Invalidity dossier
US 4827508
Added 9/23/2026, 4:25:26 PM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview: US4827508A
Title: Database usage metering and protection system and method
Patent number: US4827508A (application US06/918,109)
Inventor: Victor H. Shear
Assignee/current assignee (per source): Original assignee Personal Library Software, Inc.; current assignee listed as Electronic Publishing Resources Inc.
Key dates: Priority/filing date 1986-10-14; publication/grant date 1989-05-02. Status listed as "Expired – Lifetime" (anticipated expiration 2006-05-02).
Purpose (from the supplied text): To regulate usage of a computer database — preventing unauthorized use and copying of electronic digital information databases while measuring utilization by authorized users, so users can be billed according to actual usage while usage records are conveyed to the database owner without user tampering. The text frames this as addressing "fundamental media based electronic publishing issues," including CD-ROM/optical-disk publishing, publisher royalty allocation, and data security.
Plain-language scope (from the supplied excerpt): A storage medium holds a database in encrypted form plus index information correlating encrypted portions with index keys. A host digital signal processor generates an access request, reads the index information, identifies the matching encrypted portions, and reads them. A secure decoder control logic device decrypts those portions, returns decrypted information to the host, measures database usage, and stores measurements in non-volatile memory. Safeguards may disable further decryption after excessive or contiguous copying. Usage data may be sent to a central billing facility periodically, or via a replaceable memory module mailed in (contents read to bill the user). The system also contemplates a multi-level coded security access system, preventing tampering with the memory device/decoder logic, and an "antidote" mechanism (e.g., entering secret information or installing a replacement component) after a predetermined event such as module "expiration" or excessive usage.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US4827508](/patent/US4827508)/en
What the excerpt does not establish: It is partial (marked "[Excerpt only; consult the source for omitted text]"). It does not provide the issued claims, full specification, cited prior art, or prosecution history. It omits claim language (e.g., the text cuts off mid-sentence at "prevent unauthorized database decryptio"). It does not establish independent verification of assignee accuracy (the source itself notes listed assignees "may be inaccurate").
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:50:53 PM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
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Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.