Increasing Patent Quality

Patents are meant to be novel, non-obvious and useful.  However, many patents are granted that should not have been issued.  This happens simply because there is too much information for any patent office to review entirely. 

The level of certainty that any patent’s technology has not been previously published determines the quality of that patent. 

A number of factors (such as the America Invents Act, the rise of Non-Practicing Entities, the cost and increase of patent litigation) have increased the value of a understanding a patent’s quality. 

Evidence that informs about a patent’s quality exists all over the world and cannot be found by a small group of people.  That’s where Article One comes in. 

Article One increases the efficacy of finding information that informs patent quality by using the crowd, technology and connectivity. 

Since 2008, we have learned how to motivate and manage our global community to perform comprehensive and exhaustive prior art searches.

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Access a global community that returns non-English language and obscure prior art, undiscoverable by traditional electronic search.

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More Patent Quality Information

1. Patent Applications describe technology that exists for the first time and has not been published previously anywhere around the world.
2. Patents and Intellectual Property were worth $5 Trillion around the world in 2009.
3. Patent Quality relates to the level of certainty that the technology was not previously published.
4. Governments Grant Monopoly ownership of the technology through patents, which limits any other inventors from benefitting from the technology.
5. Low Quality Patents hamper innovation by providing ownership to the wrong parties.
6. Prior Art, the evidence to prove past publication, can exist anywhere around the world.
7. The USPTO, and other patent offices, currently review all patent applications and are well-respected for their high quality work.
8. The Amount of Prior Art around the world is too much information for any patent office to review entirely.
9. A Hard Copy Doctoral Thesis in Beijing can be just as relevant and important as a searchable U.S. Patent.
10. 1.2 Million Backlogged Applications in the U.S., in 2009, in addition to 485,000 new applications.
11. Only 20 Hours of review were completed for each patent, with only 2 Hours on Prior Art Research.
12. Evidence of Invention exists all over the world and cannot be found by a small group of people.
13. Crowdsourcing brings together technical and research experience to find information in places previously inaccessible to modern companies.
14. A Global Community of researchers can find evidence in every language, every country, and every format.
15. Adding Deeper Review allows us to increase patent quality and increase innovation.

To learn even more about Patent Quality: 

"Patent Quality: Leveraging Patent Quality Research to Reduce Litigation and Improve Patent Portfolios" Download Whitepaper Now