Toward an Automated First Impression on Patent Claim Validity: Algorithmically Associating Claim Language with Specific Rules of Law
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TOWARD AN AUTOMATED FIRST IMPRESSION
ON PATENT CLAIM VALIDITY:
ALGORITHMICALLY ASSOCIATING CLAIM
LANGUAGE WITH SPECIFIC RULES OF LAW
Aashish R. Karkhanis & Jenna L. Parenti'
CITE AS: 19 STAN. TECH. L. REV. 196 (2016)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Can an algorithm identify words that place patent claims at higher risk of
invalidation? Today's language processing software can hardly compete with a seasoned
legal professional in assessing claim quality. It may, however, uncover patterns that indicate
similarity of patent claim terms to others that have already been challenged in the courts.
This methodology quantitatively approximates the invalidity risk a patent claim faces based
on the similarity of its words to other claims adjudicated under a specific rule of law. In this
way, software-based linguistic analysis according to the methodology presented here provides
a starting point for efficiently and algorithmically generating a legal first impression on
the text of a patent claim.
'Tis study explores potential correlation of keywords to patent eligibility, a legal
doctrine restricting a patent's monopoly power to innovations of particular types. This
methodology explores the possibility of estimating risk for a particular claim, based on the
presence of keywords commonly seen in claims previously adjudicated for validity under a
specific rule of law. Such tools could efficiently reduce the scope of uncertainty for factors
indicating patent quality and provide alternatives to costly litigation for patent value
discovery.2
1 With many thanks to our colleagues at RPX Corporation for their outstanding
research assistance, expertise, and enthusiasm for this study; and to Prof. Lee Fleming of the
Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership at the University of California at Berkeley for his
and his students' perspectives on legal analytics.
1. 35 U.S.C. § 101 (2012) (Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process,
machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof,
may obtain a patent therefore, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.).
2. RPX Corp., 2014 NPE COST REPORT HIGH LEVEL FINDINGS (2015),
http://www.rpxcorp.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/RPX-2014-NPE-Cost-
Report-ZZFinal.pdf [https://perma.cc/NU4A-3EP6] (In the majority of NPE assertions, more
than half the cost to operating companies is legal cost.).
196](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/stantlr19&div=12&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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