater the number of competitors' products related to the industrial property right, the greater the sales or sales volume of each product, and the higher the degree of connection.

[0064] 10 is another example of the rights information database 111. In addition to the information shown in FIG. 2, value information is recorded in the rights information database 111. In this example, the value is evaluated on a five-level scale of values ​​from 1 to 5. For example, if the first threshold is set to 3 and the second threshold is set to 5, the control unit 12 determines that the case with management number 001 satisfies the conditions for being an LOR recommendation target.

[0065] In FIG. 10, the values ​​are evaluated using numbers from 1 to 5. However, instead of ranking the values ​​using numbers, they may be ranked using letters (for example, A, B, C, etc.). In this case, the values ​​are simply quantified and ranked and then replaced with letters, so this is also included in the form of expressing the values ​​numerically.

[0066] If the value is low, there is a high possibility that the industrial property right will be abandoned. If the value is high, there is a high possibility that the industrial property right will be maintained and no licensing will be issued. On the other hand, if the value is neither low nor high, a decision is made as to whether to maintain the industrial property right based on a comprehensive assessment of the amount of maintenance annuities paid, the license, etc. Therefore, by utilizing the license of right system, there is a possibility that the maintenance annuity payment cost can be reduced and the industrial property right can be maintained. According to the control unit 12 of this embodiment, the notification of information regarding the license of right is determined based on the value information, and therefore, the license of right information is notified for cases where the license of right system may be utilized. Therefore, it is possible to inform customers of industrial property rights suitable for license of right.

[0067] The rights information database 111 in FIG. 10 also records the status of the industrial property right, the technical field to which the industrial property right belongs, and other industrial property rights related to the industrial property right.

[0068] Alternatively, the conditions for LOR recommendation may be set based on the technical field to which the industrial property right belongs. The control unit 12 may be configured to refer to the rights information database 111 and notify information about the license of right when the technical field to which the industrial property right belongs is a popular or unpopular technical field or a specific technical field.

[0069] The technical field to which the industrial property right belongs can be classified according to the International Patent Classification (IPC) shown in Fig. 10. For example, the control unit 12 obtains information on the International Patent Classification from the customer terminal 30 or the patent office system 40, and records it in the right information database 111.

[0070] The control unit 12 determines whether the technical field to which the industrial property right belongs is popular or unpopular, for example, based on technology trend information. Technology trends represent trends in the technical field to which the industrial property right belongs. Technology trends are calculated and evaluated using existing methods. For example, technology trends include recent market trends related to the technical field to which the industrial property right belongs, trends in the number of recent applications, etc. Technology trends also include the number of publications in media such as magazines and television, and search rankings for keywords on the Internet. For example, the more publications in media such as magazines and television, or the higher the search rankings for keywords on the Internet, the higher the technology trend. In other words, the higher the technology trend, the more popular the technical field to which the industrial property right belongs is determined to be. The technology trend information may be recorded in a database (not shown) in the storage unit 11 or obtained from an external database.

[0071] Even if an industrial property right is being considered for abandonment, if the technical field to which the industrial property right belongs is popular, there is a possibility that another company will use the invention related to that industrial property right. According to the control unit 12 of this embodiment, information regarding license of right is notified when the technical field to which the industrial property right belongs is popular or unpopular, and therefore license of right information is notified for cases in which the license of right system may be used. Therefore, it is possible to inform customers of industrial property rights suitable for license of right.

[0072] Alternatively, for example, the control unit 12 determines whether a technical field belonging to an industrial property right is a specific technical field based on the number of uses of the license of right system. Specifically, the control unit 12 determines that a technical field in which the number of uses of the license of right system is equal to or greater than a predetermined number is a specific technical field. The number of uses of the license of right system may be recorded in a database (not shown) in the memory unit 11, or may be obtained from an external database or the Japan Patent Office system 40.

