Patent Searching Akkharawit Kanjana-Opas, Ph.D. Taken from WIPO Handout on Patent Search Training Course

Why Conduct Patent Searching? Prior art/ patentability searchesPrior art/ patentability searches Gathering business intelligenceGathering business intelligence Avoiding patent infringementAvoiding patent infringement Patent valuationPatent valuation Identifying key trends in technology developmentIdentifying key trends in technology development

Patent Search Tools Commercial softwares:Commercial softwares: –Delphion, IPDiscover Free softwaresFree softwares DatabasesDatabases –PATENTSCOPE –USPTO –JPO IPDL –DIP

Prior Art/Patentability Searches PatentabilityPatentability –New (Exactly the same) TitleTitle AbstractAbstract ClaimsClaims Detailed descriptionDetailed description –Inventive step (Similar or related to) ClaimsClaims Detailed descriptionDetailed description

Gathering Business Intelligence Relevant information:Relevant information: –Applicants: Inventor, companies –Strategic trends, development (in specific technical fields or by companies, etc.) –National and regional strengths and weakness in know-how Monitor developments by usingMonitor developments by using –Graphical analysis (graphs, maps) –RSS feeds (automatic indication of new information availability)

Avoiding Patent Infringement Does your invention infringe someone else’s patent?Does your invention infringe someone else’s patent? –Identifying legal status Has the patent been granted, rejected, withdrawn or is it still pending?Has the patent been granted, rejected, withdrawn or is it still pending? Is the patent still valid or has it expired?Is the patent still valid or has it expired? In which countries?In which countries? –Appraise claims of patent (if still in force) –Change (improve?) own product or look into licensing

Patent Valuation CitationsCitations –Check how often the relevant document was cited in search reports –Check how often the relevant document was cited in later patent documents describing state of the art –More citations, more “value” can be associated with the base patent

Key Trends in Technology Development Analyzing statistical data obtained from patent documents to map key trends in different field of technologyAnalyzing statistical data obtained from patent documents to map key trends in different field of technology Track growth and changes in;Track growth and changes in; –Patent activity over time –Distribution of patent applications in a country by residents compared to non-residents –Identifying technical areas in which a country is predominantly active in terms of patenting activity

How can specific patent information be found? Search criteriaSearch criteria –Patent document reference numbers and dates –Applicants’ or inventors’ names –Keywords –Patent classification

Patent Document Numbers and Dates Application numberApplication number Publication numberPublication number Priority number-if filed initially in another countryPriority number-if filed initially in another country Date of filingDate of filing Date of publicationDate of publication Priority datesPriority dates

Applicants’ or Inventors’ Names Novartis, BMW, Sony, Mittal, etc.Novartis, BMW, Sony, Mittal, etc. Dyson, Smith, etc.Dyson, Smith, etc. *Caution: Same applicant may use different versions of their names e.g. International Business Machines, IBM, IBM Ltd., etc.

Keywords Describe essential technical features of the inventionDescribe essential technical features of the invention Can be searched in title, abstract, description or claimsCan be searched in title, abstract, description or claims Important to remember toImportant to remember to –Search for synonyms e.g. using specialized dictionary –Search for word variation e.g. plow (U.S.) vs plough (GB) –Languages: Only EN documents retrieved with EN keywords (only 65% of patents at WIPO is in English)

Keyword Searches AdvantagesAdvantages –Ease of use –All invention details may be retrieved DisadvantagesDisadvantages –Problems of synonyms –Various languages –Inconsistent terminology Solutions:Solutions: –Classification based search

Search Tools for Facilitating Keyword Searches Truncation/Word StemmingTruncation/Word Stemming –Elect*=electric, electrical, electricity, etc. (but this might include irrelevant words such as election, elect, etc.) –Phrase searching using “…..” “electrical conductor” “solar cell”“electrical conductor” “solar cell”

Search Tools for Facilitating Keyword Searches Parentheses (nesting) to clarify/order search queries e.g.Parentheses (nesting) to clarify/order search queries e.g. –wheel AND (steel OR alloy) –not wheel AND steel OR alloy Boolean operators: keywords (and different search criteria) can be combined using AND, OR, NOT, XOR, NEARBoolean operators: keywords (and different search criteria) can be combined using AND, OR, NOT, XOR, NEAR

