Patent Cafe Claims First Software to Deal With ESD Requirements

PatentCafe, which specializes in Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) patent search engine technology and patent management tools, announced recently the availability of the Beta Version of 37CFR.com, which claims to be "the first of its kind integrated search and report workflow software."

According to Patent Cafe:

37CFR.com is a robust ESD report workflow application, unique in that the software also incorporates PatentCafe’s international patent database. The integrated patent search engine uses artificial intelligence to reliably speed the classification of each patent claim, and to instantly identify the “most closely related” patent prior art.

“PatentCafe’s advanced LSA technology cuts search time by almost 40%, and using artificial intelligence, it identifies non-obvious, but closely related prior art that keyword search engines can’t find. This is especially important following the Supreme Court’s ‘obviousness’ ruling in KSR v. Teleflex,” PatentCafe’s CEO Andy Gibbs said.

PatentCafe’s new ESD report workflow makes it nearly impossible to miss a step in a complicated patent search and report preparation process.

See press release here (link)

Go to Patent Cafe's website here (link)

Patent Brokerage Gains Addition With LegalForce IP

This week marks the official beta launch of LegalForce IP, an on-line IP brokerage and outsourcing company, that has taken a page out of the Wiki/Web 2.0 approach to valuation and selling of patents. Part eBay, part MySpace, and part LinkedIn (the web interface has an eerie resemblance to early versions of LinkedIn), LegalForce is attempting to create a webspace where entrepreneurs and investors can find patents and exchange ideas on a more open platform.

The site's search engine allows users to find patents, and provides contact information for all patent attorneys in the US, and even some non-US attorneys as well. Eventually, the goal is to provide access to all U.S. patents and provide related profiles of inventors, owners and attorneys associated with particular patents.

The entry of LegalForce expands the ranks of similarly-situated companies such as Patent Cafe and Yet2.com, who have patent listings, but offer them mainly as part of a consulting package and typically place offers only on the behalf of paying clients. Ocean Tomo, which operates mainly as a merchant bank (and also uses Yet2.com's platform), helps place values on patents to help facilitate buying and selling. Twice a year, Ocean Tomo hosts live auctions of patents, and has an upcoming auction scheduled for April 18-19 here in Chicago (see here).

According to LegalForce's webpage, anyone can list patents for sale or license for free until June, and only pay $299 to list patents afterwards (trademarks can be listed for $99). Members of the public can browse through the offered patents for free anytime, and can join "groups" to collaborate on evaluating or obtaining specific patents. LegalForce also publishes a set of white papers on various IP-related topics, to help users understand the processes used for their service (see paper on valuation here).

Matt Marshall from VentureBeat took the patent interface out for a test ride and posted his report here.

Jim Moore, a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, also viewed the site, and posted this favorable article on the idea.