Legal search is used to be able to search using specific legal parameters. Where the different categories you can search within are litigation, licensing, assignment, pledge and re-examination/invalidation. This is useful information to have because it will enable you to find out about particularly litigious companies, where licensing deals or re-assignments have taken place and where a particular company's patent(s) have been made invalid or have required re-examination.
Litigation
The first option that you can search using is litigation.
Each of the different jurisdictions has slightly different search options in terms of litigation which is due to the differences between their legal systems but they all have the same options in terms of the field search (which is the case for the other categories of legal search as well) as well as being able to search including English machine translations, as seen below, where you can find more information about these here: (What Are The Advanced Search Query Options?)
China
This is an explanation of each of these different options:
- Case Number - PatSnap will search within case numbers for what was inputted.
- Court Name - PatSnap will search within court names for what was inputted.
- Chief Judge - PatSnap will search within chief judge names for what was inputted.
- Judge - PatSnap will search within judge names for what was inputted.
- Plaintiff Name - PatSnap will search within plaintiff names for what was inputted.
- Defendant Name - PatSnap will search within defendant names for what was inputted.
- Filing Year - PatSnap will search for patents that had a case filed against them in this year.
- Verdict Date - PatSnap will search for patents which had a verdict in a case against them between the dates inputted. If the left-hand option is left blank then the search will be up to the date inputted on the right and if the right-hand option is left blank then the search will be from the date inputted on the left.
- Trial Grade - PatSnap will allow you to search for patents that have been given a specific trial level (first instance/second instance/retrial)
- Case Property - PatSnap will allow you to search for patents that have been given a specific case type (civil/administrative/execution/intellectual property)
- Case Region - PatSnap will allow you to search for patents that have had cases filed against them in a specific Chinese province.
- Title - PatSnap will search within case titles for what was inputted.
- Fulltext - PatSnap will search within the full text of the case file for what was inputted.
USA
This is an explanation of each of these different options:
- Case Number - Same as for China.
- Court Name - Same as for China.
- Chief Judge - Same as for China.
- Plaintiff Name - Same as for China.
- Defendant Name - Same as for China.
- Outcome of Judgement - PatSnap will allow you to search for patents by the outcome of the case filed against them, either input "plaintiff" or "defendant" to see results where each side won the case.
- Status - PatSnap will allow you to search for patents by the specific status that the case currently has.
- Date of Filed - PatSnap will search for patents where the case against them is filed between the dates inputted. If the left-hand option is left blank then the search will be up to the date inputted on the right and if the right-hand option is left blank then the search will be from the date inputted on the left.
- Date of Closed - PatSnap will search for patents where the case against them is closed between the dates inputted. If the left-hand option is left blank then the search will be up to the date inputted on the right and if the right-hand option is left blank then the search will be from the date inputted on the left.
Japan
All of these options have already been covered when discussing Chinese and American litigation search options, as seen above.
Great Britain
This is an explanation of each of these different options:
- Case Number - Same as for China, the USA and Japan.
- Court Name - Same as for China, the USA and Japan.
- Chief Judge - Same as for China, the USA and Japan.
- Plaintiff Name - Same as for China, the USA and Japan.
- Defendant Name - Same as for China, the USA and Japan.
- Outcome of Judgement - Same as for the USA.
- Hearing Date - PatSnap will search for patents that had a hearing for the case filed against them on the date inputted.
- Verdict Date - Same as for China and Japan.
- Trial Grade - Similar to China but the options are different here (first trial/appeal case)
- Title - Same as for China.
- Fulltext - Same as for China and Japan.
For more information on our litigation data, take a look at this page.
Licensing
The second option that you can search using is licensing.
The licensing search options look like this:
This is an explanation of each of these different options:
- Licensor - PatSnap will search within licensor names for what was inputted.
- Licensee - PatSnap will search within licensee names for what was inputted.
- Exclusivity - PatSnap will allow you to search for patents by the exclusivity of the licensing deals that have occurred regarding them (exclusive/non-exclusive/multi-exclusivity).
- Effective Date - PatSnap will search for patents where the date that a licensing deal for the patent has taken effect is between the dates inputted. If the left-hand option is left blank then the search will be up to the date inputted on the right and if the right-hand option is left blank then the search will be from the date inputted on the left.
Assignment
The third option that you can search using is assignment.
The assignment search options look like this:
This is an explanation of each of these different options:
- Assignor - PatSnap will search within assignor names for what was inputted.
- Assignee - PatSnap will search within assignee names for what was inputted (in this case it looks for current assignees that are not the original assignee, this is to make sure an assignment has actually taken place).
- Current Assignee - PatSnap will search within current assignee names for what was inputted.
- Effective Date - PatSnap will search for patents where the date that an assignment for the patent has taken effect is between the dates inputted. If the left-hand option is left blank then the search will be up to the date inputted on the right and if the right-hand option is left blank then the search will be from the date inputted on the left.
Pledge
The fourth option that you can search using is pledge. We currently only have pledge data for CN/US patents.
Each of these jurisdictions has slightly different search options in terms of pledge which is due to the differences between their legal systems.
China
This is an explanation of each of these different options:
- Pledgor - PatSnap will search within pledgor names for what was inputted.
- Pledgee - PatSnap will search within pledgee names for what was inputted.
- Pledge Number - PatSnap will search within pledge numbers for what was inputted.
- Effect Date - PatSnap will search for patents where the date that the pledge first comes into effect is between the dates inputted. If the left-hand option is left blank then the search will be up to the date inputted on the right and if the right-hand option is left blank then the search will be from the date inputted on the left.
- Pledge Type - PatSnap will allow you to search for patents by the type of pledge that is in effect for the patent.
The USA
All of these options have already been covered when discussing Chinese pledge search options, as seen above.
Re-examination/Invalidation
The fifth and final option that you can search using is re-examination/invalidation. We currently have re-examination/invalidation data for CN/US patents.
Each of these jurisdictions has slightly different search options in terms of re-examination/invalidation which is due to the differences between their legal systems.
China
This is an explanation of each of these different options:
- Decision Number - PatSnap will search within decision numbers for what was inputted.
- Type - PatSnap will allow you to search for patents by the type of re-examination/invalidation that has taken place or is currently taking place for the patent (re-examination/invalidation/oral hearing).
- Petitioner - PatSnap will search within petitioner names for what was inputted.
- Decision Date - PatSnap will search for patents where the date that a decision regarding re-examination/invalidation has been made for the dates inputted. If the left-hand option is left blank then the search will be up to the date inputted on the right and if the right-hand option is left blank then the search will be from the date inputted on the left.
- Decision Points - PatSnap will search for patents where the main points/basis for the decision in the case contain what was inputted.
- Decision - PatSnap will search for patents where the final decision of the case contains what was inputted.
- Full Decision - This may also be considered to be "full text" since this includes the case summary, the reason/the basis for the decision in the case, therefore, in this case, PatSnap will search for patents where the full text for the case contains what was inputted.
USA
This is an explanation of each of these different options:
- Decision Number - Same as for China.
- Type - Similar as for China but different options are available here (inter partes review/covered business method review/post-grant review)
- Petitioner - Same as for China.
- Decision Date - Same as for China.
- Decision - Same as for China.
