Producing patents automatically

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A Method and System for Producing Patent Applications Automatically

Morgan N. Price, Inventor

Introduction

It is often difficult for a hi-tech firm to acquire capital unless it has filed patents. Unfortunately, each patent application is very expensive to produce: each patent application involves manual effort by skilled researchers and patent attorneys at a cost often exceeding US ,000. The high cost of patents creates a chicken-and-egg problem for entrepreneurs: which comes first, the patent or the money?

Previous inventions have supported the process of writing or analyzing a patent, e.g. JP11085799, System for automatically generating patent abstract; and JP11134399, System for preparing description for patent application and method thereof... But what the world really needs is a system for producing these patent applications automatically. Automatic production will eliminate today's restrictions on the flow of capital into the hi-tech industries, and will help entrepreneurs avoid the pesky challenges of working with socially deficient technical geniuses.

Description

A patent application includes a description of how what the invention is, what it does, why it is useful in some way, and claims of what is novel about it. For example, a gene patent might include the sequence of a gene, describe the effect of manipulating the gene or the corresponding protein in some way, and claim any product based on the gene or the protein.

One embodiment of this invention automates the process of writing gene patents. Automated technology already exists for determining the functions of newly discovered genes, and for verifying the novelty of the information about the gene and its function. Given this information, the system can write a patent application by simply filling out a template. More specifically, the process includes

expressing discovered genes,
determining function(s) for some of the genes by an series of automated assays,

(for example, that when a particular gene is turned on, the level of expression of some other gene goes up or down)

checking the novelty of the gene/function pair by searching for close matches in a gene database,
placing the gene sequence and function in a document template,
adding the system's digital signature to the application and to a money order, and
mailing the completed application to a patent office via a Web service.

This leads to claim 23

A process for producing at least one patent application, etc. etc., the at least one patent application being derived by fillling in a form with at least one gene and at least one function, the at least one function being determined by at least one assay, etc. etc.

Of course the terms "gene", "function," and "assay" are not intended to restrict the scope of this patent to genomics applications. That would be entirely too literal. In pharmaceutical discovery, a "gene" would be an existing or new chemical, the "sequence" would be its structure, and the "assay" might measure the rate of growth of a pathogen or tumor cell line, expression of a marker gene, etc, etc.

Finally, in its most general form, this invention can generate other inventions that generate inventions.

P.S. For further information about this patent, or to learn about my patented patent prose obfuscator, please contact me at morgannprice@yahoo.com

:-)