Intellectual property and Patents management - Automatic Process

There are many IP management tools in the market. I am not talking about IP management tools for Patent Attorneys. These are more complicated systems, and contain many details for the patent registration process such as Office Actions, IDS items, and many more. I am talking about commercial firms, academic institutions or health care organizations that have vast amount of IP and require an internal tool to manage it. 

Such tools are needed in order to manage the entire process from invention evaluation step till the IP is commercialized (either by licensing or trading). We at App4Reg developed our own IP management tool which is suitable for such organizations, but this article is not about selling our IP management tool.

During our work with our clients we found that the one of the most tiring routine in large scale organizations is to filter the new inventions for evaluation. The most common practice is a form, usually found in the IP department on the firm’s intranet. Each employee who has an idea for an invention downloads the form and prints it. Another option is to fill it on the computer (whether this is an MS word template for example). In any case, the filled form is sent to the IP Manager or to the Technology Transfer Officer (TTO) for review. Once the form is reviewed, a project is created in the IP Management system. Now this is what we found to be redundant and time consuming. Not to mention those were denied and will never be counted at the statistics.

So, why inventors have to fill forms in one way and TTOs need to insert (the same data in most cases) in another way? We believe that once data is inserted once, it should be copied automatically (through authorized user of course) to the organization management tools.

Our solution to this situation is an online form, resides at the organization intranet or cloud. The form is built easily in case your IT is capable of creating such online forms. The new invention form is reviewed in an online manner by the TTO. The TTO can edit the form, and in one click to export it directly into the IP Management System. There are many advantages for using an online form:

•         Time saving for TTOs to handle new inventions registration
•      Avoid difficulties for unclear handwriting 
•       In case an inventor (employee) exists in the system, his details don’t need to be inserted again
  
•      Avoid emails, fax, scanners and other time consuming facilities

•        New inventions are saved in a repository for offline analysis (reports, trends, statistics etc.)

App4Reg’s Patent Inventory & Trading solution, which is our IP Management tool, supports importing new invention structure from online forms. Other IP Management tools can create an API (Application Programming Interface) to be used for the export. The online forms should be flexible and may be expanded to include more details.  These forms should be accessible via intranet or an external URL in case the organization doesn’t want the forms to be saved internally. All options are available, and building such a form, as well as incorporating it into the internal systems can be done easily and improve the organization efficiency.

Automating your Action is more than a buzzword. It is a way of thinking.

Manual work is expensive, time consuming, error sensitive and frustrating.  

Are you ready to focus in your core business and automate the rest????

100% of business owners and managers want:

1. To focus in business core business 
2. Reduce costs
3. Being more efficient especially in routine/regulatory process. routine = inefficiency/grey work/pain/waste of time/you name it
4. Filter only the useful information that may leverage your business (marketing info, reports, competitors, potential customers and partners)
BUT:
1. Does not want to miss any daily routine task/dead-line
2. Usually afraid of changes (process, organic changes, etc.)
3. Don't want to add high-tech complexity


Today, using high-end technology methods,  any routing process can be automated.   
Unfortunately, there is no cost effective of-the-shelf tool that can fulfill the individual business needs.

Thus, there are 2 main ways to achieve the above desires:
1. Investing and building in house SW team
2. Having a reliable outsource group.

If you choose the second option, you may find a professional group that can understand your need and business logic and of course have the capability and experience to provide results with the clear and straightforward ROI.

The result of good and professional automation is user friendly, easy to operate and configure, tool that will not require any change of current services and tools but adds-on specified and fully customized to your business needs.


At the first stage NOT all routines should be automated. Only the Long, expensive or high frequency routines should be automated

Extensive SW development and project management experience in a vast technology tools and methodology ensure that the routine will be automated seamlessly and effectively. once you recognize the pain, the way to reliable perfect solution is very short. Customer involvement in design phase should be minimal to allow him focus on his business. Once we recognize the pain, solution design should be performed by the best and most professional team


App4Reg.com
High level technology and engineers. as a boutique company we are flexible and open minded to customer needs and process. we take care of the process E2E. Again, once we recognize the pain, solution design is performed by us!

We Provide E2E service (Sharpen the need, accompany the entire process, implement, test, train the customer, verify customer satisfactory)

Focus in business core business
Automate the rest
App4Reg - Automation in action
Contact us when you are ready to automate your routine processes

Info@App4Reg.com

2011 Top 10 Patents Firms - IDS Performance Statistics and Trends

Recently the IPToday website published its annual survey's finding for 2010 of the top 25 Patent firms (http://www.iptoday.com/issues/2011/03/top-patent-firms.asp). We at App4Reg were interested in another important issue – IDS Performance of the Top Patent Firms. Through our automation tools we explored the USPTO and extracted the IDS statistics and trends of the top 10 firms

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)

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.

Figure 1 - Top Ten Law firms in 2010 – IDS Performance (Relates to Patents granted by the USPTO during Q4/2010)

Statistics

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.

Patents Inventory & Trading

Today more than ever there is an emerging market of patents buyers/sellers and other patents licensing deals. almost every day we read a new story about either a company (usually giant) suing another for IP infringement or a deal of patents licensing.

We at App4Reg developed a straight forward, easy to adapt, Patents Inventory & Trading tool to control and manage the entire project workflow.

The Patents Inventory & Trading Tool helps Institutions to manage their intellectual property in an easy, intuitive and efficient way. HBOs, Universities and other Institutions which incorporate large amounts of intellectual property need this tool in order to handle patents in various stages and countries, to service multi inventors, to share patents ownership, and to license its usage, to name a few tasks. Using the Patents Inventory Tool, our customers can grow a number of projects, managing IP Trading efficiently.

For more details:
info@app4reg.com

IDS Management - Why?

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)

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.

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).

In case you find this interesting for you, give us a call or email us at:

Phone: 972-52-6235959

Email: Info@App4Reg.com

Thanks & Best Regards

App4Reg Team.

App4Reg LTD.