Predictive Coding Patented, E-Discovery World Gets Jealous by Christopher Danzig
From the post:
The normally tepid e-discovery world felt a little extra heat of competition yesterday. Recommind, one of the larger e-discovery vendors, announced Wednesday that it was issued a patent on predictive coding (which Gabe Acevedo, writing in these pages, named the Big Legal Technology Buzzword of 2011).
In a nutshell, predictive coding is a relatively new technology that allows large chunks of document review to be automated, a.k.a. done mostly by computers, with less need for human management.
Some of Recommind’s competitors were not happy about the news. See how they responded (grumpily), and check out what Recommind’s General Counsel had to say about what this means for everyone who uses e-discovery products….
Predictive coding has received a lot of coverage recently as a new way to save buckets of money during document review (a seriously expensive endeavor, for anyone who just returned to Earth).
I am always curious why a patent or even patent number will be cited but no link to the patent given?
In case you are curious, it is patent 7,933,859, as a hyperlink.
The abstract reads:
Systems and methods for analyzing documents are provided herein. A plurality of documents and user input are received via a computing device. The user input includes hard coding of a subset of the plurality of documents, based on an identified subject or category. Instructions stored in memory are executed by a processor to generate an initial control set, analyze the initial control set to determine at least one seed set parameter, automatically code a first portion of the plurality of documents based on the initial control set and the seed set parameter associated with the identified subject or category, analyze the first portion of the plurality of documents by applying an adaptive identification cycle, and retrieve a second portion of the plurality of documents based on a result of the application of the adaptive identification cycle test on the first portion of the plurality of documents.
If that sounds familiar to you, you are not alone.
Predictive coding, developed over the last forty years, is an excellent feed into a topic map. As a matter of fact, it isn’t hard to imagine a topic map seeding and being augmented by a predictive coding process.
I also mention it as a caution that the IP in this area, as in many others, is beset by the ordinary being approved as innovation.
A topic map would be ideal to trace claims, prior art and to attach analysis to a patent. I saw several patents assigned to Recommind and some pending applications. When I have a moment I will post a listing with links to those documents.
I first saw this at Beyond Search.
[…] mention a patent on “predictive coding” and now a five (5) day conference on predictive […]
Pingback by Predictive Analytics World « Another Word For It — June 30, 2012 @ 6:49 pm