The fact that a lawsuit has been filed can be an incredibly valuable piece of information, especially in the practice of patent law.
Today, Rethink(IP) announces the availability of another tool that allows you to acquire that valuable piece of information, every week with little to no effort.
Why is the existence of a lawsuit such a valuable piece of information?
First, the defendant might not know that he/she/it has been sued!
Your company, or your client, might have no idea that a patent lawsuit has been filed. How can this be? Remember that in the United States, a plaintiff has 120 days from the date of filing to serve a Complaint upon the defendant(s). To reserve a preferred venue/forum, many times a plaintiff will preemptively file the suit and not serve the Complaint, spending up to the next 120 days putting their case together, acquiring additional evidence, and (sometimes) attempting to settle the dispute.
Knowing that your company or client has been sued (but hasn't been served) can be priceless information when counseling them. How's that for a valuable "heads up"?
Second, the filing of a lawsuit can also be a valuable piece of competitive intelligence.
Knowing that competitor X just sued competitor Y may change discussions you're having with competitor X, Y, and/or A! It could also help in decision-making on several issues, such as marketing and product development. Best of all, it may allow you to monitor the case for information that might be helpful in a variety of situations.
We here at Rethink(IP) recognize the value of this information, and have created another RSS feed to deliver it to you.
The new RSS feed covers US patent lawsuit filings. We plan to update the feed at least weekly -- an interval that we expect will deliver value in a timely manner.
Each item in the feed will contain information on the lawsuits filed in the prior period (e.g., the past week). For each individual lawsuit, the names of the parties, name of the district court, and the case number.
A sample weekly report appears at the bottom of this post.
The RSS feed is available here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RethinkIP_SUITS_PATENT
If you don't use an RSS aggregator (blog reader) and would like to subscribe to the feed via email, enter your e-mail address in the following form box and click the button:
Or you can subscribe via your favorite web service:
Remember, if you want to learn about RSS and need help, feel free to contact any of us.
Comments, questions, suggestions...let us know. snipper@gmail.com
EXAMPLE POST DATA
HULL vs. ROTHHAMMER INTERNATIONAL, INC.
Court: candce
3:2005cv03538
Filed: 9/1/2005
ALZA CORPORATION vs. IMPAX LABORATORIES INC.
Court: dedce
1:2005cv00642
Filed: 9/1/2005
NOVO NORDISK A/S vs. SANOFI-AVENTIS
Court: dedce
1:2005cv00645
Filed: 9/2/2005