searching for patents
TRANSCRIPT
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Searching for
Patents
Michael Ladisch UCD Library
What is a Patent?
• A patent confers upon its holder, for a limited
period, the right to exclude others from exploiting
(making, using, selling, importing) the patented
invention, except with the consent of the owner of
the patent.
• A patent is a form of 'industrial property', which can
be assigned, transferred, licensed or used by the
owner.
• Patents are territorial, in effect e.g. an Irish patent
is only valid in Ireland.
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Source: http://www.patentsoffice.ie/en/patents.aspx
What is Patentable?
• Novelty: An invention is considered new if it does
not form part of the state of the art. The state of the
art comprises everything made available to the
public in any way, anywhere in the world, before
the date of filing of the patent application.
• Inventive step: An invention is considered as
involving an inventive step if it is not obvious to a
person skilled in that area of technology, having
regard to the state of the art.
• Industrial applicability: The invention must be
capable of being made or used in some kind of
industry, including agriculture.
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Source: http://www.patentsoffice.ie/en/patents.aspx
Why Perform a Patent Search?
• Finding out if your invention is truly novel
• Getting a general idea of how an application and
patent is structured to help in the preparation of
your own application
• Learning more about a new field
• For market information
• Competitor tracking
• Technology tracking
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Types of Searching
• Text searching
• Classification searching
• Combinatory searching
• Date Range searching
• Discipline specific searching (Chemical
structures, Substances)
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Text Searching
• Identify keywords
• What problems does the invention solve?
• What is the invention (what are its physical
components)?
• What does the invention do?
• Use alternate terminology
• VoIP = Voice over the Internet Protocol; IP
telephony; Broadband telephony; Internet
telephony; Voice over Broadband
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Text Searching
• Use Boolean operators
• bicycle AND wheel (returns records that contain
both terms)
• bicycle OR tyre (returns records that contain
either terms)
• bicycle NOT tyre (returns records that contain
bicycle, but not tyre)
• Combine Boolean operators
• bicycle AND (rim OR wheel OR tyre)
• (bicycle AND wheel) NOT tyre
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Text Searching
• Use Wildcards * ?
• analy?e returns all records containing a variation
of a word – analyze, analyse
• electron* returns all records containing words
starting with electron, such as electron, electrons,
electronic, electronics
• Keep in mind the differences in American
and English spelling!
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Text Searching
• Use Quotation Marks “”
• “lithium battery” returns all records containing the
words in exactly that order as a phrase
• Without quotation marks you will get also records
where the words ‘lithium’ and ‘battery’ occur
unrelated to each other
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Classification Searching
• Different classifications
• IPC (International Patent Classification)
• Agreed internationally
• Published by World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO)
• CPC (Cooperative Patent Classification)
• Based on IPC, jointly developed by EPO and
USPTO to own requirements
• Published by European Patent Office (EPO) and
United States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO)
• USPC (United States Patent Classification)
• Published by United States Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Classification Searching
• IPC (International Patent Classification)
• http://www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/en/
• 8 sections
• A – Human necessities
• B – Performing Operations, Transporting
• C – Chemistry, Metallurgy
• D – Textiles, Paper
• E – Fixed Constructions
• F – Mechanical Engineering, Lighting, Heating, Weapons
• G – Physics
• H - Electricity
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Classification Searching
• IPC (International Patent Classification)
• First letter is “section symbol”
• A – Human necessities
• Two digit number is “class symbol”
• A43 - Footwear
• Final letter is “subclass”
• A43C – Fastenings or Attachments for Footwear
• One to three digit number / two digit number are “group”
and “subgroup”
• A43C 3/04 – Spring safety-hooks
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Classification Searching
• IPC (international Patent Classification)
• Website offers “IPC Bridge”, links to equivalent in
• IPC national versions (German, Spanish, Polish, Korean,
etc.)
• Patent databases (USPTO, espace@net, Patenscope,
etc.)
• Other classifications (USPC, CPC)
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Classification Searching
• CPC (Cooperative Patent Classification)
• http://worldwide.espacenet.com/classification
• Jointly developed by EPO and USPTO (est. 1st Jan 2013)
• A – H like IPC
• Y – General Tagging of New Technological Development
• Technologies for Adaptions Against Climate Change
• Cross-sectional technologies
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Classification Searching
• USPC (United States Patent Classification)
• http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/selectnumwit
htitle.htm
• Over 400 classes
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Classification Searching
• Classification searching is in general preferable
• Terminology/”jargon” independent
• Patent specifications often written by lawyers:
• non-experts, generalists; don’t know specific terminology
• prefer generic, unspecific terminology for legal reasons,
• e.g. to avoid any unnecessary limitation of the scope
of protection as defined by claims
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Classification Searching
• Classification searching in general preferable
• Examples for “Lawyerish”
• Swimming pool = “Water retaining recreational structure”
• Paper bin = “Arrangement for the disposal of refuse”
• Shoe = “Footwear”
• Battery = “Electrical power source for electronic circuits”
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Patent databases
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
• http://www.intellogist.com/wiki/Main_Page
• Wiki for patent searchers
• Information about patent search systems
• Coverage map
• Comparing search systems
• Best practices in Prior Art searching (general and for
specific disciplines)
• Resource Finder for specific disciplines
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
• http://www.uspto.gov/patents/index.jsp
• Over 8.7 million patents granted, 16 million applications
received
• Two databases: PatFT (issued patents) and AppFT
(applications since 2001)
• Prior to 2001 applications were confidential
• Search is very user unfriendly (display of patents in TIFF –
needs plug-in; old fashioned interface; but getting overhaul)
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
• http://www.google.com/patents =
https://www.google.com/?tbm=pts
• Mostly US patents, but adding EPO patents
• Over 8 million patents from USPTO
• Bulk download offered
• Some scanning errors pre-1976
• ‘Finding Prior Art’ option = finding related information in
Google Scholar, Google Books, Web etc.
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
• Chemistry and Life science patents from US (since 1976),
Worldwide and Europe (since 1978)
• Structure search
• Links to fulltext in relevant database
• Not free, but subscription by UCD Library (search online
catalogue for ‘reaxys’ or ‘scifinder’)
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
• http://patentscope.wipo.int/
• About 32.5 million patent documents, including 2.2 million
international patent applications (PCT)
• Interface in different languages
• Maintained by World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO)
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
• http://www.patentlens.net/
• About 11 million full text of PCT applications, US patents
and applications, EPO patents, Australian patents
• Interface in different languages
• Search for over 80 million protein and DNA sequences
• Patent “landscape” reports on specific subjects
• Will continue as The Lens (http://www.lens.org/), currently
in beta; improved search options, new interface
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
• http://www.epo.org/espacenet
• Containing data for 80 million patent documents
• Almost worldwide coverage
• Search engine for European countries
• http://ie.espacenet.com/ for Ireland
• Espacenet Assistant – interactive training tool
• http://application.epo.org/wbt/espacenet/assistant.php?l
g=en
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Thank you!
Michael Ladisch
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 01 716 7530
Michael Ladisch
UCD Library, November 2013
Please provide feedback at
http://goo.gl/4BEYAb