Collaborative Notes on the Patent File History through Patent Workbench®

Users can add notes to every section of the patent file history in the Patent Workbench^® Reader:

• Add notes to file history information sections in the File History module.
• Add notes to individual claims in the Claims Matrix.
• Add notes to individual references or entire reference sections.
• Add notes to any paper of the patent file history in the PDF viewer.

All notes can be included in searches of the whole patent file history, and the entire notebook can be exported in .doc format.  Read on to learn how patent professionals can use the note features in Patent Workbench^® to collaborate with their colleagues during the patent file history analysis process!

Since multiple users in a single law firm can access a patent file history through the Patent Workbench^® Reader, a patent attorney can use the note features to write reminders for themselves or for their colleagues. The attorney may leave multiple notes for the colleague to review specific sections or pages of the patent file history.  The colleague will later be able to access all of these notes simply by selecting the Notebook icon in the upper right menu of the Patent Workbench^® Reader window.

Select the Notebook icon to open the Notebook.

For example, an attorney may leave a note for their colleague to request a translation for a particular reference under the “References – Non-U.S. Patents and Published Applications” section.

Create a note related to the reference sections.

In the Notebook, the user can:

• Sort all notes by date created, date last updated, location, or note name.
• Edit or delete notes.
• Conduct a keyword search on all notes by typing a term in the text box at the top of the window and pressing Enter or selecting the magnifying glass icon.  All keywords relevant to the search will be highlighted, as shown in the screenshot below.
• Print notes.
• Export all notes in .doc format.
• Add new notes directly in the Notebook by selecting the “Add New Note to Notebook” option.

The Notebook, where all notes are keyword searchable and can be sorted in a variety of ways.

Benefits of the Patent Workbench^® Notebook  

• Collaborate with colleagues using notes added to the file.
• View all notes in one place and sort the notes based on your current needs.
• Keyword search through notes to quickly locate those written by or for a particular colleague.
• Easily export one or more notes to a format that can be shared with  clients.

In the coming weeks, I’ll describe in more detail how to add notes to the file history information sections, individual claims in the Claims Matrix, individual or entire reference sections, and to papers in the PDF viewer.

Would you like to test the features of Patent Workbench^®? Request a free sample file to try the Patent Workbench^® Reader today!