Release Notes

Version 2024 Released

March, 2024

• New! New Generative AI features (+Drafting version only)
• Pass figures and supplemental information to GPT vision models to analyze your figures and write figure descriptions
• Connect ClaimMaster to locally running LLMs
• New! Download machine translations of abstracts, descriptions, claims of foreign pubs from EPO
• Fill out specialized Patent Center forms (e.g., ADS, RCE) with biblio data
• Improved import of publication numbers from Excel and CSV files
• Import of configured settings from previous backed up files
• Batch import of shell templates from directories
• Extra replacement fields of OA shells (112 1st/2nd rejections, Executive OA Summary table)
• Improved handling of NPL references in Office Actions
• Improved UI allowing to hide errors/warnings from view
• Improved DOCX issues reporting
• Fixes to patent family tree generator
• Other bug fixes and improvements

Version 2023.7 Released

November, 2023

• New! All new GPT improvements (+Drafting version only)
• All application drafting tools now permit post-processing rewriting/editing with GPT
• Edit/rewrite any selected text in the Word document with GPT
• Store and re-use example output with your GPT templates for better results
• Additional customizations for flowchart and example clause generation tools (+Drafting)
• New! Office Action Assistant can now download cited prior art (+Shells version only)
• Various formatting cleanup fixes to OA shell generation tools (+Shells)
• Improved import of biblio data from Patent Center interface
• Updated all GUI to remove references to PAIR after shut down
• Fixes to amendment/identifier cleanup when operating on the same document
• Added an option to include spaces when converting from Track Changes formatting
• Fixes for scaling issues with task pane on displays with high DPI settings
• Other bug fixes and improvements

Version 2023.5 Released

October, 2023

• New! Integration with OpenAI and Azure OpenAI GPT for patent drafting and Office Action analysis (+Drafting and +Shells versions) – use GPT with pre-defined prompts populated with ClaimMaster data to draft application sections, paraphrase sentences, define terms, summarize text, and much more. Integrate with your own OpenAI or Azure OpenAI API account to use more advanced GPT models and remove limits for the generated text length.
• New! Generate figure description text blocks from templates (+Drafting)
• New! Manual import of bibliographic data from public/private Patent Center
• New! Significantly re-worked and improved Office Action analysis and Shell generation tools. Reuse original rejections text from Office Actions in your shells or summarize OAs using Open AI or Azure OpenAI GPT (+Shells).
• Supplement US patent family trees sourced from EPO with biblio data from Patent Center
• Fixes to application # representation in family trees
• Generate multiple USPTO forms at once using pre-defined groups
• Custom file naming templates for USPTO forms and prior art pulled from Office Actions
• Improved PDF patent/publication downloading from the USPTO
• Reduced false positives when performing antecedent basis checking
• Fixes to scaling issues for task pane windows on smaller displays
• Other bug fixes and improvements

Version 2023 Released

April, 2023

• Completely revised UI with reporting and drafting windows opening inside Word’s task panes and moving with the open Word documents
• Improved HTML and PDF/Word reports
• More options for report generation
• Compacted reports for faster generation and sharing
• Improved HTML report layout for reviewing and searching
• Check claim terms for support using a separate specification document
• Improved part number editing tools
• Simplified interface for adding keyword search rules
• Boilerplate assistant for quicker entering/searching of boilerplate entries
• Improved claims diff
• Compare claims between amendments in file history downloaded from the Patent Center
• Much faster results in easier to view HTML format
• Very fast patent family tree generation using data from the EPO
• IDS tools improvements
• Download lists of IDS citations (both publications + NPL) from Google Patents, Free Patents Online, and Espacenet
• Pull all IDS references for the entire patent family (+Shells only)
• Compare IDS citations between patent families (+Shells only)
• +Shells tool improvements
• Completely reworked OA analysis and shell generation tools
• Store username/password for Private PAIR login
• Updated USPTO forms
• +Drafting tools improvements
• Generate Example Clauses sections from claims
• Additional and sticky settings for flowchart generation
• Fixed initialization issues in some Windows 11 and Mac’s Parallels environments
• Fixed equation parsing in claims

