Skip to main content

Intellectual Property Materials on WestlawNext

This year more and more materials have migrated from Westlaw Classic to their permanent home in WestlawNext, including  intellectual property materials. According to Product Specialist Ryan Kaatz, by the end of the year, all intellectual property materials, including patents will have fully crossed-over to WestlawNext.

IP Tools are now available in WestlawNext and include the claims history of patents (showing all versions of the patent during the prosecution process) and a references cited section that allows users to quickly view all prior art cited in the patent application. Additionally, Asia Pacific and European patent materials have also migrated to WestlawNext.

One thing users should note is the method of accessing WestlawNext patent materials. On the WestlawNext home screen, the All Content tab separates materials included in general search of content through the search bar, and content that must be searched separately. There is a vertical line separating these materials, and Intellectual Property materials link  is on the right side of the line, and this not included in an “all content” search.



This is the link you should select in order to access patents and applications, assignment, cases, Markman orders and more.




Under the “Practice Areas” tab that links to relevant materials for  the subject matter, there is also an Intellectual Property link.


 This link, however, leads to the Intellectual Property Practitioner’s Insight page, designed to provide current awareness materials to IP practitioners. 



For the other practice area, some link to the most used content (e.g. Insurance Law), while others link to a Practitioner’s Insight page (e.g. Employment). Without clarity as to what content the user may expect, substantial confusion and frustration is likely to occur. So remember, in order to use patent and other IP materials on WestlawNext choose the link on the right-hand side of the “All Content” tab, not under the "Practice Areas" tab.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Amazing, but True, Deportation Story of Carlos Marcello

Earlier this week, the University of Houston Law Center was fortunate to have as its guest Professor Daniel Kanstroom of Boston College of Law. An expert in immigration law, he is the Director of the International Human Rights Program, and he both founded and directs the Boston College Immigration and Asylum Clinic. Speaking as the guest of the Houston Journal of International Law’s annual Fall Lecture Series, Professor Kanstroom discussed issues raised in his new book, Aftermath: Deportation Law and the New American Diaspora . Professor Michael Olivas introduced Professor Kanstroom to the audience, and mentioned the fascinating tale of Carlos Marcello, which Professor Kanstroom wrote about in his chapter “The Long, Complex, and Futile Deportation Saga of Carlos Marcello,” in Immigration Stories , a collection of narratives about leading immigration law cases. My interest piqued, I read and was amazed by Kanstroom’s description of one of the most interesting figures in American le...

This Day in Legal History -- Roy Cohn

Big lawyers have big personalities, and few had as big a personality as Roy Cohn who was born on this day in New York City in 1927. Cohn’s career was spent in the Washington DC—New York axis, famous in the press for his legal and social exploits, his list of famous and infamous clients, and as the poster-boy for every stereotype of the dishonest grasping lawyer. The legal career of Roy Cohn is an object lesson on the use, and abuse, of the lawyer’s power. Roy Cohn was born on February 20, 1927 in New York City. His father was a justice in the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court and was well connected politically. These connections, along with a precocious intelligence which allowed him to graduate from Columbia law school at age 20, paved the way for a bright legal career. Cohn’s first job (after waiting until he turned 21 to be admitted to the bar) was as an assistant U.S. Attorney in New York. He first came to prominence in his role as a prosecutor in the Rosenberg espi...

Lessons for Today from the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda

“Man’s inhumanity to man is not only perpetrated by the vitriolic actions of those who are bad. It is also perpetrated by the vitiating inaction of those who are good.” –Martin Luther King Jr.   Last week, I had the pleasure of attending  Professor Zachary D. Kaufman ’s presentation on  Lessons for Today from the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda  hosted by the  Johannesburg Holocaust & Geno cide Ce ntre . Among the many takeaways highlighted by Professor Kaufman and drawn from  Lessons from Rwanda: Post-Genocide Law and Policy   were ten simple yet profound lessons:   Lesson #1: Hate speech is dangerous.   To illustrate the role that hate speech played in the Rwandan genocide, Professor Kaufman discussed multiple forms of  propaganda , such as Kangura, Radio Rwanda, and RTLM “hate radio.”   He concludes that we must have limits, including with respect to social media, and further asserts that social media must do a better jo...