Patent research
In a narrower sense, a patent search is understood to be a privately initiated search in the patent literature ( patent specifications , published documents , utility models ) and, in a broader sense, also a private or official search with regard to a specific patent, which then includes other inventories in addition to the above-mentioned patent literature may include.
Research types
There are different types of patent searches with different objectives.
Legal status research
In the legal status research (English "freedom to operate search", "FTO search") the researcher wants to know whether he is opposed to patents of others in the case of commercial plans or whether potentially dangerous applications are pending. The search is therefore limited to valid patents and patent applications for a specific territory.
Such research is part of the duties of commercial activity. Every trader has a general duty to familiarize himself with the legal situation applicable to him and his projects, including the patent law situation.
State-of-the-art research, "official research"
In the prior-art -Recherche (English "state of the art search") seeks to material that can be used against a granted interfering patent in order to bring it to fall. The search is limited to publications before the filing date or priority date of the offending patent. However, it does not necessarily have to be limited to the patent literature.
A state-of-the-art search is often carried out after - or at the same time - a legal status search. If an interfering patent is found during the legal status search, the question arises whether there is material with which the interfering patent can be attacked.
As part of the patent office examination of a patent application in the official examination procedure , the patent offices research the state of the art relevant to a patent application.
Information research
Many companies periodically, for example monthly or quarterly, request new publications in the patent literature in order to be able to follow developments in interesting technical fields or with competitors in real time. Such searches are then limited to certain subject areas and to certain applicants, such as known competitors. Often they are limited to publications in understandable languages.
latency
In most patent systems, patent applications are not published until 18 months after their application or priority. Before they are published, they are not identifiable in terms of content or bibliographically, despite their pendency and certain legal effects from registration / priority. For systematic reasons, patent searches can therefore be incomplete.
Researcher
Various institutions carry out patent searches:
- Specialized inventor consultants after being commissioned
- Patent attorneys after being commissioned
- the patent offices in the course of the official examination procedure
Technical patent search systems
history
In the past, patent specifications were usually recorded, sorted and sorted in index card systems or lists , which could then be searched for numerical or alphanumeric patent numbers , classification features , keywords or other search criteria for research purposes.
While patent specifications used to be mostly handwritten or typewritten , today these are mostly created on the computer with the help of software . This technological innovation has also completely changed patent search techniques .
present
Historical patents have recently been digitized more and more and thus prepared for modern storage and search systems. Modern patent search methods are based on database systems , some of which can be linked to one another, the technologies of the Internet or other computer systems . Such search systems are offered worldwide by various national and international patent offices , universities and commercial companies .
Many patent offices themselves maintain patent registers and the databases behind them that can be used for patent research.
So entertain z. The German Patent Office , the European Patent Organization (EPO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) have their own patent search systems. The Eurasian Patent Organization also maintains its own system for online research. Only the African Intellectual Property Organization and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization do not have such a system to date. A commercial or advertising-financed system ( beta version ) maintains e.g. B. Google or the Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe, which markets its research. In addition, companies have specialized in processing raw patent data. Thomson Reuters Derwent Innovation Index creates its own classifications to simplify patent research, the so-called Derwent Class Code.
Boolean search vs. Text similarity
With the introduction of the electronic database, the standard search method for patent research is the Boolean search . By using several keywords linked by Boolean operators , an attempt is made to reduce the huge amount of data from more than 100 million patent specifications. The challenge lies in the correct choice of keywords, the correct linking by operators and a suitable limitation of the technology fields by the international patent classification . Research specialists working in this area need at least half a day to a full day to create various search queries. Then the results issued must be checked for relevance.
Due to the technological advances in IT , especially in the area of text mining , there are now very precise statistical and semantic methods that compare texts of any length with one another in the shortest possible time. By determining the text similarity, the need for manual keyword determination is eliminated, and patent specifications are sorted according to relevance and returned in a short time.
Examples of online patent search systems
- DPMA publications - patents, utility models, trademarks and designs
- DEPATISnet, online database of the German Patent Office and Trademark Office
- Patent search by the European Patent Office
- EAPATIS EuroAsian Patent Information System
- Patent research by the World Intellectual Property Organization
- Swiss patent research
See also
Web links
- Patent research at FIZ Karlsruhe
- Patent research at the Federal Institute for Intellectual Property
- Comparison of different online patent search systems
Individual evidence
- ↑ Technology description on text similarity of patents. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 27, 2016 ; accessed on January 14, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
