An Introduction to PatDocs Basics

PatDocs - Tools

Automated tools in PatDocs





  • Generating IDS forms

    • (IDS forms can be accessed from the Order page under the IDS Form tab)

    • Enter the patent numbers you want to use in your IDS forms in the box and click IDS Form. You will be redirected to the IDS – Confirmation Page
    • Here you can enter an Application Number, Application Date and Inventor (optional). The application number you enter will form part of the name of the file downloaded
    • Your numbers will be listed in order of: US grants, US applications, followed by any foreign patents, the kind code, first inventor and publication date for each document are displayed (all of these fields are editable)
    • There is also a Non-Patent Literature (NPL) section where you can enter up to 50 NPL references, one per line
    • Any numbers not found will be listed at the top of the page
    • Once you are happy with your form, click on the "Generate" button. This will open up a new tab (so you can leave the confirmation page while the form is generated) and will download the PDF of the IDS form and close that tab when complete
  • Using the family tree mapping functionality
    • The display of the family tree can be altered in the settings bar at the top of the screen. To reset any changes that you have made, click the Reset Settings button
    • The family tree can be exported in either PNG or PDF formats, select your desired format from the drop-down Export menu and you’ll be given the option to save or open the file.
    • Alternatively, you can copy and share an offline link from the Share button. The display settings used are included in the link. This can be sent even to non-users and once opened they can adjust settings, open the bibliographic information for each patent and even open the legal status information browser and make notes on family members
    • To zoom in and out, use the scroll wheel on your mouse while your cursor is in the Family Tree area and click and drag to move around.
    • Click on a card to highlight all of that applications’ parents and children. You can hide the unselected cards using the Hide Unselected checkbox, in the settings area
    • You can also selectively prune child and parent relationships between documents by clicking the trashcan icon on any document and then selecting records you wish to hide from the list of patents connected to the selected document

Frequently Asked Questions

Where does the data come from, how complete is it for the family tree and is the tree inclusive of all global families?

Yes, it comes from the entire PatBase DB and is a new use of the global data covering 105 jurisdictions. Because the data is so broad, this makes the family tree an excellent complete tree that can be used to double check the completeness and family linkage of users’ docketing systems data, especially such as families with multiple provisionals and individual families claiming priority back to only one provisional, etc.

IDS, is there a way to store the IDS’s for later association with family members for more of an IDS management approach?

No, in the current version this does not occur but may soon in later versions. The IDS tool is currently used by large law firms to automatically generate the SB-08 in seconds when a list of unlimited patent publications is in hand from a spreadsheet or the like and can save 90% of the time of manually putting an SB-08 together. PatDocs can be used to then automatically generate the PDFs, translations, Legal Report and Excel export of those documents within the IDS which was generated and those various documents can be easily uploaded to the user’s internal docketing system which typically has the ability to perform such associations.

Is all output from PatDocs sharable with clients or outside counsel, i.e. non-users?

Yes, Minesoft never has archival or redistribution fees on any products and encourage the generation of exports and sharable live links (such as to the family tree) for sharing with colleagues across the IP lifecycle.

Are the number of PDFs, Trees, Exports, etc. really unlimited and are there any other fees I can expect?

Yes, they are unlimited, there are no surprise fees.