HORSHAM, Pa., April 27, 2015—Reed Technology and Information Services Inc. (Reed Tech), a LexisNexis company, announces the availability of the new Patent Application Alert Service, a free content change detection and notification service hosted by Reed Tech at the direction of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The Patent Application Alert Service enables users to specify a search query and monitor patent applications via email alert as they are published. This service gives immediate access to published filings in order to help the public better assess when to submit relevant prior art to the USPTO for consideration in the examination process.
Keyword searches to specified sections of the patent application—such as patent title, applicant or inventor name, abstract, claims, or CPC classification—yield direct hyperlinked access to published applications. Users can set up a search query that will generate an email alert when a U.S. patent application publishes that meets the search criteria. If someone is interested in knowing when an application publishes in the semiconductor field, an alert can be set up using the term “semiconductor” in the keyword search. An email notification will be generated to the user whenever the USPTO publishes an application containing the word “semiconductor” anywhere in the application.
In addition to the list of published patent applications that meet the search criteria, instructions on how to make a pre-issuance prior art submission into a particular application will also be provided. The USPTO, which publishes thousands of patent applications each week, recently identified difficulty in knowing when applications of interest are published as one of the barriers to making pre-issuance prior art submissions—a process established under the America Invents Act to facilitate higher quality patent application examination.
“We are very pleased to collaborate with the USPTO to help expedite the flow of innovation in the U.S.,” says Samuel Hardman, President of Reed Tech. “Our strategy remains focused on leveraging our core capabilities to continue to provide solutions that improve outcomes for the USPTO in addition to best-in-class products and services for the global IP community.”
To gain access to the Patent Application Alert Service, users will first need to register and create a user account at https://www.uspatentappalerts.com.