Version 2022.6 Released

October, 2022

• Fixes to deal with the shutdown of the USPTO’s PatFT and AppFT databases:
• IDS data is pulled from Google Patents, OPS, or Espacenet (web)
• Patent images/PDFs are pulled from Google Patents, Free Patents Online (FPO), or Espacenet (web)
• Patent text is now pulled from Google Patents, FPO, or OPS
• Other minor fixes and improvements

Version 2022.5 Released

August, 2022

• New! Full integration with Patent Center (“PC”)
• Generate patent family trees using data from PC
• Pull bibliographic data from PC
• Download all types of PDF/XML/DOCX documents from PC
• Pull IDS submissions from other applications based on PC data
• Compare IDS filings between patents/applications using PC data
• Pull the latest claims directly from PC when generating Office Action Response shells
• +Drafting tools improvements
• Advanced claim transformations using Javascript
• New! Renumber figures and part #s in the Drawings
• Import patent drafting templates from other files
• Improvements to claim cloning
• Fixes to amendment conversion and cleanup utilities
• Other minor fixes and improvements

Version 2022 Released

May, 2022

• New! Advanced patent application drafting tools (+Drafting add-on)
• New! Create application document shells
• New! Clone method claims into other statutory claim types
• New! Generate figures and corresponding descriptions from libraries
• New! Generate flowcharts and corresponding descriptions
• New! Generate Summary and Abstract sections
• New! Extensively configurable templates, variables, and styles
• New! Add paragraph #s to patent applications
• New! Renumber figures and part #s in the specification
• Improvements to UI to fix scaling and display issues on high-DPI monitors
• Updates to USPTO forms, includes SB08a
• Updates to PEDs interface
• Improved installer with 64-bit/32-bit installation override option
• Improved settings reset
• Other minor fixes and improvements

Version 2021.10 Released

October, 2021

• New! Proofreading of bibliographic information in document headers
• New! Post-grant claims review tool
• New! Downloading of file wrappers from PEDs
• New! Document map tool to help navigate documents
• New! Matrix dependency view for nested multiple dependent claims (EP style)
• New! Patent Reader now lets you download patent family and file wrapper information
• New! Generate brief figure description of figures from the Specification
• Fix for outdated web/PDF browsing Office controls
• Fix for the license renewal issues in Office 365 Click-to-Run installations
• Reporting windows can be resized and font size can be adjusted for readability
• Significant speed improvements to part number and acronym processing (64-bit version)
• Improved antecedent basis checking, parsing settings, and reporting
• Faster and more concise all-in-one reports
• Improved embedded figure sizing in PDF reports
• Fixed cookies issues for downloading of PDFs from the EPO website
• Faster downloading of PDFs from Google
• Cleaned up “patent profanity” rules to remove some common false positives
• Fixed issues with importing of patent numbers from documents for IDS generation
• Fixed handling of extra spaces around status indicators
• Updated automated access to Private PAIR
• Updated IDS issues with formatting of inventor names and wrong issue dates
• Other minor fixes and improvements

Version 2021 Released

December, 2020

• New! Proofreading figures for formatting informalities
• New! Improved figure and antecedent basis HTML reports
• New! Auto-suggest for part names
• Improved part number error detection with reduced false positives
• New! Integration with Patent Center for quick file wrapper downloading
• New! Custom download file names
• New! Customizable download filters for PAIR/Patent Center downloads
• New! Auto-detection of fields for Office Action shell conversion
• New! Snippets of OA citations (in image format) into OA shells
• New! Insertion of direct prior links into annotated Office Actions
• New! Detection of inherency and Official Notice arguments in Office Actions
• New! Patent Reader for easy review of patents, publications, and applications
• New! Improved HTML family trees with bibliographic data tables
• New! Improved identification of various document sections
• New! Optional software usage monitoring/statistics
• Improved antecedent basis error detection with reduced false positives
• Fixes to IDS SB08 form generation
• Updates to the latest claim fees and USPTO forms
• Other minor fixes and improvements

