Intellectual Property Management System

Abstract

To provide an intellectual property right system which prevents a wrong sending and manages the intellectual property right of a plurality of applicants.SOLUTION: An intellectual property management system 1 includes: a management database 10 for recording cases related to an intellectual property right with case information of the intellectual property and report destination information; a reception unit 2 for receiving first report destination information of a delivery file; an extraction unit 3 for extracting the case information included in the delivery file received by the reception unit 2; a case specification unit 4 for specifying a case of a delivery file which corresponds to the case information extracted by the extraction unit 3 on the basis of the management database 10; a report destination specification unit 5 for specifying second report destination information of the case; a determination unit 6 for determining whether or not the second report destination information specified by the report destination specification unit 5 matches the first report destination information; and an output unit 7 for outputting a result of determination by the determination unit 6.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an intellectual property management system. [Background technology]

[0002] When filing intellectual property rights procedures with the Patent Office, applicants sometimes ask an agent to handle the procedures on their behalf. During the procedures, there are often multiple communications between the applicant and the agent to confirm information and documents related to the procedures. In this situation, Patent Document 1 discloses an information processing system that adds code information to documents sent and received between the applicant and the agent, and by reading this code information, detects and notifies the parties of any corrections to the documents, in order to ensure that the application is completed reliably. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-097115 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] An attorney acts as an intermediary between an applicant and the patent office, providing intellectual property services such as handling procedures before the patent office on behalf of the applicant. An intermediate attorney also acts as an intermediary between an applicant and a local agent in a foreign country, assisting the applicant with foreign intellectual property procedures. Such attorneys and intermediate attorneys generally deal with multiple applicants and manage multiple intellectual property rights owned by each applicant. An attorney delivers files related to the applicant's intellectual property cases to the applicant as needed.

[0005] In such a situation, the greater the number of cases and clients, the greater the possibility that an agent will send documents to the wrong address, or will attach documents for one case as attachments for another case even if the address is correct. For this reason, in order to deliver the correct documents to the correct address, measures must be taken such as multiple people checking and working carefully, which increases the costs of administrative processing for the agent.

[0006] The present disclosure aims to provide an intellectual property management system that manages the intellectual property rights of multiple applicants and that can prevent erroneous sending. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The intellectual property management system of the present disclosure includes: An intellectual property management system for managing a plurality of intellectual property rights together with a management database in which cases relating to each intellectual property right are recorded together with case information and reporting destination information for the intellectual property right, a receiving unit that receives a delivery file and first report destination information of the delivery file; an extraction unit that extracts project information included in the delivery file received by the reception unit; a case identification unit that identifies a case of the delivery file corresponding to the case information extracted by the extraction unit based on the management database; a report destination identification unit that identifies second report destination information of the case identified by the case identification unit; a determination unit that determines whether the second report destination information identified by the report destination identification unit matches the first report destination information; and an output unit that outputs the determination result of the determination unit. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present disclosure, an intellectual property management system for managing the intellectual property rights of multiple applicants is provided, which can prevent erroneous sending. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an intellectual property management system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an intellectual property management system. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is an example of a management database in the intellectual property management system of FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the process executed by the intellectual property management system. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is an example of a confirmation message output by the output unit of the intellectual property management system. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is an example of a warning message output by the output unit of the intellectual property management system. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is an example of a document pattern database in the intellectual property management system of FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between the instruction and the extraction area extracted by the intellectual property management system. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a modified example of the processing executed by the intellectual property management system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a block diagram showing an intellectual property management system 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The intellectual property management system 1 is a system managed and operated by an agent. The intellectual property management system 1 is configured to manage multiple intellectual property rights of multiple applicants.

[0011] Furthermore, the intellectual property management system 1 is communicably connected to the systems of multiple applicants via a network, as shown in Figure 1. Specifically, applicant A manages and operates system A100. applicant B manages and operates system B100. applicant C manages and operates system C100.

[0012] Each of the systems A100, B100, and C100 may be an intellectual property system of the corresponding applicant, or a system for receiving electronic data including delivery files. Each of the systems A100, B100, and C100 may be configured as a single server, multiple servers, or a cloud-based computer.

[0013] The intellectual property management system 1 is communicatively connected to each of the systems A 100, B 100, and C 100. The term "communicatively connected" may include both wired and wireless connections.

