United States Patent and Trademark Office Adopts Texcel Information Manager for Electronic Patent Examination Initiative
Texcel's content management system to be an integral part of the electronic workplace for patent examiners
Cambridge, Mass. - December 16, 1998 — Texcel International announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has chosen Texcel Information Manager™ content management software as an integral part of its pilot project to develop an electronic workplace for patent examination.
The PTO is implementing an electronic patent and trademark submission, review, and publishing process that is aimed at decreasing the time required to grant patents. Each year, over 200,000 applications are received, with each application taking over 22 months to process before a patent is awarded. Since processing and maintaining paper-based applications has become increasingly time-consuming, error-prone and expensive, the PTO is moving to an automated system using electronic documents. The PTO plans to begin deploying the automated system by 2001 and is projecting savings of $20 million per year.
As part of this initiative, the PTO will incorporate electronic document interchange standards such as the International Standards Organization's SGML and, going forward, the World Wide Web Consortium's XML. Information tagged according to these standards can be shared among different computer systems, indexed for online searching, and published on the Web, CD-ROM and paper.
Texcel Information Manager, which provides industry-leading support for SGML/XML-tagged data, will be used to manage the content of applications as they go through the PTO's examination process. Information Manager provides secure database storage for the various components of a patent application and associated documents, as well as version control, workflow management, and online review and commenting.
"Texcel responded to our need for an SGML-compliant document and content management system that would help improve the examination process," said Dennis Shaw, Chief Information Officer of the U.S. PTO. "Texcel will help the PTO achieve its vision to electronically receive and process patent applications and electronically publish granted patents, which is part of our ongoing mission to protect the intellectual property rights of our constituents."
The PTO selected Texcel Information Manager after an analysis of commercially available document management tools. "The Texcel system scored high marks because of its advanced support for SGML/XML-tagged data as well as for its open programming APIs," stated Shaw. "Texcel makes it possible to customize and integrate the software with other systems in use at the PTO."
"We are pleased to be part of the PTO's strategic vision for an automated, secure, and efficient patent application process," said Bruce Wolman, CEO of Texcel International. "Texcel's mission is to provide content management solutions for leading organizations. Our work with the PTO is certainly in keeping with that."
About Texcel Information Manager
Texcel's flagship software system, Texcel Information Manager, is an XML and SGML content management system that provides workflow, version management, queries, electronic review and dynamic document assembly for multi-user authoring and editing environments.
Customers use the system to create intelligent content-driven applications such as interactive electronic technical manuals, Web- and CD-ROM-based reference materials, and on-demand research reports, as well as printed product and maintenance documentation.
About Texcel International
Founded in 1991, Texcel International has offices throughout Europe and the United States. NTT DATA represents Texcel in Japan. Among its customers are Deere & Company, Diebold Incorporated, Ericsson Telecom, Boeing Helicopter Systems, Philips Corporation, Thomson Corporation, Wolters Kluwer, and the U.S. Navy and Departments of Defense and Commerce.
Press contacts
| Texcel Research, Inc.: | Amy Krane |  +1 (617) 621-7004 |
| Sterling Hager, Inc.: | Beth Bryant | +1 (617) 926-6665 |