Version 2020 Released

April, 2020

• New! Significant improvements to Office Action analysis and shell generation, including Office Action Drafting Assistant
• New! Verify applications for various DOCX issues prior to the USPTO submissions
• New! Use of the USPTO’s fast PEDs service for generating family tree and pulling bibliographic data
• New! Generation of family trees with foreign patent family members
• New! Downloads and report manager
• New! Annotate figures with part names
• New! Improved IFW and patent downloading features
• New! Client matter tracker
• HTML report improvements
• Other minor fixes and improvements

Version 2019.5 Released

October, 2019

• New! Improvements to speed, stability, and patent proofreading reports
• New! Significant improvements to shells, forms, and PAIR tools
• New! Pan & zoom for patent family trees
• New! Extract and compare IDS information between SB08 forms (XFA format)
• Fixed PDF downloading for foreign patent numbers with kind code
• Fixed antecedent basis detection issues on French/Germans versions of Office
• Improved antecedent basis preferences and fewer ambiguous false positives
• Improved Summary section generation from claims
• Improved Private PAIR automation widget
• Streamlined menus and preferences
• Updates to the USPTO forms
• Fixes to Office 365 licensing/activation issues
• Other minor fixes and improvements

Version 2019.1.0 Released

May 2019

• Significant speed and stability improvements for the 64-bit Office version
• Revised automation to handle internal changes in Private PAIR
• Improvements to the part-of-speech (POS) tagger
• Improvements to the IDS generation
• Other fixes and improvements

Version 2019.0.0 Released

January 2019

• New! Stand-alone HTML reports built with modern web interfaces
• Intuitive, user-friendly, and easier to review
• Dynamic highlighting and suggestion features
• Smart searching
• Up to 50% faster report generation
• New! All PAIR automation features updated to deal with the USPTO changes to the portal
• Persistent Private PAIR widget that keeps the authenticated session open
• Revised automation for Public PAIR
• Improvements to antecedent checking
• Embed inline comments in claims that do not affect AB checking
• Option to keep original document styles when generating clean claims
• Other fixes and improvements

Version 2018.9.0 Released

September, 2018

• New! Generate figures from method claims in Visio/PPT formats
• New! All-improved specification support search feature for claim terms/words
• New! Auto-complete/suggestions of part numbers and acronyms using boilerplate tools
• New! Check bibliographic data in your documents against USPTO data
• New! Generate shell emails for client reporting
• New! Shell generation wizard to simplify creation of shells
• New! Identify potentially mistyped (but still correctly spelled) terms not consistent with the usage in the document
• New! Automatic login to Private PAIR and EFS-Web pages using stored credentials
• Many improvements to Office Action analysis and shell generation tools, including new replacement fields
• Improved highlighting/reporting interfaces for all proofreading features
• Improvements to IDS generation
• All downloading features now correctly handle of 10M+ patent numbers
• Improvements to foreign patent downloading, including biblio data and PDFs
• Save patent family tree data in Excel format
• Improved tools for repairing/fixing ClaimMaster installations
• Improved handling of citations with foreign characters in IDS forms
• Improvements to antecedent checking to reduce false positives
• Installer detects the original end-user prior to elevation
• Fixes to many reported bugs and other small improvements

Version 2018.2.0 Released

April, 2018

• Improved claim renumbering operations, especially handling of multiple-dependent claims
• Major speed improvements for part number and antecedent checking, including handling of large documents
• Fixed downloading of design patents from the USPTO
• Improved display of licensing/installation information
• Simplified installation process for administrative users installing for target users
• Installer now allows users to choose whether to overwrite/backup certain settings
• Automatic detection of ClaimMaster template/version mismatch to avoid stale template issues
• Fixed issues related to Word’s “keep original formatting” copy & paste for claims with tracked changes
• Fixes/improvements for Office Action summary generation and shell templates
• Fixed some false antecedent issues
• Improved identification of document sections
• Fixed Private PAIR time-out issues for generating patent family trees
• Fixed time-out issues when accessing EPO’s espacenet
• Updated the latest USPTO excess claim fees
• Highlighting of claim terms and part numbers in claim charts
• Fixed page numbering issues for EFS Web document uploads
• Other minor bug fixes improvements
  

