Best posts made by GeorgeJ4336

AppColl has some nice text formatting codes, such as ToUpper and FirstWord. For example, {Matter.Title(FirstWord ToUpper)}.

Please consider adding LastWord to the list of supported text formatting codes. This would be very handy in formulating e-mail addresses, such as to USPTO examiners. Examiners' e-mail addresses are almost always of the form <first_name>.<last_name>@USPTO.gov. Thus, a "to" address to an examiner could be coded something like:

{Matter.Examiner} <{Matter.Examiner(FirstWord)}.{Matter.Examiner(LastWord)}@USPTO.gov>

Thanks,
George

AppColl allows filtering data with database queries, which is nice. It would be terrific if we could insert database queries in e-mail and document templates.

For example, I have a template e-mail message to report a Notice of Allowance, including, "The application currently has an entity status of {Matter.EntityStatus}. ... Based on this entity status, an issue fee of $1,200 / 480 is due by {Task.RespondBy(MMMM d, yyyy)}. ... absent instruction to the contrary by {Task.RespondBy(-1m MMMM d, yyyy)}, we will pay the issue fee." Of course, I must manually edit a generated draft message to select one of the fee amounts before sending the message.

Since the database already stores the issue fee amounts (in the form of Billing Item Templates, for example: "USPTO Fee 2501: Patent - Utility issue fee - 37 CFR 1.18(a)(1) - Small entity," with columns "Title" and "UnitCost"), it would be great to automate insertion of a correct issue fee amount by querying the database. Of course, we would need a way to map "Small" to "2501" and "Large" to "1501" to form the query.

George

The timer is great, because I can record time as I work on a matter, pausing and resuming the timer as needed, and then bill for the accumulated time. The timer icon animates hands on a clock when the timer is running, so I get visual feedback in case I forget to pause or resume a timer. I often have different matters open in different browser tabs, and I can have a separate timer active for each matter, but with only one running at a time.
I often switch back and forth among several windows while working on a single matter, such as looking at official correspondence and email messages for a given matter and looking up status information for a parent, child, or other application.
However, the timer icon's displays (animation) and responses to user inputs are misleading when switching among several browser windows. For example, if I am in browser tab of a first matter with a timer running for that matter and I:

1. create a new tab, such as for a second matter (right-click on "Matters" and choose "Open Link in New Tab" - Firefox)
2. switch to the new tab and open the second matter
3. switch back to the first matter tab and stop the timer
4. switch to the second matter tab

The icon in the second matter tab incorrectly indicates the timer is still running, and it incorrectly shows accumulated time. Refreshing the page corrects the timer icon's display, but who is going to refresh a page each time you switch to a different browser tab?
Furthermore, you can't actually pause the first matter's timer from anywhere except the first matter's browser tab, even though it looks as though you paused it in another browser tab. Refreshing the second browser tab does not correct the problem. If the phone rings while I'm working on something, I would like to be able to pause the timer, without switching tabs, so I can return to the place I was working before the call interrupted me.
Worse, if a timer is running in a matter and you click on the "Go to matter files" icon to open a tab with the matter's file folders, that tab opens with a timer icon that indicates the timer is paused, even though the timer continues to run. You can "unpause" the timer in the files tab; the icon will animate, but it will indicate an incorrect amount of accumulated time. Pausing the timer in the files tab does not actually pause the actual timer for the matter. Refreshing the tab does not correct the problem.
Closing a matter tab with a timer running, i.e., without first pausing the timer, appears to lose accumulated time.

All this is very confusing. I would like to be able to rely on the timer icon to accurately indicate whether time is accumulating, and I would like to be able to conveniently pause and resume the timer, from any browser tab.
Please make the timer icon accurately reflect what is going one, regardless of which tab I am in.
Please make it possible to pause and resume any matter's timer from any matter's window.

Thanks,
George

Custom (user-defined) fields for matters are very handy. A particularly handy feature is the ability to use a matter or contacts database query to define a list of selectable values for a drop-down list. Such a query returns the contact(s) or matter(s) that match the query. For example, (Role = "Inventor") returns a list of contacts who are inventors. (The parentheses are not necessary. I used them here merely for clarity. Custom fields are described in this AppCol help article.)

Custom fields would be even more powerful if the query could specify some other field(s) in the matching record(s) to populate the drop-down list.

For example, I have several USPTO customer numbers, because some of my clients want me to use specific customer numbers for their work, so they can access their applications via Private PAIR or Patent Center. I can create a custom field called USPTOCustomerNumber and manually populate it with a list of my customer numbers.

