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TIP Tool Terminology

Abandoned Application – Once the Applicant intends to abandon their patent rights it becomes abandoned even though not designated that way at the patent office. If the Applicant is non-responsive to actions from the patent office or fails to pay fees, an application becomes abandoned. The Applicant can also expressly abandon a patent with the patent office. 

Account – Defined by emails/domains whitelisted for Magic Link access. There must be an Admin Role with account credentials, but that can be any of the Manager, Inventor, or Prosecutor Role. Where the Prosecutor Role is the Account holder, they are the Admin Role by default.

Account Holder – Person who has login access to the TIP tool. The Account Holder always has the Admin Role for the Account if there is only one for the Account. Payments are only possible from Account Holders, but temporary and limited access can be given by the Admin Role to others whitelisted for the account. The Admin Role can be moved to whoever is responsible for payments where there are multiple Account Holders.

Admin Panel – Allows Admin Role to modify setting for a given Account. A prosecutor with multiple client accounts will have separate Admin Panels for each and can switch context between them.

Admin Role – The Role of the Account Holder that has login access to the account. For paid tiers, this individual has entered payment information. Admin rights for the Account are held by the Admin Role. There can be multiple individuals with Admin Roles on the Account.

Applicant – Party applying for the patent application. This can be the Inventor(s) or Assignee.

Application – An unissued matter filed at the patent office is an Application. Some Applications may be abandoned and others issued as a Patent.

Portfolio – The TIP tool can switch context between multiple domains that might be setup for different companies, divisions, labs, clients, etc. that have different Portfolios. Switching Portfolio allows management of different groups of matters. For example, a prosecutor may switch between different clients who each have their own Portfolios. There is no bleed of data between Portfolios unless the user introduces overlap manually.

Expired Patent – A Patent that was once enforceable and either past its full term or was abandoned.

Function Tab – Different functions of the TIP Tool are broken down into a tabbed interface. Additional tabs may be added or removed based upon your tier of service and various enhancements to the TIP Tool. Even though the interface breaks down things by tab, the underlying data in your portfolio is linked together regardless of the presentation layer.

Idea – This is the lowest common denominator of the patent system. The patent office only allows one idea or innovation to be examined in each application, although the Specification may disclose many different ideas.  The TIP Tool is organized around ideas in the Idea Manager and applications in the Portfolio Manager.

Idea Form – It is a form to capture an invention and surrounding details with the intent of possibly patenting. It is also popularly known as Invention Disclosure Form (IDF).

Idea Manager – Function tab in the TIP Tool that allows capture of new ideas and move them between various phases in the pre-filing pipeline.

Inventor Role – Each matter allows entry of inventor emails who each have the Inventor Role. Once a matter is filed at the patent office, the inventor is defined by who is listed at the patent office. The Idea Manager is locked down for the Inventor Role to only see ideas where they are listed and movement in the pipeline is restricted along with other options the Manager Role might specify.

Magic Link – To make access to TIP frictionless, single-use links can be emailed to any email address or domain whitelisted by the Owner. This removes the need for an account login and uses the security of your email system to lock down access to only those individuals who are whitelisted to access according to their Role.

Manager – Role that is specified for a particular idea or filing. The specified manager(s) can move the idea in the pre-filing pipeline, specify value, assign counsel, and/or other things that an inventor role cannot.  By default, the Admin Role is also the Manager Role where there is a single Account Holder.

Matter – This may be an Idea in the Idea Manager or Portfolio Tabs. Multiple Ideas may be mapped to a filed matter. Where there are multiple ideas in an Application, the user specifies which is claimed and which are disclosed in the TIP Tool when transitioning to the drafting phase.

Novelty – One of the universal requirements across the world needed before your patent application would be approved.  Another way to think of this is that if your innovation lacks novelty over the Prior Art, you were not the inventor.

Patent – Claimed Idea that was issued and enforceable in the given jurisdiction issuing the Patent. The attached claims define the scope of the patent and not the description in the Specification.

Patentability Score – Likelihood the idea would issue as a patent. This score is dynamic and can change throughout the phases of the process.

Patent Term – Once an Application is issued, it begins its Patent Term and can be enforced in court through a legal proceeding. An Expired Patent has ended its Patent Term by being expressly abandoned, cancelled by the patent office or administrative challenge or through non-payment of annuities or patent taxes. The patent term is 20 years from the earliest non-provisional priority date plus any patent term extension granted by the patent office due to their delay.

Phase – Is the different stages of a matter as it progresses through the process. Before filing, we have the capture, vetting, drafting, and filed phases. For each filed matter, we have the argument, granted, issued, and expired phases.

Pipeline – The workflow concept of an idea progressing through the various phases of the process. Process management of the pipeline is a goal of the TIP Tool to efficiently achieve the enterprise goals.

Prior Art – Any patent or other publication that predates your innovation’s priority date.  Prior art that discloses your innovation means your patent application lacks novelty.

Portfolio – The entire set of Ideas, Applications and Patents for a given assignee. There may be several different assignees in some cases for the same Portfolio.

Prosecutor – An individual licensed to represent others in front of the Patent Office.

Prosecutor Role – The Role of attorney or agent licensed to practice patent law in the jurisdiction. Must have an active registration number in the U.S. that is stored in the TIP tool.

Role – Individuals have four Roles at TIP, namely, Admin, Manager, Inventor, and Prosecutor. Each has a different perspective into the Account with different access. The Account holder is the Admin Role by default even though they may have other Roles too. Roles are not mutually exclusive so that access/functionality increases with the different roles of an individual.

Slate™ – Patent viewer tool that reformats a specification to make it more readable on a computer screen. Sections are moved around into a more logical format along with other enhancements. 

Specification – This is the entire patent application with claims, detailed description, figures, etc. and forms the four corners of your Application. The specification should be more comprehensive than the claims, but cannot be augmented after filing without at least partially changing the priority date for any new matter.

Tag – Filter term specified by a user or automatically generated for each matter under management by the TIP Tool. The inventor, manager, docket number, serial number, examiner, prosecutor, firm, and other fields are tags that can be used to filter your portfolio.

TIP – Acronym for Triangle IP, Inc.

TIP Tool – SAS software for organizing your patent portfolio from innovation through issuance and beyond. The basic functionality is broken down into Idea Manager and Portfolio tabs although additional functionality can be added through consulting services, additional tabs, mini tools, etc.

USPTO – United States Patent and Trademark Office is the agency that registers all patents and trademarks. There are patent offices across the world as patent rights are acquired country-by-country except for certain regional patents that allow coordinating some or all of the patent process.

Value Score – Subjective scoring by users that indicates the value of the idea (as claimed or that will be claimed) to the assignee. This can change over time and the trend is archived. The score may be completely different when contemplating the enforcement of the patent.