Patent Caddie, from Verist Business Research Pvt Ltd, is an innovative patent drafting software that may serve as a handy tool for easy, error-free patent filing.

The work of an innovator doesn’t end at the creation of intellectual property. What ensues is a tedious process of filing a patent application to safeguard the IP. But now this daunting task has been made easier, thanks to Patent Caddie, Verist Business Research’s software application that will not only make patent drafting simpler for entrepreneurs and individual inventors, but even for patent professionals.

Patent Caddie is aimed at automating the patent drafting process, reducing the number of errors, and enabling users to cut the cost and time involved in patent prosecution. Says Arjun Anand, founder and CEO, Verist, “From our experience, we have learned that a lot of patents are drafted and filed by the inventors themselves, for a variety of reasons. Often, it is seen that minor errors lead to office actions (after examining the patent application, the patent office issues an official report stating the objections (if any) to the grant of patent which is called an office action or an examination report. The term ‘Office Action’ is used to refer to such correspondences issued by the United States Patent Office and the corresponding terminology used in the Indian context is ‘Examination Report’). Ignorance or improper understanding of the patent rules and regulations frequently leads to these errors.

“Patent Caddie will enhance the communication between inventors and attorneys (in circumstances where an inventor uses an attorney to draft and file the application). Inventors will be able to draft extensive and detailed Invention Disclosure Statements enabling their attorneys to better understand the invention in question, which would eventually lead to better and stronger patent protection for the invention.”

Patent Caddie is built on the Java platform, and uses a range of pattern-recognition technologies. “As regards the back-end logic, we have filed a few patents and cannot disclose any information till the patents are published at the Indian Patent Office. Patent Caddie, in its subsequent versions, will use a proprietary indexing and search technology, that has been specially created keeping patents and patent claims in mind,” reveals Anand.

Catering to inventors’ needs, globally

The rules and regulations relating to patents are not universal. While drafting and filing the patent application in a particular jurisdiction, it is very important to follow the rules prescribed by the Patent Act applicable in that jurisdiction. Anand elucidates with an example, saying, “In the US patent drafts, the paragraphs are usually numbered, but this is not preferred by the Indian Patent Office. Also, inventions patentable in some jurisdictions may not be patentable in another jurisdiction. Knowledge of these important aspects will help inventors in drafting their patents in a better way, and can avoid office actions (which again is a very costly and time-consuming affair), making the process of obtaining a patent simpler. The Patent Caddie versions incorporate these features based on the jurisdiction.”