However, this field would be much more powerful if it could be defined via a contacts database query, such as (USPTOCustNum <> ""), that returns not the contact, but {Contact.USPTOCustNum}. That way, the pull-down list would automatically include all client-specific customer numbers.

I suggest a syntax along the lines of:

(USPTOCustNum <> "") (Returns {Contact.USPTOCustNum})

Bonus points if the "Returns" clause accepts syntax to concatenate several fields and format returned values.

When pulled down, a custom pull-down field defined with a database query currently displays some handy context information (name or client code, role), which helps in choosing an appropriate entry from the list.

Additional bonus points for syntax to control what gets displayed in the pull-down list, for example:

(USPTOCustNum <> "") (Displays {Contact.Company} {Contact.USPTOCustNum}) (Returns {Contact.USPTOCustNum})

In contrast, a plain pull-down list of customer numbers (without a database query) does not provide any context information.

Further bonus points to add a "Displays" feature to the List-type of drop-down custom field definition syntax.

Thanks,
George

I also would like a link to a patent office web page in my matter details page. However, it would be nice if such a link were not limited to the USPTO. For example, links to EPO and WIPO pages would be handy, but that probably would require the user to populate the field, since AppColl probably can't predict all the different formats required for all "foreign" patent offices.

Examples:

European Register - https://register.epo.org/application?number=EPxxxxxxxx

ePCT Workbench - https://pct.wipo.int/ePCT/private/iaSearch.xhtml?iaNo=PCT/ccyyyy/xxxxxx

Currently, I have a user (custom) matter field called "PatentOfficeLink," in which I store a URL. This, of course, works for any patent office that allows direct access to an application. However, I must copy the field's contents to a browser address box to view the page. AppColl supports several types of matter user fields, including TextBox, PullDown, and MultiSelect. It would be nice if AppColl added a matter user field type of "URL," so one could click the field contents to invoke the link.

-George

For each EP case, AppColl includes a checkbox for "Unitary Effect" on its matter details page. I suggest adding a second checkbox for "Opted-Out of UPC."

Most of my EP applications are opted out, so such a check box would be helpful. I considered creating a custom matter field, but custom fields do not support checkboxes. So, optionally or alternatively, please add support for checkbox custom fields.

Thanks,
George

In the interest of security, I edited my previous post in this thread to abstract out part of my intake e-mail address.

I was able to send to the matter I initially mentioned using a "to" address of "xxxxxxTest-0001@intake.appcoll.com"

@scott_appcoll Thanks for the clarification.

I am, however, a bit reluctant to let my clients use any .intake.appcoll.com address as their "to" address (without a CC to me), because if they mistype the address: (1) their message will not be delivered to my matter's intake mailbox, (2) I won't be informed of an attempt to communicate with me, and (3) the client won't receive an "undeliverable message" error. Given the possible consequences of a client's message getting lost this way (imagine not receiving an instruction to pay an issue fee and letting an allowed application going abandoned!), at most I will let clients use an .intake.appcoll.com e-mail address in a CC field.

Nevertheless, I appreciate AppColl implementing this alternative addressing scheme. I am sure some practitioners will find it useful.

-George

I often know a foreign cost, such as a foreign filing fee, in a local currency, but not an equivalent US dollar (USD) amount. For example, my foreign associates often quote or estimate costs in their local currency. I can store the local-currency cost in a custom matter field or a task field (maybe {Task.BudgetExpense}), but I would like to report it to my client in USD equivalent.

When generating a reporting letter or a letter requesting instructions (such as for requesting examination), it would be handy if AppColl provided a mechanism to call an API to convert a foreign currency to USD. Several such APIs exist, and some provide several hundred free conversions per month. (See, for example, Currency Beacon, Currency API, and Exchange Rates API.)

Please consider adding a field that calls an external API, for example something along the lines of:

{CallAPI.https://api.currencybeacon.com/v1/convert?api_key=abcdefghijklmnopqrst&from={Matter.CurrencySymbol}&to=USD&amount={Task.BudgetExpense}("value",0.00)}

This syntax includes the URL of the API and four parameters to pass to the API (each parameter begins with a question mark): an API key (assigned to a user when the user signs up for an account), a "from" currency symbol (in this example, extracted from a custom matter field), a "to" currency symbol, and an amount (extracted from a task field).

Most of these APIs return values in JSON. The parenthetical in my suggested syntax provides information on what part of the returned JSON values AppColl should return for its field. In this example, the API returns a bunch of things, including the converted USD as "value" followed by a floating point number (ex, "value 62.156").
"0.00" in the parenthetical is the standard AppColl number formatting specification (return a floating point number, with two decimal places).