[0073] Alternatively, the specific technical field may be designated by the customer. That is, the control unit 12 may determine whether the technical field belonging to the industrial property right is the specific technical field designated by the customer. For example, the specific technical field may be the environmental change-related classification Y02T.

[0074] Alternatively, the conditions for LOR recommendation may be set based on information on other industrial property rights related to the industrial property right. The control unit 12 may be configured to refer to the rights information database 111 and notify information on the license of right when the other industrial property rights related to the industrial property right use the license of right system.

[0075] Examples of other industrial property rights related to an industrial property right include applications filed in other countries with the same basic application, applications with the same parent application, and divisional applications. A basic application is an application filed in a first country, and is the application from which priority is claimed in an application claiming priority under the Paris Convention. A parent application is the first application from which priority is claimed in an application claiming priority under domestic law. Other industrial property rights related to an industrial property right may also include applications within a specified period that belong to the same technical field (e.g., the same International Technical Classification). The rights information database 111 shown in FIG. 10 records the application numbers of divisional applications as information on other industrial property rights related to an industrial property right.

[0076] For example, the control unit 12 refers to the usage status of the license of right system contained in the bibliographic information of other industrial property rights related to the industrial property right stored in the rights information database 111, and determines whether the other industrial property rights related to the industrial property right use the license of right system.

[0077] Then, the control unit 12 notifies information about the license of right when another industrial property right related to the industrial property right uses the license of right system or is in the process of applying for use of the license of right system.

[0078] Generally, multiple mutually related industrial property rights may have common products, etc., and the decision to maintain these industrial property rights is often made in the same way, depending on the sales volume and sales numbers of the common products, etc. Therefore, if other related industrial property rights use the license of right system, by being notified of information about the license of right, customers can consider using the license of right system in the same way for industrial property rights for which they are deciding whether to pay maintenance annuities.

[0079] Alternatively, the conditions for LOR recommendation may be set based on information on the number of industrial property rights abandoned within a predetermined period from the start of payment of maintenance annuities in the same country as the country in which the industrial property rights were filed. The control unit 12 may be configured to notify information on license of right procedures if the number of industrial property rights abandoned within a predetermined period from the start of payment of maintenance annuities in the country in which the industrial property rights were filed is equal to or greater than a predetermined number.

[0080] Information on the number of industrial property rights that will be abandoned from the start of payment of maintenance annuities in each country until a specified period has elapsed may be recorded in a database (not shown) in the memory unit 11, or may be obtained from an external database or the Patent Office system 40.

[0081] The predetermined period and the predetermined number can be set as appropriate. For example, the predetermined period is a period of 1 to 10 years of payment of maintenance annuities.

[0082] One of the reasons why industrial property rights are abandoned while the annuity payments are still young is that the amount of annuity payments increases as the period from the filing date or priority date increases. Therefore, by providing information about license of right for industrial property rights that may be abandoned between the start of annuity payments and the end of a specified period, clients can consider using the license of right system for industrial property rights that may be abandoned due to the high planned amount of annuity payments.

[0083] The control unit 12, which has the various functions described above, includes a processor, non-transitory storage means, and temporary storage means. The non-transitory storage means and temporary storage means may be implemented by general-purpose memory. Examples of the general-purpose memory include ROM and RAM. In this case, the ROM may store a computer program (computer-readable instructions) that executes the above-described processes. The processor may be implemented by a general-purpose microprocessor that operates in cooperation with the general-purpose memory. Examples of the general-purpose microprocessor include a CPU, MPU, and GPU. The general-purpose microprocessor specifies at least a portion of the computer program stored in the ROM, deploys it on RAM, and executes the above-described processes in cooperation with the RAM. The computer program may be pre-installed in the general-purpose memory, or may be downloaded from an external server device via a wireless communication network and then installed in the general-purpose memory.

[0084] The processor may be realized by a dedicated integrated circuit capable of executing the computer program, such as a microcontroller, ASIC, or FPGA. In this case, the computer program is pre-installed in a memory element included in the dedicated integrated circuit. Each processor may also be realized by a combination of a general-purpose microprocessor and a dedicated integrated circuit.

