PatentCafe’s first software application for USPTO rules compliance simplifies complicated patent application requirements.

US Patent and Trademark Office Rules compliance just became easier – and just in time. The new Patent Office rules, which just took effect, now require patent applicants to prepare an Examination Support Document (ESD) for patent applications containing five or more independent claims or 25 or more total claims. The ESD requirements are complex and compliance is costly.

PatentCafe has the answer. The global leader in Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) patent search engine technology and patent management tools just launched the Beta Version of 37CFR.com, an integrated search and report workflow software – the first of its kind. The web-based application enables fast, cost-effective compliance with USPTO rules and search requirements in HR1908 and S.1145. Here’s how…

Cutting search time. An ESD now requires patent applicants to:

·         Identify the most closely related US patent classifications for every claim

·         Search every claim to identify the prior art references “deemed most closely related”

·         Identify in the cited prior reference any limitations to each claim in the applicant’s patent

·         Explain the patentability of the current claim over the cited refrence

·         Compile the detailed report, along with required USPTO forms

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

The software walks applicants through the entire ESD report process – from opening a new case and reporting common inventor information…to semi-automated classification and prior art searching, automated IDS reference list development, patentability explanation and final ESD report creation.

The result – a 40 percent cut in search time. According to PatentCafe’s CEO, Andy Gibb, “PatentCafe’s advanced LSA technology…identifies non-obvious, but closely related prior art that keyword search engines can’t find. This is specially important following the Supreme Court’s ‘obviousness’ ruling in KSR vs. Teleflex.”

Cutting cost. The USPTO estimated the incremental cost of rules compliance at $2,500 per patent application. The AIPLA (American Intellectual Property Lawyers Association) and other industry experts calculate the incremental cost to be between $4,200 and $13,000.

According to Gibbs, “With the significant cost savings provided by the 37CFR software, the incremental costs become little more than an ‘increased cost of business’ that should be easily justifiable, provided the patent applicant believes that there is sufficient market opportunity that requires the protection of a strong, defensible patent.”

Now, applicants who want a tool to keep up with the complicated patent search and report preparation process – but keep down the cost – may just have found the answer.