Intellectual Property Law

Many months ago, we had posted on WikiPatents, an online community designed to review U.S. patents and published applications. WikiPatents has the largest database of patents on the Internet that are open for public comment.  The site allows PDF downloading of patents and free patent translation into multiple languages.  The public can also add prior art references for a given patent, vote on the relevancy of references, and comment on how the prior art is related.  Users may further vote on various market and technical merits of patents and patent applications.

According to sources at WikiPatents, they now have over 30,000 registered users.  One of the most successful aspects of the site has also been the community participation in patent valuation.  Also, unlike the Peer-to-Patent resource that allows review of prior art for only a few hundred patent applications, WikiPatents offers prior art, market, and technical review for tens of millions of patents and patent applications in the U.S., as well as in Germany, U.K., Japan, and Canada. 

We have had little personal experience with the WikiPatents site beyond using their search capability.  Nor have we heard whether USPTO Examiners are employing the WikiPatent site as a resource on a regular basis.  Do any of our readers have experience with the WikiPatents and/or Peer-to-Patent websites that they are willing to share?  Yours comments and thoughts are welcomed.