The Law, Science & Technology Program at Stanford Law School this week launched the Stanford Intellectual Property Litigation Clearinghouse (IPLC), a first-of-its-kind online database that offers comprehensive information about intellectual property disputes within the United States. This publicly available, online research tool will enable users to review real-time data about IP legal disputes that have been filed across the country. The database includes data summaries, industry indices, and trend analysis together with a full-text search engine, providing detailed and timely information that cannot be found elsewhere in the public domain, according to its developers. The law school is releasing the IPLC in phased modules, starting with the Patent Litigation Module, which includes more than 23,000 cases filed in U.S. district courts since 2000 and all results (outcomes and opinions). “Patent litigation is a big risk for most companies because there is great uncertainty about the outcome,” said Mark Lemley, who spearheaded the development of the IPLC and directs Stanford’s Law, Science & Technology Program. “The IPLC … allows lawyers to research factors in litigation and help them arrive at more rational business decisions — before they litigate. Similarly, it allows judges to define what patent terms mean based on past cases and interpretations and to rely on data to inform settlement negotiations. We built this tool in part so that lawyers and judges could get more certainty.” The database is also intended as a tool to rely on empirical data, rather than anecdote and “myth,” in assessing legal trends such as the impact of patent trolls, Lemley adds. “We have concrete data at our fingertips for the first time,” said Gordon Davidson, chairman of IP law firm Fenwick & West, who is also a Stanford alum and advisor to the Law, Science & Technology Program. “Now, in addition to offering our clients the best legal talent, we can use the IPLC to help our clients make more deeply informed business decisions about the merits of litigation –based on the history of similar IP lawsuits, on court rulings by jurisdiction, the average cost of settlement, and other intelligence.” Go to: BusinessWire

Posted December 10th, 2008 under Tech Transfer

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