[0014] Intellectual property rights in this disclosure include patent rights, utility model rights, design rights, and trademark rights. Intellectual property rights may be any intellectual property rights defined as such under the laws of each country. Services related to intellectual property rights include managing information and documents related to the application procedures for patent rights, utility model rights, design rights, and trademark rights, procedures that occur while a patent application, utility model application, design application, or trademark application is pending with the patent office, and procedures for maintaining patent rights, utility model rights, design rights, and trademark rights.

[0015] The information includes bibliographic information on intellectual property rights, deadline information for various procedures, status information, submission dates to the Patent Office, and the date and time of reports to the applicant. The documents include documents to be submitted to the Patent Office, their draft documents, various instruction documents, and reference materials.

[0016] When an applicant applies for intellectual property rights to the Patent Office, the applicant's administrative costs can increase as they have to prepare documents in accordance with the detailed rules and formats set by the Patent Office.In addition, if an applicant holds a large number of intellectual property rights, different procedures are required at different times for each case, making it difficult to manage the deadlines for these procedures.

[0017] In such situations, agents may act as intermediaries between the patent office and the applicant, assisting the applicant in managing their intellectual property rights. In other words, agents provide various intellectual property rights-related services to applicants at the applicant's request. For example, agents may act on behalf of applicants in various procedures with the applicant's home country's patent office, such as procedures for obtaining intellectual property rights, at the applicant's request. Furthermore, when an applicant applies for intellectual property rights in a country other than their home country, intermediate agents may act as intermediaries between the local agent and the applicant, assisting the applicant in managing their intellectual property rights overseas. For example, agents and intermediate agents receive documents issued by the patent office and provide the applicant with an overview of the procedures and necessary documents.

[0018] Figure 2 is a block diagram of the intellectual property management system 1. As shown in Figure 2, the intellectual property management system 1 includes a reception unit 2, an extraction unit 3, a case identification unit 4, a report destination identification unit 5, a judgment unit 6, an output unit 7, and a management database 10. Details of each unit and database are explained below.

[0019] The reception unit 2 is configured to receive a single delivery file containing electronic data related to each applicant's intellectual property rights and first reporting destination information for the delivery file. A delivery file is an electronic file delivered by an agent to an applicant in connection with the services provided by the agent. In this example, the delivery file may be a single electronic file or an archive file containing multiple electronic files. For example, the delivery file may be text data, HTML data, or image data. The delivery file may include a draft application specification, application specification, various signed documents, documents from the Patent Office, citations, documents prepared by the agent, invoices, and various data files related to intellectual property rights.

[0020] The file format of the delivery file is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, pdf, xls, xlsx, doc, docx, ppt, pptx, txt, csv, tsv, htm, html, jwx, jws, xml, zip, etc. The delivery file may be received from an external system or may be created within the intellectual property management system 1.

[0021] The first reporting destination information is the addressee information entered by the case manager at the attorney's office when delivering a delivery file to the applicant handling the case. The first reporting destination information may include, for example, the applicant's main email address, the email address of the applicant's case manager, access information to the applicant's intellectual property system, or link information thereto. Alternatively, the first reporting destination information may simply be identification information of the applicant or the delivery destination. In this case, a database may be provided in which the identification information is associated with delivery destination information such as the delivery destination's main email address, the email address of the case manager, access information to the intellectual property system, or link information thereto, and the delivery destination may be retrieved based on the identification information when actually delivering the file.

[0022] The extraction unit 3 is configured to extract case information contained in the delivery file received by the reception unit 2. The case information is identification information that uniquely identifies the case handled by the applicant and the agent. The case information is any one of the bibliographic information recorded in the management database 10 described below. The extraction unit 3 may directly extract such case information as character information contained in the delivery file, or may extract the case information from image information contained in the delivery file using an OCR (Optical Character Reader).

[0023] The management database 10 records various bibliographic information for each intellectual property right case, including case information and reporting destination information for the intellectual property right. Figure 3 shows an example of the management database 10. As shown in Figure 3, the management database 10 in this example records the correspondence between data number, agent reference number, jurisdiction code, application number, filing date, applicant ID, applicant name, applicant reference number, reporting destination, storage destination, status, and deadline.

