Introduction to Patent Information

Transcription

1 Introduction to Patent Information IPR for Researchers EPO Patent databases: a valuable source of information for students, scientists and researchers Geert Boedt Online Products and User Support Ljubljana 27 May 2009

2 The European Patent Organisation European Patent Organisation European Patent Office Administrative Council The executive body The Office's task is to examine European patent applications. The legislative body Important functions: to adopt the budget to approve the President's actions in implementing the budget to amend the Implementing Regulations and Rules relating to Fees to amend certain parts of the European Patent Convention in specific circumstances The Administrative Council consists of delegates from the member states.

3 Our mission As the patent office for Europe, we support innovation, competitiveness and economic growth across Europe through a commitment to high quality and efficient services delivered under the European Patent Convention.

4 The European Patent Convention The European Patent Convention (EPC) provides the legal framework for the granting of European patents via a centralised procedure establishes the European Patent Organisation 1973 Diplomatic Conference in Munich signature of the EPC by 16 countries 1977 Entry into force of the EPC in 7 countries - marked here below as follows

5 35 member states Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Malta Monaco Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom European patent applications and patents can also be extended at the applicant's request to the following states: Albania Bosnia-Herzegovina Serbia Status: May 2009

6 Structure President Presidential area Alison Brimelow Directorates-General Operations Thomas Hammer Operational Support Peter Vermeij Appeals Peter Messerli Administration Brian McGinley (ad interim) Legal/ International Affairs Wimvan dereijk (ad interim) Search Substantive Examination Opposition Patent Administration Quality Management Information Management Appeals Personnel General Administration Language Service European and International Affairs International Legal Affairs and Patent Law Legal Services European Patent Academy Status: January 2009 Patent Information

7 Number of staff Munich in search examination and opposition (76 %) The Hague Berlin 276 Vienna 117 Brussels 4 Total Status: December 2008

8 Staff from 32 different countries Status: December 2008

9 Locations Headquarters Munich Isar building Munich PschorrHöfe The Hague Vienna Berlin Brussels

10 What is patent information?

11 Different points of view Patent Information Products

12 Patent Information What is it? Patent information is the name given to the technical information you find in patent documents, plus any legal and business-related information about them. Patent information is vital to a broad range of professions, from technical developers and researchers to legal advisers and business strategy managers. By looking at patent documents you add certainty to your business decisions.

13 Patent Information Why use it? Find out what already exists and build on it Keep track of who s doing what Avoid infringing other people s patent rights More:

14 Applications of Patent Information Prior art/state-of-the art Novelty / patentability Technology watch/competitive intelligence Legal status Freedom to act

15 Applications of patent information Finding Partners Finding technical directions Making Sound R&D Project proposals Exploiting R&D Project results

16 Why PATENT Information? First publication sometimes the ONLY publication Large resource (65 million documents EPO) Growing Rapidly 220,000 EP in Million worldwide in 2005! 3 applications every minute

17 Why PATENT Information? Rigorously classified 70,000 IPC classes 140,000 ECLA classes

18 Disclosure of the invention The European patent application shall disclose the invention in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for it to be carried out by a person skilled in the art. (Art 83 EPC, see e.g.

19 Why does patent information exist? Patentapplication Granted patent Patent information

20 The procedure in 10 steps 1. Inventor has a new idea to solve a problem 2. Inventor writes down idea 3. Drafting of application, representation? 4. Filing of application (National, EPO,WIPO,...) 5. Publication of the Patent Application 6. Search and examination 7. Rounds of arguments 8. Grant - Refusal Patent Specification 9. Opposition - Revocation (?) 10. Post grant, National Validation

21 Why is patent information offered? There are many different patent granting procedures, e.g.: Registration procedures (no examination) Procedures with limited search Procedures with search and examination ALL of the different procedures foresee the publication of the application documents

22 Patent information is... A fundamental building block of every patent system A direct outcome of the patent granting procedure The grant of an IP right is part of a deal between the applicant and the public: Public is made available complete information about the invention Inventor or owner gets a territorial exclusive right limited in time

23 Publications

24 How is patent information produced? Normally, documents of a patent application will be published 18 months after the first filing After granting the text is published a second time in its edited final form

25 The European patent grant procedure Publication of patent application and search report Filing the application Examination on filing / formalities examination Search Publication of application and search report

