Patent search tool: any comments?

Kristin Whitman (Senior Content Editor, Intellogist.com) has emailed to ask what PatLit readers think. She writes:

"I work for the Alexandria-based search firm Landon IP (you may have heard of us through our contract work for the USPTO). We’ve recently launched the free website Intellogist (http://www.intellogist.com/) as a resource for information about patent searching tools and techniques.

I was hoping to get your thoughts on the usefulness of this resource to the IP community and any thoughts you might have for its further improvement. I know your blog is focused on issues in intellectual property litigation, but skilled patent searching is an important component of most cases involving patents, and I have always thought that the community might welcome a resource directed specifically to finding prior art.

The product contains five major resources:
- Formal reports on the features, pros and cons of commercial patent search tools (e.g. Thomson Innovation, PatBase etc.)
- Side-by-side comparisons of the major features of major patent search tools
- An “interactive coverage map” that allows users to select a country to see which search resources offer electronic patent data coverage
- A “resource finder” that lists major scientific and technical literature databases by subject
- A wiki area for best practices in prior art searching techniques

I would be very grateful for any comment you may want to share with us, as we are hoping to continue offering the service as a free resource to the community and improving it in any way we can".

If you have any thoughts you'd like to share with other readers, please post them below. If they're for Kristin's eyes only, you can email her here.