[0085] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it goes without saying that the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited by the description of the present embodiments. The present embodiments are merely examples, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications of the embodiments are possible within the scope of the invention described in the claims. The technical scope of the present invention should be determined based on the scope of the invention described in the claims and its equivalents.

[0086] In the above-described embodiment, the management device 10 manages the payment of maintenance annuities for industrial property rights. However, the management device 10 may be configured to manage not only the payment of maintenance annuities for industrial property rights, but also the procedures that occur from the filing of an industrial property right to the acquisition of the right. In the case where the management device 10 also manages the procedures that occur from the filing of an industrial property right to the acquisition of the right, the control unit 12 may be configured to determine whether the industrial property right satisfies the conditions for being recommended for LOR when it determines that the next industrial property right procedure to be performed is the payment of maintenance annuities.

[0087] In the above-described embodiment, the management device 10 determines whether the industrial property right is subject to LOR recommendation when processing the payment of maintenance annuities for the industrial property right, and notifies the user of information regarding the license of right procedure together with an inquiry regarding the payment of maintenance annuities. However, the information regarding the license of right procedure may be notified regardless of an inquiry regarding the payment of maintenance annuities.

[0088] Fig. 11 shows another example of the flow of the LOR recommendation process executed by the control unit 12. Processes that are substantially the same as the processes described with reference to Figs. 5 and 9 are given the same reference numerals, and repeated description will be omitted.

[0089] 11, when a customer enters login information, the control unit 12 performs login processing (STEP 11). Next, the control unit 12 refers to the rights information database 111 and identifies the industrial property right associated with the customer's identification information (STEP 12).

[0090] Next, the control unit 12 determines whether the identified industrial property right satisfies the conditions for being an LOR recommended target (STEP 2). If the control unit 12 determines that the industrial property right does not satisfy the conditions for being an LOR recommended target (NO in STEP 2), the process ends.

[0091] On the other hand, if the control unit 12 determines that the industrial property rights satisfy the conditions for LOR recommendation (YES in STEP 2), it notifies the customer of information about the license of right for the industrial property rights that satisfy the conditions for LOR recommendation (STEP 13). For example, the control unit 12 creates a list of industrial property rights for which information about the license of right should be notified, and outputs the list to the customer terminal 30.

[0092] With this configuration, the customer can check the industrial property rights that are the subject of LOR recommendations every time they connect to the management device 10. Furthermore, in countries where an application for use of the License of Right system can be made before the maintenance annuity payment process, for example, immediately after filing an industrial property right application, the customer can apply for use of the License of Right system before the maintenance annuity payment process. [Explanation of symbols]

[0093] 10 Management device 11 Storage section 111 Rights Information Database 112 Legal Database 113 Customer Database 12 Control Unit 20 Wireless Communication Network 30 devices 40 Patent Office System 50 Pension payment agent system

Claims

1. A management device for managing industrial property rights procedures requested by a customer, comprising: a storage unit for storing information relating to the industrial property right; a control unit that notifies the customer of information regarding the license of right when the industrial property right satisfies the conditions for being an LOR recommendation target suitable for the license of right; It is equipped with the information about the industrial property right includes value information that numerically represents the value of the industrial property right; The control unit notifies information regarding the license of light when the value is equal to or greater than a first threshold and less than a second threshold.

2. A management device for managing industrial property procedures requested by a customer, comprising: a storage unit for storing information relating to the industrial property right; a control unit that notifies the customer of information regarding the license of right when the industrial property right satisfies the conditions for being an LOR recommendation target suitable for the license of right; It is equipped with the information on the industrial property right includes information on the maintenance costs of the industrial property right; The control unit notifies information about the license of right when the maintenance fee is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount.