[0024] The data number is a number used by the agent to identify each electronic data item. The agent reference number is the agent's number that identifies the case. The jurisdiction code is a symbol that indicates the type of intellectual property right related to the case. For example, the jurisdiction code for patents is "P" and the jurisdiction code for designs is "D." The application number and filing date are the number assigned by the Patent Office and the filing date of the application. If the corresponding case has not been filed with the Patent Office, the application number and filing date fields are left blank. The applicant ID is a code that identifies each applicant at the agent's end. The applicant name is the name or title of the applicant who owns the case. The applicant reference number is the applicant's number that identifies the case. The reporting destination is the applicant's address information used by the agent's case manager when delivering the corresponding case to the applicant. The storage location is the storage location information in the intellectual property management system 1 that is used by the agent's case manager when delivering the corresponding case to the applicant. The status indicates the progress of the corresponding case. The status may include, for example, "new request," "application discontinued," "instruction received," "approved," "renewal application filed," "annual fee paid for X years," "abandoned," and "withdrawn." The deadline indicates the deadline date for the procedure related to the corresponding case. Note that each item in the management database 10 shown in FIG. 3 is an example. The management database 10 may include more information, or may only include some of the items shown in FIG. 3.

[0025] Returning to Figure 2, we will continue to explain each part. The case identification unit 4 is configured to identify a case in the delivery file that corresponds to the case information extracted by the extraction unit 3, based on the management database 10. For example, if the case information extracted by the extraction unit 3 is an application number, the case identification unit 4 identifies the case associated with the extracted application number.

[0026] The report destination identification unit 5 is configured to identify second report destination information for the case identified by the case identification unit 4. The second report destination information is address information of the applicant recorded as a report destination in the management database 10. The second report destination information may include, for example, the applicant's main email address, the email address of the applicant's case manager, access information to the applicant's intellectual property system, or link information thereto. The second report destination information may also be identification information for the applicant or the delivery destination.

[0027] The determination unit 6 is configured to determine whether or not the second report destination information identified by the report destination identification unit 5 matches the first report destination information received by the reception unit 2. The determination unit 6 transmits a determination result to the output unit 7.

[0028] The output unit 7 is configured to output the judgment result of the judgment unit 6. The form of output is not limited, but for example, the judgment result may be displayed on a display device, or a confirmation message or a warning message may be displayed. As for the form of output, the judgment result may be stored in a memory unit of the intellectual property management system 1.

[0029] Next, we will explain the processing executed by the intellectual property management system 1. Hereinafter, we will explain the case where an agent acts as an intermediary between the Patent Office and Applicant A and supports the management of the intellectual property rights of Applicant A. The support for Applicant B and Applicant C is similar to the support for Applicant A, so we will omit the explanation.

[0030] The following explains an example in which a written instruction is issued in the case of a patent application filed by applicant A. Applicant A does not have its own intellectual property system, and the attorney delivers the delivery file related to the written instruction to applicant A via email.

[0031] When a written instruction is issued, the attorney's case manager prepares multiple electronic files related to the written instruction. These files include, for example, an electronic file of the written instruction issued by the Patent Office, an electronic file of cited documents, and an electronic file of the attorney's report. The attorney then compiles these multiple electronic files into a single archive file. This archive file is the delivery file.

[0032] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the process executed by the intellectual property management system 1. First, the reception unit 2 of the intellectual property management system 1 receives the imported delivery file and the input first report destination information (step S01). In other words, the case manager imports or uploads the created delivery file into the intellectual property management system 1, and further inputs the main email address of the delivery destination, applicant A, "general@A.co.jp," as the first report destination information.

[0033] When the delivery file is received by the receiving unit 2, the extracting unit 3 extracts, from the electronic data included in the delivery file, for example, the application number "201X-XXXXXX" written in the instruction as case information (step S02).

[0034] When the extraction unit 3 extracts the application number "201X-XXXXXX", the case identification unit 4 identifies the case corresponding to the application number based on the management database 10 (step S03). That is, as the case associated with the application number "201X-XXXXXX", a patent application owned by applicant A (applicant name "Company A" in FIG. 3) with an agent reference number of "XXXXX1" and an applicant reference number of "A012JP00" is identified.

