Search and Annotate References with Patent Workbench®

Here at the Patent Workbench® Blog, we’ve gone over some high level analysis on several of the features that make Patent Workbench® an essential tool for anyone that works with file histories:

• The File History Tools
• The Search Tool
• The Text Comparison Tool
• The Claims Matrix

Today we’ll take you through another major feature of the Patent Workbench® Reader that our customers tell us they can’t live without: The Reference Tool.

Read on to find out how you can incorporate patent references into the file history package to get the total picture of that important case you’re working on!

The Basics
The References Tool allows you to view information about the references associated with a file history. If the references were included in the Patent Workbench® file package, the PDFs of the references will be easily accessible. In addition, this tool offers you the ability to attach your own references to the Patent Workbench® file.

It’s important to note that electronically available US patent references are included with every Patent Workbench® file history package at no extra charge.

The References Tool can be selected at the top of the Patent Workbench® Reader interface.

How the References Tool Can Help You
The references associated with your file are grouped into four categories:

1. U.S. Patents and Published Applications
2. Non-U.S. Patents and Published Applications
3. Non-Patent Publications
4. References Added by User

By default, Patents and Published Applications are sorted by number, but can be resorted by Inventor's Last Name as well. Non-Patent Publications and References Added by User are sorted in alphabetical order.

In the course of your important research, you may uncover what you believe is a critical piece of prior art that was not mentioned in the file history. Rather than have to work with this reference separately, you can use the References Added by User capability to add such references to the Patent Workbench® file history package. Here's how you can add your own references:

1. Click "Add User Reference" near the bottom of the Patent Workbench® Reader interface
2. Enter a name for the reference (this name is used for the aforementioned alphabetical indexing)
3. Enter a description (not required)
4. Enter a date (not required)
5. Browse your file directory to add a file, and save the reference

If the reference you have added is a searchable PDF file, the reference will be searchable using the Patent Workbench® Reader Search Tool–a huge benefit! (References included in the Patent Workbench® file package are searchable as well.) Information regarding the user-added reference can later be modified, or the reference can even be deleted from your Patent Workbench® file history.

Much like other parts of the Patent Workbench® file history, references can be annotated via the "Add Note" tool. Notes can be added in two ways: to each section of the References page (perhaps a note about which references to look at, or which were useful per each section) and to individual references.

To make a note on an individual reference, click on the document link in the References list to open the specific reference with the PDF Viewer (completely within Patent Workbench® Reader). Now that you’re looking at the complete PDF of the reference, simply right-click on the document to pop up the Add Note window and annotate.

Annotating a reference works in a similar fashion to annotating a specific document withing the file history.

Only interested in seeing references that were cited by the US Patent Examiner? Patent Workbench® Reader lets you filter all other references from view by clicking on the “Show Only Examiner Cited References” button in the upper left part of the interface. It’s also worth noting that all references cited by the examiner will have asterisks next to the document number in the regular references viewing mode.

Reference Request and Reference Translation One Step Away
One of the great things about Patent Workbench® Reader is that it puts everything you could ever need at your fingertips. References that have been indexed by Patent Workbench® but not added to the file history package, such as Non-U.S. Patents and Published Applications, and Non-Patent Publications can be requested…just click on the button!

Users can request non-included references or request translations with the click of a button.

If a reference has not been attached to the Patent Workbench® file, you may purchase the reference from Landon IP by clicking the button shown above. This will open the Patent Workbench® Customer Request form. The form will be preloaded with pertinent information about the requested reference. If the reference is a Non-U.S. Patent or Published Application, you may also request a professional translation from Landon IP’s native language speaking patent translators by clicking on the Request Translation button. This will open the Patent Workbench® Customer Request form, which will be preloaded with pertinent information about the requested translation for your convenience.

The References Tool within the Patent Workbench® Reader is designed to pull together all of the references for a patent file history. This applies to both references indicated by the patent examiner and your own hand-picked references. By integrating these references within the Patent Workbench® Reader, search and annotation functionality is added to these important documents. Additionally, we make it easy for you to acquire references or professional translations not included with the file history.

If you have any questions about the functionality of the References Tool, let us know in the comments below.

Head over to the Request page and request a sample file to get the Patent Workbench® Reader and the References Tool today!