Version 2018 Released

October, 2017

• Major overhaul of the graphical user interface to replace all instances of obsolete Microsoft controls with stable, faster controls
• Resolves various crashes after Microsoft security updates related to obsolete controls
• Improved display speed & stability for large treeviews and tables within the tool

• Download assignment data from PAIR
• Downloading of DOCX files from Private PAIR
• Private PAIR login profiles for multiple users
• Pre-loading of Private PAIR cache from custom locations
• Additional replacement tags for OA shells
• Improved stability for slower Public PAIR downloading/family tree generation

• Significantly improved analysis and prior art detection accuracy
• Processing of Office Actions stored in USPTO’s new DOCX format
• Highlighting of rejections in the Office Action
• Annotated Office actions with rejection highlights and bookmarks

• Compare claims in existing application to the claims in a published patent – good for proofreading patents post-issuance
• Compare claims in existing application to claims in a file

Version 4.7 Released

July, 2017

• Fixed the simultaneous ClaimMaster review/document edit issue - you can now fix issues in your documents while reviewing them in ClaimMaster (e.g., missing antecedents, incorrect part numbers, etc.) and the location of the errors identified by ClaimMaster will remain correct even after the document is edited
• Added local cache for bibliographic data used to fill-out USPTO forms, IDSs, and shell templates – greatly improves form generation speed. Import all bibliographic data directly from Private PAIR XML or docketing tools (CSV format). [ProPlus & LitePlus only].
• Improved shell templates with many additional replacement fields for flexible template design [ProPlus & LitePlus only]
• Customizable citations of prior art references in the Office Action summaries
• Include various bibliographic information from PAIR (e.g., inventor name, examiner, title, art unit, etc.) into the family tree graphs
• Fixed handling of grouped dependencies in multiple dependent claims
• Resolved issues with IDS data downloading from the EPO’s OPS database caused by OPS server throttling
• Fixed PDF downloading issues caused by changes to the EPO’s espacenet website
• Removed duplicate dependent claims listing when using “Create Application Summary Section from Claims” feature
• Antecedent checking improvements
• Fixed layout issues in stand-alone reports
• Fixed various localization issues on foreign versions of Windows
• Other small bug fixes & improvements

Version 4.5 Released

February, 2017

Fillable USPTO Forms and Word Shells [ProPlus & LitePlus only]

• Fill-out most of the official USPTO forms and Word shells with downloaded bibliographic data and custom replacement fields storing attorney/firm information

IDS Tool Improvements

• Prior to generating the IDS form for an application, use PAIR to identify any pending related applications that might need the same IDS submission
• Generate IDS forms for a set of patent applications (with individually filled-out header information and certification pages)
• Automatically fill-out signature fields on the confirmation page

Improved EPO Data Sources

• ClaimMaster now downloads various bibliographic data and patent documents for non-US patents/application using EPO’s Open Patent Services (OPS) interface, resulting in significantly faster, more reliable downloads and better PDF quality, including TOC bookmarks in patents

Enhanced Proofreading of Figures

• ClaimMaster’s new interface lets you simultaneously review part numbers in the figures AND the specification, ensuring maximum proofreading efficiency

Numerous PAIR Downloading Improvements

• When processing eOfficeActions, ClaimMaster will pull all documents from PAIR from the same date, even those not cited in the eOfficeAction
• Simply drag & drop one or more e-Office action emails from Outlook into the text box to start the PAIR downloads
• Downloading specific documents from PAIR, such as foreign references or non-patent literature (NPL).
• Download issued patents or publications from USPTO using U.S. application numbers

Claim Comparison Improvements

• Improved comparison feature, which now shows both additions and deletions between claims in a format that is similar to track changes

OCR Improvements

• SmartOCR option – when processing Office Actions, only OCR the Examiner’s rejections and cited references, skipping OCR of other sections for faster OCR experience

User Interface Enhancements

• Minimize various forms, such as IDS generator, PAIR, and patent downloaders to system toolbar to continue working on your computer without interruption.
• Right-click on downloaded documents to send as attachments in Outlook or send to default printer

Other

• Compatibility with the latest Office 2016/365 updates
• Immediate link to help for each feature
• Lots of other bug fixes & small improvements to many features