[0035] When the case identification unit 4 identifies a case, the report destination identification unit 5 identifies the second report destination information of the identified case based on the management database 10 (step S04). Here, "general@A.co.jp", which is the address information of applicant A, is identified as the second report destination information.

[0036] When the report destination identification unit 5 identifies the second report destination information, the determination unit 6 determines whether or not the first report destination information received by the reception unit 2 matches the second report destination information identified by the report destination identification unit 5 (step S05). Here, the determination unit 6 determines whether or not "general@A.co.jp" entered by the agent's case manager and received by the reception unit 2 as the first report destination information matches "general@A.co.jp" identified by the report destination identification unit 5 as the second report destination information.

[0037] If the first report destination information and the second report destination information match (YES in step S05), the judgment unit 6 transmits the judgment result to the output unit 7. Upon receiving the judgment result, the output unit 7 displays a confirmation message as an output of the judgment result (step S06). Figure 5 is an example of a confirmation message output by the output unit 7. By seeing such a confirmation message, the case manager recognizes that the intellectual property management system 1 is functioning and can send the delivery file with peace of mind.

[0038] Here, there are cases where the first report destination information and the second report destination information do not match. For example, when a case manager inputs the first report destination information, there is a possibility that the manager may mistakenly input "MIYAZAKI@N.co.jp" instead of the correct "general@A.co.jp." In this case, the determination unit 6 determines whether "MIYAZAKI@N.co.jp," input by the agent case manager and accepted by the acceptance unit 2 as the first report destination information, matches "general@A.co.jp," identified by the report destination identification unit 5 as the second report destination information.

[0039] If the first report destination information and the second report destination information do not match (NO in step S05), the determination unit 6 transmits the determination result to the output unit 7. Upon receiving the determination result, the output unit 7 displays a warning message as the output of the determination result (step S07). FIG. 6 is an example of a warning message output by the output unit 7. By seeing such a warning message, the case manager can be aware that the destination information he or she entered may be incorrect, and by entering the correct report destination, the case manager can prevent the wrong report from being sent.

[0040] As described above, the intellectual property management system 1 of this example manages multiple intellectual property rights together with a management database 10 that records cases related to each intellectual property right together with case information and report destination information for that intellectual property right. The intellectual property management system includes a reception unit 2 that receives delivery files and first report destination information for the delivery files, an extraction unit 3 that extracts case information included in the delivery files received by the reception unit 2, a case identification unit 4 that identifies cases in the delivery files corresponding to the case information extracted by the extraction unit 3 based on the management database 10, a report destination identification unit 5 that identifies second report destination information for the cases identified by the case identification unit 4, a determination unit 6 that determines whether the second report destination information identified by the report destination identification unit 5 matches the first report destination information, and an output unit 7 that outputs the determination result of the determination unit 6.

[0041] According to the intellectual property management system 1 of this example, the determination unit 6 determines whether the secondary report destination information matches the primary report destination information, and the output unit 7 outputs the determination result, allowing the case manager to confirm whether the primary report destination information they entered matches the secondary report destination information registered in the management database 10. The greater the number of cases and the number of clients, the greater the possibility that a case manager will send documents to the wrong address or mistakenly attach documents for a different purpose. However, according to the intellectual property management system 1 of this example, such mis-sending can be prevented. In particular, even if a case manager mistakenly enters incorrect primary report destination information, the secondary report destination information can be identified based on the case information included in the delivery file, thereby reliably preventing mis-sending.

[0042] The extraction unit 3 may extract information from official documents issued by the Patent Office, including instructions and decisions to register, from attorney reports, or from documents sent by intermediate attorneys. The case information extracted by the extraction unit 3 is not limited to the application number, but may also include the registration number, the name or title of the applicant, the name or title of the case requester, the applicant serial number, and the attorney serial number.

[0043] In addition, an applicant may have multiple business locations, and may be requested by an agent to report to a specific business location or a specific link depending on the case. In such cases, the extraction unit 3 may not be able to identify a specific business location or link simply by extracting the applicant's name or title. In such cases, it is preferable for the extraction unit 3 to extract information that can uniquely identify the case, such as an application number or registration number. If the extraction unit 3 fails to extract case information, the output unit 7 may display a judgment result stating that the case cannot be identified, and may call for further attention from the case manager.

