How do I use Email Alerts to monitor competitor activity?

By clever use of email alerts, it is possible to monitor the patent activity of your main competitors which will help you in staying one step ahead of them in terms of innovation.

There are two different types of email alerts you can create, those being for a search query and in a Workspace folder.

Search Based Email Alerts

To set up an email alert for a search query based on the patents of the competitor, click on the "Set Alerts" button:

From here you will be able to edit the email alert:

Here you are able to give a title to your email alert, select which types of email alert you wish to receive (these are described at the end of this article), choose who to send it to, how frequently (daily/weekly/monthly) they are sent and what day they are sent. You can also be alerted when there are no updates which means you will know if your competitor is currently active or not.

Workspace Email Alerts

The other type of email alert you can get is from a Workspace folder.

To set up an email alert in a Workspace folder on a patent or a group of patents from the competitor you want to track, go to your already created folder and click on the "Automatic Update" button:

From here, you will see this:

You will then be able to edit and view your query, turn stemming on/off and select which results you want to see in the workspace after each update (all existing and new results/new results only). Once you are happy with your settings click on "Submit". 

After this, you can then set up the email alert by clicking on the email alert button: 

From here, you will be able to see which alerts are set up on the folder:

If you'd like to create a new alert, click on the "Create a new alert" button:

When creating this new alert, you can select a variety of options:

The options that you have from the Workspace folder is to give a title to your email alert, choose who to send the email alerts to, select which types of email alert you want to receive (these are described in more detail at the end of this article), how frequently (weekly/monthly/everyday) they are sent and what day they are sent. You can also be alerted when there are no updates which means you will know if your competitor is currently active or not.

Types of Email Alert

Here is a list of the different types of email alert that you can set up and how they can be used:

• New patents - You will be alerted when a new patent has been published that relates to your original search query or search query you have used for the Automatic Update for this particular Workspace folder. This is useful information to have because it means you will know what direction your competitors are going in terms of innovation.
  
  
• New invention - You will be alerted when a new patent that does not belong to an existing family is published that relates to your original search query or search query you have used for the Automatic Update for this particular Workspace. This is useful information to have because it not only shows what direction your competitors are going in terms of innovation but will also inform you that this innovation is fresh and is not just a slight variation/improvement on what is already out there.
  
  
• Legal status - You will be alerted when there is a change in the legal status of one of the patents in your search results list or folder. This is useful information to have because it means you will be able to quickly determine what has happened to your competitors' patents, e.g. if one of their patents has suddenly been granted then you will no longer have freedom-to-operate using ideas that have been claimed for in that patent, alternatively, if one of their patents has become invalid or has been withdrawn, you will then have freedom-to-operate using ideas that have been claimed for in that patent.
  
  
• Family - You will be alerted when another application for the technology claimed in one of the patents in your search results list or in your folder is filed elsewhere. This is useful information to have because it means that you will know if a particular patent is considered important to your competitor since they have put in extra investment to get it filed in multiple locations which means you have a strong idea of which technologies they are focused on and where there are potential white space opportunities for you in areas which they are less focused on. This is broken down into several options:
  • Simple family - Alert when new patents are added to the simple family
  • Patsnap family - Alert when new patents are added to the Patsnap family
  • INPADOC family - Alert when new patents are added to the INPADOC family

• Citation - You will be alerted when one of the patents in your search results list or folder gets cited by another patent. This is useful information to have because it means that one of your competitor's patents is considered important by others which means you can get an idea of what particular technologies have a strong chance of being successful in your field and where would be a worthy investment for you to have your own patents in terms of the technologies incorporated within them.
  
  
• Upcoming expiry date - You will be alerted when one of the patents in your search results list or folder is due to expire within the next 30 days. This is useful information to have because you will know immediately when there is a freedom-to-operate opportunity available to you due to this expiration.
  
  
• Litigation - You will be alerted when one of the patents in your search results list or folder becomes involved in a litigation case, where we currently have this information for patents from 62 different jurisdictions. This is useful information to have because you will know your competitors are facing legal issues and will allow you to see if there is a freedom-to-operate opportunity approaching with the future possibility of their patent being revoked.
  
  
• Assignment  - Alert if the current assignee of the patent changes. This is useful information to have because it means you will be immediately aware whether the owner of a patent has changed, which could signify a new competitor or collaboration between the companies involved. 
  
  
• Licensing - You will be alerted when one of the patents in your search results list or folder gets a licensing deal with another company. This is useful information to have because it means you will know who your competitor is working with and from the research of this other company you will get an idea of what technologies your competitor is looking to focus on and what areas there will be less value for you to work in yourself because of this development.
  
  
• Re-Examinations/Invalidation/Appeal (US/CN/JP/EP) - You will be alerted if the patent has had any re-examination/invalidation/appeal within it's legal event history. This will allow you to understand if there is potentially legal status changes in the near future.
  
  
• Order(US Patent Litigation) - You will be alerted when an oral or written order or guidance issued by the judge (such as rejection, restraining order, injunction, protection order, ruling, suspension of execution, closing of the case, etc.) occurs.  
  
  
• Judgement(US Patent Litigation) - You will be alerted when a new judgement is added, providing the determined rights and obligations for the parties.  
  
  
• Appeal(US {atent Litigation) - You will be alerted when an appeal is filed or added to seek change of judgement.
  
  
• Comments - You will be alerted when your colleague or yourself (Include my comments option only) has added a comment about one of the patents in your folder (this email alert option is only available from a Workspace folder) where this only applies if you are sharing the folder with another Patsnap user. This is useful information to have because it means you will know the opinions of your colleagues on various patents and see whether it would help to discuss these issues further with them and together develop a future plan for the innovation strategy of your company.
  
  
• Custom field - You will be alerted when there are changes to the custom field values for a patent, where this currently excludes drop-down tree custom fields. This is useful information to have because it means you will know your colleagues categorizations of patents and this will enable you to formulate a more organized plan of action based on this.