26 The European patent grant procedure Filing the application Examination on filing / formalities examination Search Publication of application and search report Substantive examination (grant of patent or refusal of application) Further publication of granted patent

27 The European patent grant procedure Filing the application Examination on filing / formalities examination Search Publication of application and search report (Publication of amended patent) Substantive examination (grant of patent or refusal of application) Opposition (in some cases)

28 The European patent grant procedure Filing the application Examination on filing / formalities examination Search Publication of application and search report Substantive examination (grant of patent or refusal of application) Opposition (in some cases) Appeal (in some cases)

29 Questions to be answered with patent information Technical Which solutions exist for a technical problem? Is my invention patentable? Legal Do I infringe someone s patent or am I free to use it? What technologies are my competitors developing? Business Who s strong in a (new) technology field?

30 Patent information services & products Products and services for Technical information Legal information Business information Entry level service: Additional resources EPO website EPO patent information webpages Training and support East Asian patent information IP webguide Other points of interest

31 Patent information services & products Products and services for Technical information ESPACE bibliographic data Open patent service

32 Free access to worldwide patent information via the internet watch new technologies emerge find solutions to your technical problems discover what your competitors are developing find business partners

33 Known as the "database of ideas", contains bibliographical information on more than 65 million patent documents from more than 80 patent authorities from all over the world, and dating from the early 19th century to today. provides access to: the technical content of documents the commercial and legal status information on European and Euro-PCT applications post-grant and patent family information

34 The main features include: access to more than 65 million patent documents from all over the world (more than 80 patent-granting authorities) data from 1836 to today tools for searching in specific technical fields (IPC and ECLA) forward and backward citations full document downloads online translation engine new Smart Search tool

35 ESPACE bibliographic data When results really matter for technology searching and to monitor inventions carry out more complex searches repeat same search regularly download selected data and create own in-house archive customise result screen MIMOSA retrieval software for professional searches included available on optical disc or online via the internet

36 Open patent services (OPS) The alternative way to retrieve information You can use OPS to create customised patent databases and track patent status changes integrate information into other software packages download large amounts of data. Features free to use bibliographic, family and legal information available in highly categorised XML format plus complete documents in image format SOAP-based easy to set up your own interface (basic programming skills required)

37 Open patent services (OPS) Delivery of patent information Through a standardised XML interface for access to raw data Based on same data sources as esp@cenet Industry standard Web Services architecture

38 Patent information services & products Products and services for Technical information Legal information Register Plus and WebRegMT European Publication Server ESPACE legal data legal status and patent family information

39 Register Plus Procedural and legal status data With Register Plus you can find out if a European patent has been granted or if an application has been refused or withdrawn follow the European procedure for a particular application read, print and download documents in the file (for example, correspondence between the EPO and the applicant). Features various data views, including main data, legal status, event history, citations, patent family, all documents and document filters link to esp@cenet document viewer link to European Publication Server

40 European Register -

41 Register Plus

42 Register Plus Search masks

43 WebRegMT WebRegMT is the European Patent Office's Register alert service. You can use it to automatically monitor changes to files in the European Patent Register as they occur. The main features are: secure environment access via password or smart card monitoring of up to patent applications on-screen display of changes since last log-in alerts to up to five addresses choice of which events will trigger a notification import and export lists of documents

44 WebRegMT

45 European Publication Server The official source for copies of European patent documents You can obtain copies of European patent applications granted European patent specifications and corrected documents New publications are loaded once a week on publication day (usually Wednesday) at hrs CET. Features free of charge document retrieval using either the publication number, application number, publication date, kind code or IPC symbol links to other services such as the European Patent Register, esp@cenet and the WIPO PatentScope service documents can be viewed/downloaded in PDF and XML format.

46 European Publication Server

47 ESPACE legal data The perfect legal portable patent library ESPACE BULLETIN If you are interested in the legal status of European patent applications, and you want to be able to search and download this data, then ESPACE BULLETIN is the right product for you. Features: precision searching thanks to more than 70 search fields full downloading of all data monitoring of legal and procedural status of a given European application or patent.

