Thanks so much to the numerous people who responded (and so quickly!) to my request below. Fortunately the attorney did not really need what he was asking for here, so I don't actually have to execute this search!
However, here is a summary of responses below.
Thanks again for all of your assistance & advice!!
Jessica
******************************
-Westlaw's LITALERT- You could enter the string of patents into the search field. You would presumably have a lot of pages to review.
-You could call Courtlink and see if they could handle the project for you. I am sure it wouldn't be cheap, but I think they handle this type of project. Keep in mind Courtlink's info may not go back much further than 5 years or so. Another resource, LitAlert, goes back much further but relies on the court reports back to the USPTO indicating litigation has commenced on a patent. These were not always sent out by the courts so there are gaps of info. PAIR might have the info there, but would have the same issue as LitAlert, plus it wouldn't have info going back more than a few years
-The single database that covers all patent litigation activity just does not exist. But if the attorney insists, I'd recommend the US patent databases on LEXIS. LEXIS enhances their full-text patent records with litigation reports, and you can combine several patent numbers into a single search. I used to search the numbers with and without commas to be safe, but with 300 patents, you might want to dispense with this nicety.
-PAIR does not offer information on litigation of patents. you will need to use another service such as Courtlink (LEXIS product) or LitAlert (via Dialog or STN) Both have some gaps in coverage. LitAlert would allow you to create a search query for multiple patent numbers. Courtlink will be a one at a time job.
-I've used LitAlert File 670 on Dialog http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0670.html and it may be faster to use than CourtLink but I'm not really sure. It contains 1973-2008 patents, 2008/UD=200832 (From Thomson Reuters.) There's more on this topic, although it focuses on tracking rather than lookups, from Zimmerman http://www.lexisnexis.com/infopro/zimmerman/disp.aspx?z=1816. As far as I can tell, you would have to enter the patent number for each one unless the requestor wants all patents with search characteristics, in which case you could generate a list of patents by selected parameters. Parameters vary from system to system depending on access points, i.e., searchable fields.
-If the patents are all by the same owner or assignee, you can put the company name into Courtlink and indicate Nature of Suit 830. That should get you most of them for the last several years. If they are all different owners, you will have to do them individually (yuck!).
-I use CourtLink and its $20.00 per patent. Also, DIALOG, QUESTEL and STN have a file called LITALERT or LITA. You can type in more than 1 number at a time, but it will be very costly.
-I haven't had to do a batch of this size before, but if you don't want to use Courtlink I wonder if you could "or" the numbers together and run one big search, or several searches, in Lexis. I haven't used Lexis for a long while to check for patent litigation, but I think there is a field/segment specifically for litigation. Check with customer service about how to limit to records with info in that field. If it doesn't work in Lexis, it might in Dialog files 670 or 351, but I don't think Dialog will happily allow you to cut/paste text into the search screen.... I've had problems with that before in that it wasn't reading my query correctly.
-the file 670 on DIALOG will allow you to stack to some degree. However, this data is only as good as that reported to the PTO.
-You can KeyCite the Pat. NO. and it has Litigation Activity listed. I often double check the KeyCite by seaching just the pat. no. through dockets. I don't usually have 300 so 1 or 2 is easy to double check. KeyCite should help.
________________________________
From: owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu] On Behalf Of Gallagher, Jessica
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 4:14 PM
To: law-lib@ucdavis.edu
Subject: [LAW-LIB:56488] Searching 300+ patents at once for litigation
Hello everyone!
I received the questions below today, and I was wondering if anyone knows of a service or resource that can provide such a thing? I know Courtlink allows searching litigation by patent number, but 300+ at once?
"I have a list of about 300 US patents that needs checking for litigation activity. Is there a simpler way to see if each patent has been involved in any litigation other than by entering each patent into the US Patent Pair system?
(then the follow up):
Can you confirm that I can find out if a patent is involved in litigation from PAIR? Or can you suggest another resource/tool?"
Thanks!
Jessica R. Gallagher
Business Research Manager / Library & Research Services
Duane Morris LLP
30 South 17th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103-4196
P: 215.979.1782 F: 215.979.1020
jgallagher@duanemorris.com
www.duanemorris.com
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