Q: How many users can I have on one account?
A.   99 plus the administrator user (00). The APLS user ID is your account number followed by a hyphen and two digits. These last two digits are the user number, 00 to 99.  Each user's email, PIN, Name and ID are tracked separately for billing purposes. Your monthly statement will show who created the order as well as the Docket/Reference number they used (if any).

Q: If I select View Previous Orders on the menu and download a patent from an older order again, am I billed for that patent a second time?
A.  NO. If the order is listed, you will NOT be billed if you download a patent or application a second time, or a third or fourth, or even a fifth time!  We make your older orders available as long as we can (resources permitting) for your convenience!  Remember, we provide a service for you, and not just data. We will always have the last 5 business days worth of orders available (at the very least), but we try to keep the last few months available for your convenience!

Q: What is the advantage using the Combine Files feature to create one large document to download instead of all of the individual files I ordered?
A. If the main reason you are ordering the files it to print them, this will save you the time of having to open each patent you ordered and print it individually. If you have an order with 35, 40 or even 50 patents on it, this can save you 15 to 20 minutes, or more (at no additional cost).  Also, see the next question (about printing speed).  If you want all the patent image files separate after you download, try the ZIP files option (an Unzipping program is required on your computer).

Q: Why do TIF files print twice as fast as PDF  files on my HP LaserJet printers?
A. The Windows Fax Viewer (XP and Vista) and the older Kodak Imaging Software  found on the accessories menu of most Windows based computers is much more efficient in how it prepares the image data to be sent to most laser printers. In our tests of several versions of the Adobe Acrobat Reader (vers. 5, 6 & 7) all of them were very slow at printing PDF image files. Our tests show that in almost all cases, the TIF files printed with the MS Fax Viewer and Imaging software printed in LESS THAN PNE THIRD THE TIME as the PDF image.

Q: Can two people use the same APLS UserID at the same time?
A.  No.  The APLS system will get totally confused, log both of you off (and may need to visit a shrink). If you need more users on your account, just call and we'll add them (it's easy, and it's free!)

Q: How do you handle correction pages and reexams (how do I order them)?
A.  For US Publications, all post issue documents  (X6, Reexam, etc.) are appended to the original documents when you order them  (at no extra cost). If you know the Reexam (B1) Number, simply order the original patent number and the ReExam will be appended to it.
For EP and PCT publications, when you order the original publicaitons (Kind A1, A2, B1, B2, etc), we add all additional correction publications and searhc reports to the list of publicaitons on the Confirmation page. Simply leave the Check box checked, and if you have ordered the original publication, all corrections and search Reports are added to your download page FREE of charge.

Q: If my firm buys a large quantity of image files each week, is there a better price we can get? 
A. Yes. Give us a call and you will be pleasantly surprised. The first break is at 200 image files a week (and it is a large break). 

Q. Why are other providers still asking between $2.00 and $5.00 for a US publications and as much as $8.95 for Non-US publications?
A. We're not absolutely sure. But we suspect it's for one of three reasons:
  1) Because they don't feel that lowering their prices will gain new clients, and they are hoping current clients won't notice OUR prices.
  2) Even though computer equipment (especially disk drives) and network costs have spiraled downward over the last 5 years, they have older, more expensive equipment to maintain, and
  3) They purchased the patent inventory when it was far more expensive. Technology has reduced the cost of the entire US patent/application inventory from $250,000 (in 1992) down to approximately $35,000 (of course you have to add all the equipment to maintain and serve it, but that is also less expensive now). We pass these savings on to you.

Q: My docket numbers from APLS didn't show up on my statement as you said they would. What's up?
A. We apologize if this happened. Please contact us and we can supply copies of every image data order free of charge. Normally our software properly collects and adds the docket numbers to all image orders and put them on your monthly statement. This is so your accounting office can properly bill YOUR clients. We know how important this is in a service oriented business. 

Q. Will my DVD Reader be compatible with the DVDs that you provide?
A. We use several name-brand DVD Burners on our workstations. These include: Sony, NEC, and Pioneer. These system are capable of burning to DVD-R (dash R) and DVD+R (plus R) media, however, we always use a good name brand DVD+R media (plus R) because it is our experience this seems to be conmpatible with the most systems.If your reader doesn't like the DVDs we send you, we'll create it on a different model of recorder or try a different type until we ffind one that works (at our cost) and we will make sure we use this type for you in the future. We have had very few problems with media that we have shipped in the past.

Q. Do you sell the entire U.S. Patent Image collection?
A.  Yes, and for far less than the USPTO charges. Give us a call and we'll help you out. We can also engineer and provide an in-house system to deliver them throughout your firm or company. We also have the EP and PCT back-year data (1978 on) in both high resolution TIF and PDF Images, and Full Text MAPS and a simple, "Well Formed" XML format. Call us to discuss your needs. We can also supply the text data in "Live Link" and BRS Load File formats.

Q. I clicked on the email address for information on your home page, but it doesn't do anything. I had to manually type it in to use it. Why?
A.  The devious people that send out junk email (known as SPAM) now have software that automatically "harvests" email addresses from web sites. We have made our email addresses out of graphics (pictures) instead of the text email address so they can no longer be read by this harvesting software. Someday we will all be sick enough of SPAM to do something about it. Until then, we have to find ways to stop it, or at least slow it down some.

Q. How do some of these companies or web sites give away patents or let us download them for free (or close to free)?
A.  They don't actually have the patents on their web sites. They did not purchase the inventories, nor do they have a paid subscription for the material they sell or give away. They have written software to get the patents from the USPTO and other authorites one page at a time (pretending to be a single user) then they reassemble each page into a multi-page patent and let you download them. This why there are sometimes missing pages from these patents, and also why most of them don't do more than a few at a time or limit you to a certain number per order or per day. When the PTO has problems, they do as well (they have no control over the source). This is also why their systems are often much slower and also why most of them don't offer all of the documents in PDF and TIF formats. 

Do you have more questions, or a comment you would like to share with us? Call us at (800-832-2823 or 386-426-5393) and talk to a human, not a machine.  We like answering your questions, and quite often, we are on the learning end of the conversation which allows us to improve our services. 

"The more you know - the more we like it."

IP Data Corporation
704 W. Park Ave, Suite C, Edgewater, FL  32132  U.S.A.
800-832-2823  Fax 208-361-6381    SupportIPDataCorp.com