We are truly free here at DorothyAI.

The freedom to not follow the competition allows us to focus on the problem, the real problem, our customers problem:

                   Identifying the references that are important to the searcher.

Legacy companies continue to rely on added features to distinguish themselves from each other, only to have their competitors incorporate the same features into their platforms. The result: A bunch of patent search platforms having similar features that the average user doesn’t use, and a thriving population outsource patent search firms.

At DorothyAI, we are pursuing answers to searching using all of the tools available or creating our own tools to perform to fill functionality gaps. While legacy companies struggle to apply new technology to antiquated “proprietary” databases, we are creating and recreating databases. Indexing patents in any way we that works... or might work. Our synonyms lists are in their third iteration. They keep getting better, but there is plenty of room for improvement. We’ll keep experimenting and getting better.

Freedom to pursue our goals using new tools and techniques is a real advantage, but our “unfair advantage” is our connection with our customers. We intimately understand the problem. As a patent lawyer (and agent), I have performed hundreds of searches. Mike Shamos, our co-founder and Distinguished Career Professor in the Language Technology Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, is a patent lawyer and expert witness. Prior art searching is part of our daily lives. We understand the limitations of word and Boolean searching inside and out.

It’s not surprising that many of the 100+ customer discovery interviews I have taken over the course of the last year have ended me and the interviewee commiserating over wasted time, reviewing search results that don’t matter, irritating outsourcers, and written off/unbilled hours. We (collectively) agree on a lot, and we took your suggestions to heart. We’re building them into the platform.

Thank you, interviewees! For those of you with an opinion (i.e., everyone), drop a note in the comments or DM (direct message) me. Your voice will be heard.

While you’re dodging rain storms between chargrilled dogs this 4th of July, remember to be thankful for the freedom to buck convention, go your own way, and pursue a better way of searching patents.