This research project is substantially limited and applicable to U.S. patents. This limitation has been elected, primarily for two reasons. First, an essential element that must be considered prior to classifying the full text of a patent as a commodity lies with an understanding of the primary motive behind the establishment of the patent, trademark and copyright systems of a country. (A survey of those motives would be an ambitious research project in and of itself.) Second, most of the on line IP tools, databases, search product enhancements and new features are introduced first for U.S. patents and then migrate to databases containing non U.S. patent data banks. As this report is, in some respects, an extension and update to prior work available on the FPLC - IP MALL a preview of the latest capabilities of some of the IP Tools is in order and included.
FPLC - IP MALL
URL: http://www.piercelaw.edu/ipmall/ipcorner/evals97/iptools.htm
The primary motive and intent of the Founding Fathers of the United States, for the establishment of the U.S. patent, trademark and copyright systems, was to promote and harness the engine of economic growth and advancement. That engine being the "Progress of Science and Useful Arts". To insure innovation and creativity had fertile ground on which to grow, the authors of the constitution included a provision in the constitution ensuring Authors and Inventors of have the opportunity reap the benefits of their efforts. The provision reads; "To promote Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries" (United States Constitution Section 8, Clause8). By providing innovators with an "exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries" in exchange for disclosure or sharing the their information with all, as information and knowledge promotes advancement.
Under this approach, exclusivity in exchange for information, the patent system created value in the patent beyond that of exclusivity for the underlying product represented by the patent. The value created under the system comes specifically from the release of the text itself into the public domain i.e., the DISCLOSURE/SPECIFICATION SECTION of the patent. Since a definition for a commodity is, "Something of use, advantage or value" and, from the prospective of a commodity, the value of a patent lie in information. Knowledge it contains, knowledge intended to be used for advancing the art in that field or others, is the valued commodity. The enactment of section 8, clause 8 of the U.S. constitution, by design, overtly created a commodity. A non-depleting commodity that promotes a base and provides the engine for multiple, divers uses and advancements in related and non-related fields of useful art.
To bring into focus the multiple use of the full text patent document as a commodity base for the development various online patent search IP Tools an analogy is provided. As a commodity can also be defined as "Any unprocessed or partially processed good". When viewing the full text of a patent as a partially processed good an analogy can be drawn between it and other commodities such as steel, tires, plastics or lumber. Lumber is used for the purpose of this analogy, as lumber is a commodity that is and of itself a processed good but one that can be configured in different fashions to produce different product families. By limiting the analogy to one family, or use of lumber, a close parallel can be drawn to the use of the full text of patents by on line IP Tool suppliers. In the home construction industry contractors using a common commodity, lumber, to construct homes of different form and function. All homes are generically the same i.e., homes but each is constructed to meet the needs and/or tastes of individual customers. Suppliers of on line patent search IP Tools all start with the same base commodity, the full text of patents, and construct products with different features, features that play to the needs and/or tastes of individual customers. What follows is a survey of the primary patent search tools, a review of the searchable fields contained in their database and a short critique of their usability advantages, shortfalls and feature update. The products being reviewed and an overall recommended approach:
USPTO -- http://www.uspto.com.gov/
IBM Patent Server -- http://patent.womplex.ibm.com/
MicroPatent -- http://www.micropat.com/patentwebindex.html
QPAT.US -- http://www.qpat.com/
EDS Shadow Patent Office -- http://www.spo.eds.com/patent.html
For full patent document demands of 4O or less PER MONTH/YEAR, MicroPatent is the most complete and economical. Full document demands greater then 4O PER MONTH/YEAR a combination of the free material from IBM combined with the QPAT output is the most complete and economical. (IF INTEREST GOES BEYOND U.S. PATENTS MicroPatent IS THE LEADER AS IT ALSO INCLUDES EPO, WIPO, & JAPIO DATA BASES. IBM and QPAT are U.S. patents only.)
Prior to starting the review, it is interesting to note that all
of the services continue to reserve for sale the heart or knowledge kernel
of the patent i.e., the DISCLOSURE/SPECIFICATION SECTION, a point
Thomas Jefferson would likely find amusing even after more than two hundred
years. The standard against which each of the aforementioned on line IP
Tools are being measured is each product's ability to deliver an output
document as close to the actual hard copy document produced by the USPTO.
The reason the services are being measured against the published patent
document is quite simple. When performing evaluations for patentibility,
analyzing questions of infringements, reviewing technology developments,
valuing patents or prosecuting patents all of the information contained
in the basic record, i.e., the published patent, is essential. Full
text documents alone will not suffice. Nor will images with abstracts and
claims alone suffice. The correct tool is one that provides all
the information needed to do the job. The format and presentation of the
material are also a very key factors in supplying a solution to users.