48 ESPACE legal data ESPACE LEGAL If you are looking for information about the decisions of the EPO Boards of Appeal or if you want to check legal texts such as the European Patent Convention, ESPACE LEGAL is the perfect tool to use. Features complete collection of the decisions of the EPO Boards of Appeal, both published (in the Official Journal of the EPO) and unpublished, from 1978 onwards directory of professional representatives legal texts in HTML or PDF format fully searchable and downloadable designed as an electronic library for patent attorneys

49 legal status and patent family information With legal status data in you get a clear indication if and where a patent is in force if a patent has been abandoned, has expired, or has changed ownership. You can use patent family searches to find information about the geographical scope of a patent application and the scope of protection another company s patenting strategy the protection being sought by a patent applicant global technological trends equivalent patent applications in other languages.

50 legal status and patent family information

51 Patent information services & products Products and services for Technical information Legal information Business information Patent portfolio management with IPscore Patent statistics and patent mapping

52 Patent portfolio management with IPscore Helping you to set priorities You can use IPscore to examine your company s patent portfolio analyse the value of individual patents align your company s patent strategy with your overall business strategy make the best use of patents as a business tool identify opportunities and risks.

53 Patent statistics and patent mapping Analysing and visualising patents in bulk ESPACE products EPO Worldwide Patent Statistical Database

54 EPO PATSTAT EPO Worldwide Patent Statistical Database PATSTAT use: Weighted inventor (outer circle) 10% difference! According to first inventor (inner circle) Citation analysis, citation trees Data available: applicant, inventor, application, publication, IPC, priority, legal status,... 85,7 27,5 25,9 26, , , , ,8 JP US DE FR IT GB SE Others

55 Patent maps from commercial tools Patents granted Source: Worldmapper ( is a collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest.

56 Patent maps from commercial tools Income from royalty fees Source: Worldmapper ( is a collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest.

57 Which information for which purpose?

58 Think lateral! Each patent information product has a specific use! No single product may fulfil every ones need!

59 Your entry-level gateway to patent information

60 - access

61 - access

62 How to search and retrieve the relevant documents?

63 Quick Search

64 Number search Input of application, publication, priority or NPL reference number (even without country code)

65 Example Retrieving a document

66 Retrieving a document

67 Retrieving a document

68 Advanced search

69 Bibliographic data

70 Example Searching for an applicant/inventor

71 Searching for an applicant/inventor

72 Searching for an applicant/inventor

73 Searching for an applicant/inventor in your own language

74 Example Searching with technical keywords

75 Searching with keywords

76 Searching with keywords

77 Utilising the Classification System(s)

78 Search in European Classifications

79 Search in European Classifications

80 Search in European Classifications

81 Search in European Classifications

82 Search in European Classifications

83 A closer look at search results.

84 Result list

85 Document - Bibliographic data

86 Document - Description

87 Document - Translations

88 Document - Claims

89 Document - Mosaics

90 Document - Original document

91 Citations

92 New features - launched on 28 October 2008

93 Smart Search

94 Export Hit Lists

95 Download Page Restrictions Lifted

96 Extension to My Patents List My patents list can now store up to 100 documents

97 Patent information services & products Products and services for Technical information Legal information Business information Additional resources EPO website EPO patent information webpages Training and support East Asian patent information IP webguide

98 EPO Website

99 EPO Patent Information Website

100 Training & Support Website Helpdesk Brochures

101 Training Classroom training Virtual classroom e-learning: PI & assistant Recordings

102 Patent Information Tour

103 Assistant

104 East Asian patent information

105 IP webguide

106 Patent information services & products Products and services for Technical information Legal information Business information Additional resources EPO website EPO patent information webpages Training and support East Asian patent information IP webguide Other points of interest

107 National patent offices

108 World Intellectual Property Organization -

109 Patentscope

110 Reference material Guidelines for Examination: European Patent Convention (EPC): Glossary: National Law relating to the EPC: Guide for applicants (1&2): Official Journal: Standard ST.9 (INID codes):

111 Internet links European Patent Office Patent information Register Plus Online Products Forum European Publication Server EPO Official Publications EPO Training general Patent Information Training Patent Information Tour

112 The R&D pré-flight check My research & development effort is not a duplication I checked prior art YES -> GO My idea provides a solution to a technical problem Yes -> GO My idea is an improvement on an existing solution YES-> freedom of operation - license? My idea is "capable of industrial & commercial application"? Yes -> GO I am ready to publish my findings check IP potential before ANY publication or demonstration check with Technology (IP) transfer office YES-> GO

113 Thank you for your attention! Acknowledgements and thanks to all who provided presentation material Geert Boedt EPO Vienna / Patent Information Promotion & Training gboedt@epo.org; training.vienna@epo.org