About Our Methodology*

Patent litigation analytics are available from numerous sources. But are they all reliable? Before putting analytics into actionable use, consider the following questions:

  • Is the dataset complete? If data is missing, does it impact the validity of the results?
  • Is the dataset cleaned, corrected, and normalized? For example, are misspelled names corrected?
  • How is unstructured data (like a legal document) converted to structured data? Is it done by humans? Algorithms?
  • Is the process transparent and is the underlying data available for independent analysis?

We collect raw data from government sources, including PACER, USPTO databases, ITC EDIS, PTAB E2E, and the FDA. Our US-based editors clean, normalize, and correct the data by hand. The refined data is reviewed by US attorneys who code, classify, and summarize the data, again by hand. We rely on algorithms only where they have been proven to consistently yield highly accurate results. Even then, the data is reviewed for accuracy. While we do not claim to be free from human error, our engineers have developed a series of checks and safety nets to identify gaps or inconsistencies in our data. Our data is available to Docket Navigator subscribers for independent review and analysis via our publicly available database.

our process

For a complete description of the data available in our database, visit our Scope of Data page.