[0044] The output unit 7 does not have to output a confirmation message when the first report destination information and the second report destination information match. In other words, the output unit 7 may simply output a warning message when the first report destination information and the second report destination information do not match. If the first report destination information and the second report destination information match, it means that the sending has been correct, and there is a high possibility that further confirmation is not necessary. In such cases, by proceeding with the sending work as is without outputting a confirmation message, the confirmation work of the case manager can be reduced, and work efficiency can be further improved.

[0045] The reception unit 2 may accept multiple contact information. For example, if Applicant S and Applicant T share a single patent application, the agent's case manager delivers a delivery file to Applicant S and Applicant T, respectively. In such a case, the reception unit 2 accepts the representative email address of Company S and the representative email address of Company T as the first report destination information. After the case identification unit 4 identifies the case, the report destination identification unit 5 identifies the representative email address of Company S and the representative email address of Company T as the second report destination information based on the management database 10. The determination unit 6 repeats the determination process until the representative email address of Company S accepted by the reception unit 2 as the first report destination information matches the representative email address of Company S identified by the report destination identification unit 5 as the second report destination information. If they match, the determination unit 6 may determine whether the representative email address of Company T accepted by the reception unit 2 as the first report destination information matches the representative email address of Company T identified by the report destination identification unit 5 as the second report destination information. This type of processing can also be applied when a file is to be delivered to multiple contact points, such as a business office, a head office, and an affiliated company, for one project.

[0046] In the intellectual property management system 1 of this example, after the reception unit 2 receives the first report destination information (step S01), the extraction unit 3 extracts the case information from the delivery file, the case identification unit 4 identifies the case, and the report destination identification unit 5 identifies the second report destination information (steps S02 to S04). However, the order of processing is not limited to this. For example, the reception unit 2 may receive the first report destination information (step S01) after the extraction unit 3 extracts the case information from the delivery file, the case identification unit 4 identifies the case, and the report destination identification unit 5 identifies the second report destination information (steps S02 to S04). In this case, the case manager may input the first report destination information by selecting one contact from multiple candidate contacts related to the identified case. Selecting a contact in this manner can better prevent input errors compared to manually entering contact information.

[0047] In the intellectual property management system 1 of this example, the reception unit 2 receives first report destination information input by the case manager (step 01), but the manner in which the first report destination information is received is not limited to this. The intellectual property management system 1 may identify the first report destination information from the storage destination information into which the delivery file has been imported, and the reception unit 2 may receive this identified first report destination information.

[0048] For example, in the management database 10, a case with applicant reference number "A012JP00" is recorded in association with "A001X1" as a storage destination in the intellectual property management system 1 (FIG. 3). A case manager creates a delivery file for the case with applicant reference number "A012JP00" and stores the created delivery file in storage destination "A001X1" on the intellectual property management system 1. When the delivery file is stored in storage destination "A001X1," the report destination identification unit 5 identifies the report destination information "general@A.co.jp" corresponding to the storage destination as the first report destination information. (At this time, the case identification unit 4 may identify the case with applicant reference number "A012JP00" as the case information associated with storage destination "A001X1.") The reception unit 2 may accept this identified first report destination information "general@A.co.jp." In this way, by the reception unit 2 receiving the report destination information associated with the storage destination as first report destination information, incorrect input can be more effectively prevented compared to when first report destination information entered by the case manager is received.

[0049] The intellectual property management system 1 may further include a document pattern database 20 that records document patterns (FIG. 2). FIG. 7 is an example of the document pattern database 20. As shown in FIG. 7, the document pattern database 20 records the correspondence between the document name extracted by the extraction unit 3, the range of the extraction area 21 from which case information is extracted, and the case information to be extracted, depending on the case status. Note that each item in the document pattern database 20 shown in FIG. 7 is an example. The document pattern database 20 may include further information, or may only include some of the items shown in FIG. 7.

