Web 2.0 is all about the power of communities...about giving people the power to enhance web-based information.
But patents....and communities? How in the world can the community enhance patent information?
Quite dramatically, we think.
Consider this...what if every member of the community, experts and newbies alike, had access to a public forum in which they could comment on a patent? On any patent. What if engineers and scientists could point people to relevant articles and patents that the Examiner didn't consider during the prosecution process? Heck, what if lawyers had the ability to share invalidity opinions with the whole world?
Those are precisely the questions we asked ourselves when we began to recognize the value of PatentFizz as a community tool. We believe that the community is the ideal engine for producing the most relevant information for assesing the validity of any given patent. We built PatentFizz as a tool for assembling that information for everyone to see.
So how do you do it? Easy. Open a fizzdisplay of an issued United States Patent by using the 'Get the Fizz!' form you'll find on every page on the site. Scroll to the bottom, fill out the comment form and click 'Submit.' You're done.
Behind the scenes, your comment gets attached to the PatentFizz record of the patent. Next time someone...anyone...generates the fizzdisplay for that patent, your comment will be there.
You can submit comments anonymously if you like. As for content, we do have a comment policy, so be sure to follow that. Keep in mind that the best and most useful comments will be those that reference verifiable prior art. Cite patents and other documents to your heart's content.
PatentFizz is a place where members of the community can comment on individual patents...but it doesn't end there. We believe that everyone benefits from intelligent discussions about patents, and we've designed a few tricks into the site to facilitate these discussions.
For example, you can link directly to the fizzdisplay for an individual patent using the following URL format:
http://www.patentfizz.com/fizzdisplay.php?patno=nnnnnnn
where 'nnnnnnn' is replaced with the patent number (no commas).
What good is that, you ask? Think about it....drop one of those babies in an e-mail or a memo. Heck, go ahead and link to us when you blog about a particular patent. We've even made it so you can anchor link to an individual claim or comment:
http://www.patentfizz.com/fizzdisplay.php?patno=nnnnnnn#claimX
http://www.patentfizz.com/fizzdisplay.php?patno=nnnnnnn#commentX
(replace 'nnnnnnn' with the patent number and 'X' with the claim or comment number)
Whenever someone clicks your link, they'll be taken to a fizzdisplay for the specified patent (or even to a particular claim or comment). And it's freshly generated, meaning that they'll see new comments added since you made the link.
Go ahead...give it a try. This link will jump directly to the fizzdisplay of patent number 6,888,888, while this link will jump right to claim 14 of patent number 6,888,872 and this link will jump to the first comment for patent number 5,311,203. Now if that doesn't get ya talking patents, we don't now what will.
So go ahead....talk amongst yourselves.
As patent attorneys, we've grown frustrated with the, um, less than ideal manner in which the Patent and Trademark Office delivers patent information to the community. Think about this -- it's 2006, and you still can't download a .pdf of an issued patent from the United States government. How is that promoting the progress of science and the useful arts?
Our rethinker genes eventually kicked in...and we decided to do something about it.
We originally developed PatentFizz as a tool that we could use in our own legal practices to quickly access patent information. It didn't take long for us to recognize the value of the site as a community tool. Since that eureka moment, we've adapted the site for that purpose while retaining the core information-delivery function. We think the beauty of PatentFizz lies in this combination of community and information delivery.
So how does the delivery function work? It couldn't be easier. Enter a patent number in the Go! box you'll find on every single page on the site. You'll be presented with a CSS-optimized version of the abstract and claims, something we call the 'fizzdisplay' of a patent. That's it. One click and you're viewing the abstract and claims in an easy to read format. How's that for efficiency?
If you need more information about the patent, don't fret. Click the links in the menu bar at the top of the fizzdisplay for direct access to the full text and document images on the Patent and Trademark Office servers. And how's this for cool - click the 'who owns it?' link to get immediate, real-time search results from the Office's assignment database.
Want the full monty? Open a fizzdisplay for a particular patent and then open the full text, images, and assignment search links in new browser tabs. With four clicks, you've got everything laid out in front of you. No more hunting and pecking through the Patent and Trademark Office's linkfarm website to get the information you're after.