In providing the most effective tool for users, the output from IP Tool
providers should look very much like the USPTO output, as the PTO has a
very efficient and effective document layout with which users are comfortable
and work efficiently. As computer competent/ search capable lawyers continue
to emerge from law schools both the demand and market for downloadable
complete documents will escalate. IP Tool suppliers that now lead and continue
to develop in product content and material presentation sophistication
are likely to have a dominant market share. The product's richness of features,
ease of use, completeness of downloadable documents, and cost effectiveness
are the specific criteria used for this evaluation.
FEATURE RICHNESS:
| FEATURE | USPTO | IBM | MicroPat. | QPAT | EDS |
| Image | NO | YES | YES | NO | NO |
| Abstract | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Claims | NO | YES | YES | YES | NO |
| Disclosure | NO | NO | YES | YES | NO |
| Specification | NO | NO | YES | YES | NO |
| First Page (BIO. INFO. or FULL) | BIO | FULL | FULL | FULL | NO |
| Linked Ref. Patents | YES | YES | NO | YES | YES |
| Downloadable (wazzu Printer or Drive) | Printer^ | PRNT. & DRIVE ^ | PRNT. & DRIVE ^^ | PRNT. & DRIVE ^^ | PRNT. & DRIVE ^^ |
EASE OF USE:
| FEATURE | USPTO | IBM | MicroPat. | QPAT | EDS |
| Point & Click | SOME | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Natural Language | NO | NO | NO | YES | NO |
| Boolean Search | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Fuzzy Logic Search | NO | NO | NO | YES | NO |
| Advanced Search | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Searchable Classes | YES | YES | US & IPC | YES | YES |
| Linked Refed. Pats. | SOME | YES | NO | YES | NO |
| Linked Refng. Pats. | NO | YES | NO | YES | NO |
DOWNLOADABLE DOCUMENT:
| FEATURE | USPTO NC | IBM NC | MicroPat. DF | QPAT FF | EDS CA |
| Image | NO | YES | YES | NO | NO |
| Abstract | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Claims | NO | YES | YES | YES | NO |
| Disclosure | NO | NO | YES | YES | NO |
| Specification | NO | NO | YES | YES | NO |
| First Page | NO | YES | YES | YES | NO |
| USPTO Format | NO | YES | YES | YES | NO |
| Downloadable (Printer - Storage) | Printer | PRINTER & DRIVE | PRINTER & DRIVE | PRINTER & DRIVE | PRINTER & DRIVE |
COST EFFECTIVENESS:
| COST and DELEVERY | USPTO | IBM + Optipat Inc | MicroPat. | QPAT | EDS |
| 2O FULL DOC. PER MONTH/YEAR | $ 720 | $ 600 | $ 720 | $ 1950 | $ 1080 |
| 4O FULL DOC. PER MONTH/YEAR | $ 1480 | $ 1200 | $ 1480 | $ 1950 | $ 2160 |
| 8O FULL DOC. PER MONTH/YEAR | $ 2960 | $ 2400 | $ 2960 | $ 1950 | $ 4320 |
| 120 FULL DOC. PER MONTH/YEAR | $ 4440 | $ 3600 | $ 4440 | $ 1950 | $ 6480 |
| 160 FULL DOC. PER MONTH/YEAR | $ 5920 | $ 4800 | $ 5920 | $ 1950 | $ 8640 |
| 200 FULL DOC. PER MONTH/YEAR | $ 7400 | $ 6000 | $ 7400 | $ 1950 | $ 10700 |
| ON LINE - DELIVERY | NO | NO * | YES ** | YES *** | YES |
| OVERNIGHT | YES 2X $ /COPY | NO | NO | NO | NO |
| US MAIL | YES | YES SAME $ | YES 3.5X $ /COPY | NO | NO |
| TWO DAY | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO |
| FAX | YES 2X $ /COPY | YES 3.5X $ /COPY | YES 3.5X $ /COPY | NO | NO |
| NO | NO | ASCII ONLY | NO | NO |
The most significant enhancements to the IP Tools covered in this report are both features introduced by IBM in late June 1997. For select patents IBM has included a hot-link to their Licensing Group. IBM, at their option and for a fee, is willing to allow other companies the option of having a direct link to their respective licensing groups. This feature is likely to be the most cost effective and productive marketing and sales tool IBM's licensing group has ever had. Licensing and royalties represents a very substantial and key revenue resource for IBM. As licensing is a major part of most Fortune 500 strategy for growth and revenue and considering IBM lead the way with highest number of patents issued in 1996 and are likely to repeat in 1997 it really makes since to get what you are marketing out in front of the potential customer. In addition to its hot-linked Licensing Group, IBM is using the site to sell fully mounted Intranet servers to those that are concerned with IBM's ownership of their query done on IBM's server. (For an understanding of IBM's query ownership refer to IBM's patent site. When at the site go to the bottom of the page and click on the link titled "LEGAL".) IBM has always been creative in their approach to selling "IRON".
The next generation of search engines to be used in IP Tools is likely to be a combination of "concept sensitive" AI software and mathematical modeling software. The engine will search the full text, identify the concepts, convert the concepts to models and algorithms and compare the results across multiple fields of useful art thereby promoting cross fertilization of complex concepts between divergent fields of useful art.