[0050] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating the relationship between a written instruction and an extraction area 21. Documents issued by a patent office generally have a fixed format. For example, if a written instruction is issued for application number "201X-XXXXXX," the application number, agent, applicable provisions, and other information are pre-defined in the written instruction, as shown in Figure 8. The intellectual property management system 1 of this example references the document pattern database 20 to determine that the document to be extracted by the extraction unit 3 is a written instruction. The system then sets the extraction area 21 to the range of X coordinates "ee-ff" and Y coordinates "gg-hh." By extracting the information shown within the range of the extraction area 21, the system can identify that the extracted numerical value is the application number. In this way, the intellectual property management system 1 of this example references the extraction area 21 recorded in the document pattern database 20 and extracts the information shown within the range of the extraction area 21, thereby improving extraction accuracy.

[0051] After extracting the character information of the entire document, the extraction unit 3 may extract the character information following the designated character stored in advance. For example, "patent no." may be stored in advance as the designated character in the document pattern database 20, and the numeric information following "patent no." may be extracted as the registration number.

[0052] The intellectual property management system 1 may further include a communication unit 8 that outputs the delivery file to system A100, which is managed and operated by applicant A and is the delivery destination of the delivery file (Fig. 2). The communication unit 8 is configured to permit access to system A100, which is the delivery destination of the delivery file, and output the delivery file when the determination unit 6 determines that the first report destination information and the second report destination information match. Furthermore, the communication unit 8 is configured to prohibit access to system A100 when the determination unit 6 determines that the first report destination information and the second report destination information do not match. Systems A100, B100, and C100 are each an example of a second intellectual property management system.

[0053] 9 is a flowchart of the processing executed by the intellectual property management system 1 when the intellectual property management system 1 is equipped with the communication unit 8. Processing that is the same as or corresponds to the processing in the flowchart of FIG. 4 is given the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

[0054] If the determination unit 6 determines that the first report destination information and the second report destination information do not match (NO in step S05), the communication unit 8 prohibits access to the system A100 (step S11). If the first report destination information and the second report destination information do not match, there is a high possibility of erroneous delivery. In such a situation, the communication unit 8 can reliably prevent erroneous delivery by prohibiting access to the system A100 and restricting the output of the delivery file.

[0055] After the communication unit 8 prohibits access to the system A100, the output unit 7 outputs a message indicating that access has been prohibited due to a mismatch in destination information as a determination result (step S12).

[0056] If the determination unit 6 determines that the first report destination information and the second report destination information match (YES in step S05), the communication unit 8 permits access to the system A100 (step S13). If the first report destination information and the second report destination information match, there is a high possibility that the delivery was correct. In this situation, the communication unit 8 permits access to the system A100, outputs the delivery file, and the delivery work can be completed.

[0057] Furthermore, the communications unit 8 may register the case information of the delivery file in a second intellectual property management system to which the delivery file is to be delivered (step S14). For example, applicant B has its own intellectual property management system B100. Applicant B manages the multiple intellectual property rights that it handles using the intellectual property management system B100, and the case managers at applicant B import or upload new information and documents to the intellectual property management system B100. Entering correct information and importing documents requires careful work with multiple people repeatedly checking, which increases the costs of administrative processing at applicant B.

[0058] According to the intellectual property management system 1 of this example, when the determination unit 6 determines that the first report destination information and the second report destination information match, the communication unit 8 registers the case information of the delivery file in the system B 100, so that the person in charge of the case at applicant B does not need to register the case information again. This makes it possible to reduce the administrative processing costs at applicant B.

[0059] The intellectual property management system 1 can be connected directly or indirectly to the applicant's system. For example, the mail server of the applicant's system and the mail server of the agent's system may be connected via a network such as the Internet. An Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system may be interposed between the applicant's system and the agent's intellectual property management system 1 and connected via a network such as the Internet. The Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system may be operated and managed by the agent, the applicant, or a third party.

[0060] In the case where an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system is interposed between the applicant's system and the agent's intellectual property management system 1, if the judgment unit 6 determines that the first report destination information and the second report destination information do not match, the communication unit 8 may prohibit access between the intellectual property management system 1 and the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system.

[0061] If the applicant is a corporation, users of the intellectual property management system 1 include not only the corporation itself but also personnel in departments such as the intellectual property department that handles intellectual property within the corporation. Also, if the intellectual property department of a parent company handles intellectual property rights of affiliated companies such as subsidiaries of the corporation, personnel in the intellectual property department of the parent company can use the management system of this example as users, even though the applicant is an affiliated company.