If AppColl could pull this off, it might have wider applicability, because there may be other useful APIs that could be called, such as EPO OPS (the European Patent Office's Open Patent Services API). The key is for the syntax to allow the AppColl user to: (1) call a URL, including passing parameters, some of which may be extracted from fields, and (2) give the AppColl field evaluator a hint about what to return from the JSON values.

I know this is a big ask, but if we don't dream big, we won't be able to succeed spectacularly.

Edit 1: Alternatively, AppColl could do the foreign currency exchange rate conversion and return the equivalent USD in response to a "ToUSD" text formatting command (somewhat like the "ToUpper" text formatting command). I suggest syntax something like:

{Task.BudgetExpense(ToUSD, {Matter.CurrencySymbol}, 0.00)}

Of course, AppColl would have to subscribe to a foreign exchange API, but the cost would be minimal.

Edit 3: AppColl could assume the "from" currency symbol based on the country code of the matter, although this might not be a safe assumption. For example, my Malaysian cases are handled through an Australian associate, so I pay in AUD, not MYR.

Edit 2: In case anyone wants to try any of the free foreign exchange rate APIs listed above or others, here is a hint: Many of them limit HTTPS requests to paying customers, and they require free accounts to call the APIs with plain HTTP requests. So, ensure your request is in HTTP, not HTTPS.

But, some browsers may be set to "HTTPS-only." In this case, the browser will change all HTTP requests into HTTPS requests behind your back. Thus, the browser will change an HTTP API call into an HTTPS request, which will fail with an "unauthorized" or similar error.

If this happens, add an exception URL to the browser's list (forcing the browser not to change HTTP to HTTPS request for the excepted URL). For example, Firefox > Settings... or Preferences (depending on OS) > Privacy & Security > (scroll to HTTPS-Only Mode) > Manage Exceptions ... > (enter URL of the API in "Address of website" and click "Turn off") > Save Changes.

Thanks,
George

Request: A task or event can be triggered "when any email is received" and, of course, the task trigger can include additional requirements, such as "while the sender email address or subject of the email contains contains <a specific text string>". This is a very powerful facility. It would be more powerful if the task could be defined to automatically attach or link the triggering e-mail message to the triggered event or task, and that message or link could be passed on to subsequently-triggered tasks. Currently, one can only manually attach a document, such as an e-mail message, to a task.
Currently, one can include e-mail fields, such as {Email.Body}, in the task, such as in the task's Default Comment. However, text formatting, such as underlining, is lost. Furthermore, including the entire body can add many lines to the task Comment, making the task very large when displayed in a matter detail page or on the All Open Tasks list. Attaching or linking the entire e-mail message to the task would overcome these shortcomings.
Reason for the request: I send an e-mail message to a matter's intake mailbox after an examiner calls me with a telephonic restriction requirement, to document the call. In the body of the message, I summarize the restriction requirement, and sometimes I include comments or notes about possible responses. Often, I use underlining to highlight differences between claim groups.
I defined an event ("Receive Telephonic Restriction Requirement”) that is triggered when a matter receives such an e-mail message, i.e., a message from me with "telephonic restriction requirement" in the subject.

This event triggers another task I defined (“Respond to Telephonic Restriction Requirement”). I modeled my new tasks after similarly-named pre-defined AppColl tasks, although the "Respond to..." task has a internal deadline of five days.
It would be very handy to see the text formatting when I work on the restriction requirement.
Suggested implementation: Augment the "Files:" "Add" button dialog, as follows. Change "Select form to be added when tasks of this type are created" to "Select form or triggering e-mail message to be added when tasks of this type are created." Add a radio button for "Triggering e-mail message." The triggering e-mail message is already in the Email folder for the matter.

Optionally or alternatively: Add a checkboxes to New/Update Task Type details page. Under the "Trigger Event:" "Add" button, add a check box for "Attach triggering e-mail message" and a checkbox for "Link triggering e-mail message." Obviously, the checkboxes would be effective only if the task is triggered by receipt of an e-mail message.

Optionally or alternatively, if the Default Comment contains "{Email}," attach the triggering e-mail message to the task or include a clickable link to the e-mail message in the Comment.
In any case, ensure that another task that is triggered by the present task could "inherit" the attached or linked e-mail message, perhaps via {TriggeringTask.Comments}.
Broader applicability: Fulfilling this request might facilitate other uses, such as automatically triggering events upon receipt of e-mail correspondence from a foreign associate or a foreign patent office.
Thanks!
-George