3. A management device for managing industrial property rights procedures requested by a customer, comprising: a storage unit for storing information relating to the industrial property right; a control unit that notifies the customer of information regarding the license of right when the industrial property right satisfies the conditions for being an LOR recommendation target suitable for the license of right; It is equipped with the information about the industrial property right includes information about the filing date or priority date of the industrial property right; The control unit notifies information regarding the license of right when a predetermined period has elapsed since the filing date or the priority date.

4. A management device for managing industrial property procedures requested by a customer, comprising: a storage unit for storing information relating to the industrial property right; a control unit that notifies the customer of information regarding the license of right when the industrial property right satisfies the conditions for being an LOR recommendation target suitable for the license of right; It is equipped with The information about the industrial property right includes information about the technical field to which the industrial property right belongs; The control unit notifies information regarding the license of right when the technical field to which the industrial property right belongs is a popular or unpopular technical field or a specific technical field.

5. 5. The management device according to claim 4, wherein the specific technical field is a technical field in which a number of uses of the License of Right system is equal to or greater than a predetermined number.

6. A management device for managing industrial property rights procedures requested by a customer, comprising: a storage unit for storing information relating to the industrial property right; a control unit that notifies the customer of information regarding the license of right when the industrial property right satisfies the conditions for being an LOR recommendation target suitable for the license of right; It is equipped with The information about the industrial property right includes information about the applicant or right holder of the industrial property right; The control unit notifies information regarding the license of right when the industrial property right is a sole application or a sole right.

7. A management device for managing industrial property rights procedures requested by a customer, comprising: a storage unit for storing information relating to the industrial property right; a control unit that notifies the customer of information regarding the license of right when the industrial property right satisfies the conditions for being an LOR recommendation target suitable for the license of right; the information about the industrial property right includes information about other industrial property rights related to the industrial property right; The control unit notifies information regarding the license of right when the other industrial property right utilizes a license of right system.

8. A management device for managing industrial property rights procedures requested by a customer, comprising: a storage unit for storing information relating to the industrial property right; a control unit that notifies the customer of information regarding the license of right when the industrial property right satisfies the conditions for being an LOR recommendation target suitable for the license of right; It is equipped with The information about the industrial property right includes information about the country in which the industrial property right was filed; The control unit notifies information regarding the license of right procedures if the application country is a country to which the license of right system applies.

9. The management device of claim 8, wherein the control unit notifies information regarding the license of right procedure if the number of industrial property right renunciations from the start of payment of fees required to maintain the industrial property right until a predetermined period has elapsed is equal to or greater than a predetermined number.

10. the storage unit includes a customer database that stores identification information of the customer; The control unit Upon obtaining the customer's identity, identifying an industrial property right associated with the customer's identity; Determine whether the identified industrial property right satisfies the conditions; The management device according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

11. The control unit A management device as described in any one of claims 1 to 10, which, when it determines that the next procedure for the industrial property right to be carried out is a payment process for the expenses required to maintain the industrial property right, determines whether the industrial property right satisfies the conditions.

12. the information on said industrial property rights includes information on the costs required to maintain said industrial property rights; 12. The management device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit, when notifying information regarding the license of right procedure, presents information regarding the estimated amount by which the cost will be reduced by using the license of right system.

13. 1. A method for managing industrial property procedures requested by a client using a processor, non-transitory recording means for recording computer-readable instructions executed by the processor, and a memory unit for storing information about the industrial property rights, including information about the country of filing of the industrial property rights, the method comprising: If the application country is a country to which the license of right system is applied, have the customer notify the customer of information regarding the license of right. method.

14. A management device for managing industrial property procedures requested by a customer, comprising: a storage unit for storing information relating to the industrial property right; a control unit that notifies the customer of information regarding the license of right when the industrial property right satisfies the conditions for being an LOR recommendation target suitable for the license of right; It is equipped with the information about the industrial property right includes value information that numerically represents the value of the industrial property right; The control unit determines whether the numerical value representing the value satisfies the condition.

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