Thomson West Launches West IP Monitor

EAGAN, Minn., June 18, 2007 – West Monitor Suite, the most advanced set of competitive intelligence products for law firms, has now added West IP Monitor, the only advanced analytical tool available in the market for tracking and mapping U.S. Patent and Trademark Office actions and patent litigation activity in support of law firm business development. West IP Monitor is available from Thomson West, a Thomson business (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).

Intellectual property represents an increasingly critical and valuable asset for today's businesses. West IP Monitor extends the analytical power of the market-leading West Monitor Suite, allowing firms to view a complete picture of the IP activity of current clients, prospects and competitors. Firms can analyze a company's IP strategy by studying how its IP portfolio has evolved over time and how aggressively it defends its assets. Comprehensive reports analyzing trends and actions across a company's entire patent and trademark portfolio can be generated with a few keystrokes. Email alerts can highlight new litigation or other activity in a company's IP portfolio.

"It's critically important to be actively involved in all phases of our clients' IP lifecycle, from filing, prosecution and commercialization, to managing the risks of litigation," said Marie Lefton, chief strategic planning officer for Fish & Richardson P.C., one of the largest firms practicing intellectual property, litigation, and corporate law. "Tools and information that provide the ability to harmonize the key phases of this process – from prosecution to litigation – are key for us to be a proactive, strategic partner to our clients."

West IP Monitor tracks patent applications, assignments, grants, and patent acquisitions, as well as patent litigation activity. Trends within each of those areas can be analyzed by company, industry, patent classification, firm, attorney and country. West IP Monitor is the only analytical tool of its kind that combines USPTO data and Westlaw litigation content with proven, powerful analytical tools to provide unprecedented views of activities, trends and business opportunities in the intellectual property market. IP Monitor's unique Patent in Litigation feature displays a detailed history of actions involving a company's patents, including the parties involved in each action and their respective outside counsel.

"West IP Monitor goes significantly beyond conventional intellectual property analytics," said Tony Abena, senior vice president, Law Firm Markets, Thomson West. "For the first time, there is a competitive intelligence tool that can quickly compare a client's IP portfolio with its competitors, its industry and how other firms are handling similar portfolios. IP Monitor's valuable insights can help a firm's client gather and protect their IP assets, and can also pinpoint opportunities to expand a firm's IP practice, providing firms with a significant competitive advantage."

West IP Monitor gives firms the power to see what the IP counseling needs of clients and prospects are, anticipate what their future needs will be, and map how the firm's strengths match up compared to those needs. Analysis provides detailed intelligence covering the scope of the entire IP landscape, including identifying filing strategies of companies, highlighting firms serving, spotting industry litigation trends, supporting IP due diligence in mergers, understanding international filing strategies, receiving insights around freedom-to-operate reviews, reviewing key patents in litigation and more.

West Monitor Suite also includes West Litigation Monitor, with powerful analytical tools to provide comprehensive and detailed views of litigation trends for clients, prospects, competitors and key industries and sectors, and West Deal Monitor, providing similar analytical capabilities and comprehensive views of key relationships for mergers and acquisitions and securities practices. Since their launch, West Monitor Suite has been selected by more than 150 organizations, including almost 40 percent of the AmLaw 100.

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About Thomson West

Headquartered in Eagan, Minn., Thomson West is the foremost provider of integrated information solutions to the U.S. legal market. Thomson West is a business within The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC) and was formed when West Publishing and Thomson Legal Publishing merged in June 1996. For more information, please visit the Thomson West Web site at west.thomson.com.

About The Thomson Corporation

The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com) is a global leader in providing essential electronic workflow solutions to business and professional customers. With operational headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Thomson provides value-added information, software tools and applications to professionals in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, scientific research and healthcare. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).

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