Free Patent Tools
I just got another e-mail from my friends at MaxVal telling me about a new free patent tool that they came up with: the “Reference Annotator“. Free is nice.
I believe that the MaxVal patent tools I’ve used in the past have saved me time. I like the IDS Creator and the USPTO widget that lets you look up patent 
maintenance fees with just typing in the patent registration number. Every time I use them they work magnificently.
I think the United States Patent and Trademark Office should incorporate some of these tools right into their webpage.
The new tool is the reference annotator. I think it’s a great tool to review an entire patent document that uses the same element over and over.
Because you have to make sure that you consistently call each numbered element the same thing throughout the patent and sometimes when you’re drafting a patent application the terms get a little mixed up. This tool helps you double check your work seamlessly.
MaxVal Free Patent Tools:
This reference tool allows you to search many different terms in the document and assign each term a color. Once a term is assigned a color the document can be easily reviewed at a glance without fear of missing any of the references. It truly is a very helpful tool for drafting a patent application.
I’ve used this generator now for the last few patents that I filed. It really works seamlessly. All I have to do is fill in the patent numbers and it does the rest. I think the US PTO should use this form instead of the one that they have. It generates a USPTO-approved EFS-ready document with only inputting a minimal amount of information. Definitely a time saver!
This tool compares two sets of claims and highlights the difference between them. The comparison chart can be displayed in a new browser window or downloaded as a Word or Excel file. I have not used this tool yet.
Without a question the USPTO should adopt this tool. I can’t see how anybody would not want to use this one. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to search around the patent webpage just to find out if there was an assignment. The patent office should have a place like this; where you only have to type in one number and get all the necessary information about that patent.
This widget gives you the following information with only having to type in one number:
Bibliographic Details
Publication – Full Text
Patent – Full Text
Assignment
Patent Maintenance Fees
PAIR
Someone should tell the United States Patent and Trademark Office about this widget!
The term of a patent is 20 years from the earliest claimed priority date (or longer of 17 years from the issue date or 20 years from the earliest claimed priority date if the patent application was filed on or before June 8, 1995). 35 USC § 154.
The claim chart generator tool creates a claim chart template for any United States patent. I used it the other day for an infringement analysis and it provided me with a Microsoft Word document (it also gave you the choice of an Excel or HTML format ) with a very nice neat claim chart. The chart came with some additional information such as the number of dependent and independent claims in the patent.
By simply checking a box I was able to tell it that I only wanted to include the independent claims. I copied and pasted it right into my analysis and it only took me a couple of minutes. If I was to create it from scratch it would’ve taken me much longer. And it was in a nice format that complemented the rest of the analysis. I give it a thumbs up!
The Patent Family Tree tool (PFTT) generates a graphical tree representation of the patent family based on Genealogy and Timeline.
This is a downloadable software tool that extracts the US references, foreign references and other references from any United States patent specification (.rtf, .doc). I have yet to use this tool.
This is a downloadable software tool that extracts the bookmarks from the File History PDF file into individual PDF files. Bulk IFW File Splitter will split more than one File History PDF file. This tool merges many PDF files in a folder into a single file. I have yet to use this tool. If you tried it please share your comments below about how it performed.