[0062] The present disclosure also includes the following aspects. (1) If the agent downloads the delivery file and manually sends it to the applicant via EDI or email: In this mode, the agent manually retrieves the delivery file stored in the intellectual property management system 1 from the intellectual property management system 1 and sends it to the applicant via EDI or email. In this case, the agent can change the file name in advance, but it is preferable that the file name be changed when the agent downloads the delivery file. (2) When assigning an account in the Intellectual Property Management System 1 to an applicant: In this mode, an account of the intellectual property management system 1 is assigned to the applicant, and the applicant logs in to the intellectual property management system 1 as needed to download the delivery file. When a delivery file is saved in the intellectual property management system 1, the file name may be converted following the saving. It is more preferable that the file name be converted when the applicant downloads the delivery file. Furthermore, when a new delivery file is saved in the intellectual property management system 1, an email may be sent to the applicant urging the applicant to download it. (3) When assigning an account in another system, such as an electronic data interchange system, to the applicant and enabling the other system to be connected to the intellectual property management system 1: In this embodiment, the applicant logs in to another system such as an electronic data interchange system as needed to download the delivery file. When a new delivery file is saved in the intellectual property management system 1, it is preferable that the file name is converted following the saving, and the delivery file with the converted file name is transferred to the other system. Furthermore, when the new delivery file has been transferred to the other system, an email may be sent to the applicant urging the applicant to download it. (4) When the intellectual property management system 1 and the applicant's intellectual property management system can be connected: In this embodiment, when a new delivery file is saved in the intellectual property management system 1, the file name is converted after saving and then transferred to the applicant's intellectual property system. The delivery file may be transferred automatically or when authorized by the applicant. The intellectual property management system 1 and the applicant's intellectual property system do not need to be connected all the time, but may be connected only when necessary, such as when transferring a delivery file. The form of connection is not particularly limited, and may include, for example, connection via an application programming interface (API).

[0063] Although the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above, the technical scope of the present disclosure should not be interpreted 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 disclosure should be determined based on the scope of the invention described in the claims and its equivalents. [Explanation of symbols]

[0064] 1: Intellectual property management system 2: Reception 3: Extraction part 4:Project identification department 5: Report destination identification department 6: Judgment part 7: Output section 8: Communications Department 10: Management database 20: Document pattern database 21:Extraction area A100, B100, C100: System

Claims

1. An intellectual property management system for managing a plurality of intellectual property rights together with a management database in which cases relating to each intellectual property right are recorded together with case information and reporting destination information for the intellectual property right, a receiving unit that receives a delivery file and first report destination information of the delivery file; an extraction unit that extracts case information based on at least one of text information and image information included in the delivery file received by the reception unit; a case identification unit that identifies a case of the delivery file corresponding to the case information extracted by the extraction unit based on the management database; a report destination identification unit that identifies second report destination information corresponding to the case identified by the case identification unit based on the management database; a determination unit that determines whether the second report destination information identified by the report destination identification unit matches the first report destination information; an output unit that outputs the determination result of the determination unit.

2. a document pattern database for recording document patterns; The intellectual property management system according to claim 1 , wherein the extraction unit extracts the case information included in the delivery file based on the document pattern database.

3. a communication unit that outputs the delivery file to a second intellectual property management system that is a delivery destination of the delivery file, An intellectual property management system as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein if the judgment unit determines that the first report destination information and the second report destination information do not match, the communication unit prohibits access to the second intellectual property management system.

4. An intellectual property management system as described in claim 3, wherein if the determination unit determines that the first reporting destination information and the second reporting destination information match, the communication unit registers the case information of the delivery file in the second intellectual property management system.

5. An intellectual property management method executed by an intellectual property management device, which manages a plurality of intellectual property rights together with a management database in which cases relating to each intellectual property right are recorded together with case information and reporting destination information for the intellectual property right, Accepting a delivery file and first report destination information for the delivery file; extracting case information based on at least one of text information and image information contained in the received delivery file; Identifying the delivery file item corresponding to the extracted item information from the management database; Identifying second report destination information corresponding to the identified case from the management database; determining whether the specified second report destination information matches the specified first report destination information; An intellectual property management method that outputs a judgment result.

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