Invalidity dossier
US 5050213
Added 9/23/2026, 5:13:43 PM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US5050213A
Title: Database usage metering and protection system and method
Assignee: Electronic Publishing Resources Inc (original and current assignee as listed; a 2002 reassignment to InterTrust Technologies Corp. is noted in the source).
Key dates: Priority date 1986-10-14 (claimed from US06/918,109); application US07/562,996 filed 1990-08-06; granted/publication 1991-09-17; anticipated expiration 2008-09-17. Legal status: Expired – Lifetime.
Inventor: Victor H. Shear.
Purpose (from the source text): To regulate usage of a computer database by permitting authorized users to access and use an on-site database while preventing unauthorized use and copying, and to measure usage for billing purposes. The patent frames this against disadvantages of centralized databases (slow transmission, peak-time congestion) and in favor of local media such as optical disks, bubble memory, and CD/CD-ROM devices capable of storing vast amounts of information inexpensively.
Plain-language scope (as described in the excerpt):
- A storage medium holds the database in encrypted form, plus index information correlating portions of the encrypted database with index keys (index information may itself be encrypted).
- A host digital signal processor generates an access request, reads index information, identifies the encrypted portions satisfying the request, and reads them.
- A secure decoder control logic device coupled to the host processor decrypts those portions and returns decrypted information to the host processor.
- The decoder device measures usage (e.g., quantity of usage and other parameters) and stores measurements in a non-volatile, often tamperproof memory device.
- Usage records—including per-file or per-"property" breakdowns—are periodically communicated to a central billing facility; the non-volatile memory may be a replaceable module mailed to a centralized billing facility.
- Additional decryption can be disabled if more than a certain percentage (or contiguous portion) of a database has been copied, or upon a predetermined event (e.g., memory-module "expiration" or excessive usage suggesting copying attempts), unless the user applies an "antidote" (secret input and/or replacement component).
- Supports multi-level coded security access limiting portions of a database to holders of proper security codes; includes means for preventing tampering with memory and/or decoder logic.
What the excerpt does not establish: Claim language and claim count, figures/reference numerals, specification details beyond the excerpted passages, prosecution history, the 2002 reassignment's specifics, or any litigation, validity, or prior-art analysis. The source is an excerpted Google Patents page with omitted text.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US5050213](/patent/US5050213)/en
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:43:44 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
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
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.