MICROPATENT HELPS CLIENTS WORK MORE EFFECTIVELY WITH NEW ONLINE FILE HISTORY LOOKUP TOOL

 

Philadelphia, PA-East Haven, CT USA-London UK - 03/30/2005 — Today, Thomson Scientific, a business of The Thomson Corporation, announced that MicroPatent, a full-service intellectual property service provider, launched its new, online file history inventory lookup tool. This online link scans the MicroPatent in-house file repository for the requested document numbers and reports whether or not they are in stock, so customers can easily estimate the time it will take to process their order.

MicroPatent, the world’s largest and leading commercial file history provider, has an in-house inventory of more than 100,000 records, and it’s growing daily. File histories available from this repository are processed 50% - 85% more quickly than orders outside this collection.

“I especially like the MicroPatent online file history inventory lookup feature because it helps me to do my job more effectively,” said Eric Kim, paralegal, Goodwin Procter. “In the fast-paced environment in which I work, it is nice to be able to tell the attorneys how quickly their files will be available, especially if it’s the same day, as is the case with many file histories at MicroPatent. We now use MicroPatent almost exclusively because of the convenient electronic ordering and inventory tool – it’s quick and easy, and they provide a good product.”

The MicroPatent file history inventory lookup is accessible from its homepage, file history page, and document delivery screen, as well as from the Faxpat/Optipat homepage and order screens. To check a patent document number, go to www.micropat.com/filehistories/api.html.

“The file histories we provide to our clients enable them to build effective arguments for a patent’s validity, to identify potential infringements, and to prove a concept’s novelty (or lack thereof), among other things,” said Bill Chambers, chief operating officer and general manager, MicroPatent. “We’ve been building our electronic file history inventory for the last two years as a way to provide improved service to our customers. They’ve told us about their need to get faster information about a file history’s status, and we responded. Our new online inventory tool lets clients identify a file’s availability, plan their IP processes, and estimate costs accordingly.”

Files within the MicroPatent inventory are labeled “In Inventory” and display the document title and page count, the latter of which allows users to estimate the cost of the order. Those not yet in inventory are labeled “Not in Inventory,” however MicroPatent is still able to fulfill them. These requests are processed in the standard 24 – 48 hour timeframe, for most documents, versus the near immediate availability of those in inventory.

MicroPatent file histories are available in several electronic formats, including searchable text and image in PDF, image only in PDF or TIF, and on CD-ROM. All are indexed and provide thumbnail views for easy review. Tabbed and indexed paper files are also available.

For more information about file histories from MicroPatent or the new inventory lookup tool, contact MicroPatent at 800.648.6787 or +1.203.466.5055, or info@micropat.com (for the U.S. office), or +44 (0) 20.7424.2340 or eu@micropat.com (for the EU office).


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Scientific is a business of Thomson Reuters. Its information solutions assist professionals at every stage of research and development—from discovery to analysis to product development and distribution. Thomson scientific information solutions can be found at www.scientific.thomson.com.