Recently the IPToday website published its annual survey's finding for 2010 of the top 25 Patent firms (http://www.iptoday.com/
IDS
US patent law requires disclosure of all known prior art references that are material to the patent Examiner in determining patentability.” (37 C.F.R 1.56)
US patent law requires disclosure of all known prior art references that are material to the patent Examiner in determining patentability.” (37 C.F.R 1.56)
The Problem
Some Patent Law firms avoid disclosing all of the information available due to the cumbersome procedure and the high operational cost involved in it. The Law firms which fully comply with the disclosure requirement suffer high operation cost, are sensitive to human errors, might miss submission deadlines and in many cases accumulate a huge backlog.
Findings
The figure below shows the US top ten law firms IDS performance. The numbers relate to US utility patent grants during the last quarter of 2010. The # IDS per patent represents the average number of IDSs submitted per patent for a given law firm. The # IDS pages per patent represents the average number of IDS pages that were submitted per patent for a given law firm.
The figure below shows the US top ten law firms IDS performance. The numbers relate to US utility patent grants during the last quarter of 2010. The # IDS per patent represents the average number of IDSs submitted per patent for a given law firm. The # IDS pages per patent represents the average number of IDS pages that were submitted per patent for a given law firm.
Figure 1 - Top Ten Law firms in 2010 – IDS Performance (Relates to Patents granted by the USPTO during Q4/2010)
Figure 2 - Top Ten Law firms in 2010 – Average IDS Performance (Relates to Patents granted by the USPTO during Q4/2010)
The Solution
We at App4Reg successfully developed a sophisticated software program which automates (thus saving) up to 95% of the IDS submission process!
Successful proven implementations, at Patent Law firms, have shown decrease of 80% of the man power used for this operation, and submission errors are reduced to minimum. Needless to say, the backlog was eliminated within days from implementation and no backlog was encountered ever since. Anyway, the ROI was achieved in 3-4 months.
Our study shows that in recent years IDS numbers are expected to be much higher. Once our IDS automation solution is implemented, you can fully comply with the disclosure requirement without worrying about your revenues. In addition, you can rest assure that all of IDSs are submitted on time and with minimal errors (if any).
App4Reg Team.