Version 4.0 Released

June, 2016

• Batch download file histories for multiple patents/applications from PAIR
• Cut & paste E-Office Action text into ClaimMaster to download the new USPTO correspondence from Private PAIR (use stored password/certificate location for automated log-in) [ProPlus & LitePlus only]
• Apply document or date filters to only download documents of specific types or within specified date ranges (e.g., Office Action responses within the last 6 months)
• Download various bibliographic information about patent applications (Examiner name, Art Unit, date filed, etc.) to populate headers in IDS forms (SB08 & 1449), shell Office Action responses, or export data to Excel.
• Improved stability and speed – removed reliance on the default Internet Explorer for accessing the PAIR site
• New:  Shell Office Action Responses [ProPlus & LitePlus only] – instantaneously generate shell responses using predefined templates.  ClaimMaster will auto-populate headers (e.g., Examiner name, Art Unit, App. No.) and other fields in the templates, including claims from previous responses with updated status indicators, summary of rejections from the Office Actions, etc.

• Much more accurate rejection/objection parsing (reference names are verified from the USPTO/EPO databases)
• Automatically download PDFs of the cited references from the USPTO/EPO
• Generate summary of rejections and identify unaddressed claims
• Generate shell Office Action responses based on built-in templates [ProPlus & LitePlus only]

OCR Integration [ProPlus & LitePlus only]:

• OCR any PDF documents downloaded from the USPTO or stored on your computer.  This feature is also integrated in the PAIR Data Downloading and OA Analysis tools.

Automatic Boilerplate Paragraphs

• store and quickly insert boilerplate, formatted paragraphs into your documents from easily customizable templates.   Quickly share boilerplate templates with your colleagues.  Works with Word 2007 or later versions.
  

IDS Improvements:

• populate headers in SB08 and 1449 forms with bibliographic information obtained from either Public PAIR (all versions) or Private PAIR [ProPlus & LitePlus only]
• export downloaded bibliographic data to Excel/CSV format

• Private PAIR integration - more stable platform for evaluating large patent families, which does not require periodic authentication via CAPTCHA
• Identify inconsistent dependencies and inventor names
• Control arrow directions and insert color legends
• Download PDFs of  identified US patents in the family
• Improved stability and speed – removed reliance on the default Internet Explorer for accessing the PAIR site

• Instantaneous access/review PDFs of the downloaded patents.
• Improved document downloads from the EPO

• Command line silent install with automatic activation/custom template directory placement
• Improved handling of placeholder claims (e.g., 1x3) during renumbering
• Improved import of part numbers from the PDF and PowerPoint documents
• Optional removal of extra spaces when processing amendments
• Missing spaces between words are fixed in the generated claim charts
• Improved update availability checking
• Fixed import of recent publication #s into IDS tool
• Updated excess claim fees for EPO
• Verified Office 2016 support
• Many other small fixes and improvements
  

Version 3.4 Released

October 1, 2015

• Windows 10 compatibility
• Greatly enhanced documentation
• Significantly improved stability across all features
• Identification of parts in the specification with missing part numbers
• Large multiple-dependent claim sets no longer cause the software to hang
• Updated SB08 form and excess claim fees
• Improved handling of cancelled and withdrawn claim groups
• Improvements to antecedent checking accuracy
• Improved installation/activation for non-administrative users
• Various other minor improvements and bug fixes

Version 3.3 Released

April 30, 2015

• All-new, improved summary reports with full citations, visual claim trees, error highlighting, figure proofreading, suggestions, and printing to PDF for Word 2010-13
• No need to parse claims! Every feature can be invoked directly
• Claim browsing enhancements , including dynamic claim trees that show overlaid claim text
• Correct parsing of claims with limitations organized as multi-level bullet lists
• Improved recognition of proper claim regions; last claim in the set no longer picks up text from the Remarks section
• Improved accuracy of antecedent checking by default, strict checking is enforced so that any mismatches between terms
• All stand-alone reports & UI windows now provide suggestions for fixing errors
• Improvements to parts checking/editing
• Fixed downloading of kind codes for foreign references
• Fixed downloading of info/documents for EPO references and pre-2004 WO references.
• Fixed downloading of inventor information for pre-1976 US patents
• Consistent inventor naming for US applications
• ClaimMaster installer warns if installation is attempted with the 64-bit Office (currently not supported)
• Uninstall of the software prompts users to deactivate the automatically software license on the computer
• New administrative tools for deploying templates to multiple users for server installations
• Various other minor improvements and bug fixes

Version 3.2 Released

November 25, 2014

• Significantly improved parsing/reduced false positives for reference #s
• Reduced false positives for antecedent checking
• Updated a list of available status indicators to comply with MPEP 714.II.C
• Shortcut buttons for amendment/status indicator operations
• Fixed crash in antecedent checking/acronyms that happened in localized versions of Windows (German, French, etc.)
• Fixed handling of multi-level looping dependencies
• Fixed crashes due to hidden highlights removed with tracked changes
• Fixed problems with Summary section generator
• Fixed new version checking
• Release includes a number of other minor bug fixes and improvements

Version 31 Released

September 18, 2014

• ClaimMaster supports Ribbon interface for Word 2007-2013
• Improvement/fixes to IDS generation (kind codes, XDP file export, and more)
• Improvements to antecedent checking
• Fixed highlighting/track changes/hidden text issues
• Various other minor improvements and bug fixes

Version 3.0 Released

February 19, 2014

• Significant improvements to patent downloading and IDS generation
• Generation of application Summary section from claims
• Batch mode for patent family tree generator
• Batch editing of part numbers
• Various minor improvements and bug fixes

Version 2.9 Released

August 5, 2013

• Improved handling of "tracked changes" amendments
• Conversion of "tracked changes" amendments to hard amendments
• Improvements to IDS generation, claim parsing, patent downloading
• Various bug fixes

Version 2.8 Released

January 28, 2013

• Major speed improvements
• Improved license management and system utilities
• Improvements to claim renumbering, reference parts checking, claim comparison, IDS generation, and GUI
• Various bug fixes

Version 2.7 Released

September 26, 2012

• Auto-completion of element names/numbers as you are typing the application
• Import/export of element names and numbers to & from Excel
• Insertion of element numbers into claims (per EPO practice)
• Ability to compare claims between different files and patents
• Drag & drop claim renumbering
• Enhancements to IDS generator
• Various bug fixes

Version 2.5 Released

February 5, 2012

• Downloading of file wrappers, assignment, and maintenance data from the USPTO
• Generation of patent family trees
• Improved claim tree graphics
• Text search with citations
• Enhancements to IDS-related features
• Many minor improvements & bug fixes

Version 2.15 Released

July 6, 2011

• Improvements to patent downloading features (including batch downloading of patent PDFs from PTO/EPO)
• Enhancements to IDS-related features
• Analysis of Office Actions and patent file histories
• Improvements to rule editing and report-reviewing features
• Many minor improvements & bug fixes

Version 2.0 Released

January 4, 2011

• Improvements to reporting (commented reports, batch reporting)
• IDS generation improvements (SB08 forms)
• Acronym checking
• User-customizable antecedent checking rules
• Auto-docking reporting windows
• Bug fixes, etc.

Version 1.7 Released

May 25, 2010

• Improvements to claim parsing accuracy
• Check consistency between reference numbers in the specification and figures, including duplicate #s in figures
• A number of small bug fixes and improvements

Version 1.6 Released

January 13, 2010

• Automatic updates
• Speed improvements for all features
• Accuracy enhancements for antecedent and reference # checking
• More informative status bars
• Reference term checking is now working on 64bit Vista and Windows 7 system
• Fixed some hang-up issues when checking reference term numbers
• Fixed some issues with sequential claim renumbering of temporary claims
• Other small bug fixes/improvements

Version 1.5 Released

December 6, 2009

• Batch download/processing of patents and patent publications
• Auto-generation of 1449 IDS forms
• Improved claim renumbering - renumber duplicate claims, claims with placeholder numbers, sequence renumbering.
• Calculation of excess claim fees in EPO.
• Many new claim/text rules to identify "patent profanities", etc.
• Other small improvements and bug fixes.