Concrete Boolean Operators Combine: concrete AND buildingCombine: concrete AND building Documents having both the words “concrete” and “building”Documents having both the words “concrete” and “building” Building Building Concreteandbuilding

Concrete Boolean Operators Combine: concrete OR buildingCombine: concrete OR building Documents having either the words “concrete” or “building”Documents having either the words “concrete” or “building” Building Building

Concrete Not building Boolean Operators Combine: concrete NOT buildingCombine: concrete NOT building Documents having the words “concrete” but not “building”Documents having the words “concrete” but not “building” Building Building Concreteandbuilding

Concrete Boolean Operators Combine: concrete XOR buildingCombine: concrete XOR building Documents having either the words “concrete” or “building” but not bothDocuments having either the words “concrete” or “building” but not both Building Building Concreteandbuilding

Near Operator Concrete NEAR buildingConcrete NEAR building –Documents having both the words “concrete” and “building” within a certain number (maximum up to 5 words) of words of each other –Useful when searching variation or phrase containing two terms e.g. “concrete building”, “building made of concrete”, building having various parts of concrete” etc.

Classification Based Searches AdvantagesAdvantages –More complete results than text searching –Independent of the language of the text –Independent of changes in terminology –Add more information value to patent documents DisadvantagesDisadvantages –Complex structure of classification –Requires study of classification rules

Basic Search Strategy Find keywords expressing the essential concept of inventionFind keywords expressing the essential concept of invention Find synonyms of these keywords fromFind synonyms of these keywords from –Technical dictionaries –Documents already found in the technical field –Patent classification Carry search to see first broad results indicating also more synonyms and classificationsCarry search to see first broad results indicating also more synonyms and classifications

Basic Search Strategy Find useful patent classification symbolsFind useful patent classification symbols Use keywords search to find the most relevant classificationUse keywords search to find the most relevant classification –IPC TACSY ( ( –USPTO ( Carry out search to find relevant classificationCarry out search to find relevant classification Combine the results of classification search with additional features of the searched technology using keywordsCombine the results of classification search with additional features of the searched technology using keywords

Basic Search Strategy Iterate this procedureIterate this procedure In general, always start broadly and narrow down to relevant documents as search progressesIn general, always start broadly and narrow down to relevant documents as search progresses Read carefully a manageable number of documentsRead carefully a manageable number of documents

State of the Art Search To find the state of the art for “rotatable building using renewable energy for generating electric power”To find the state of the art for “rotatable building using renewable energy for generating electric power” Keywords (building rotatable converting energy)Keywords (building rotatable converting energy) Synonyms (building, edifice, house, structure, construction, office block, skyscraper, tower, etc.)Synonyms (building, edifice, house, structure, construction, office block, skyscraper, tower, etc.) Truncation (build*)Truncation (build*) Boolean operators (AND, OR, ANDNOT, NEAR)Boolean operators (AND, OR, ANDNOT, NEAR) Parentheses (build* or edifice* or…..or >) and (rota* or spin* or swirl*) and (conver*or generat*) and (energ*or power*)Parentheses (build* or edifice* or…..or >) and (rota* or spin* or swirl*) and (conver*or generat*) and (energ*or power*)

Website Commercial Databases

Website: Free Patent Databases WIPO (PATENTSCOPE® search services) (PATENTSCOPE® search services) EPO JPO IPDLJPO IPDL USPTOUSPTO Google scholar (patent, webpage, journal, article, books)Google scholar (patent, webpage, journal, article, books) Scirus (journal articles, patents)Scirus (journal articles, patents) Entrez (journals, books, (biomedical and related fields)Entrez (journals, books, (biomedical and related fields) chemical structures, protein and gene sequences chemical structures, protein and gene sequences

Patent Databases: Collections WIPO (PATENTSCOPE® search services)WIPO (PATENTSCOPE® search services) –WO –AP, AR, CU, KR, MX, SG, VN, ZA EPO –EP, AT, BE, BG, CH, CY, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FJ, FR, GB, GR, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, LT, LU, LV, MC, NL, PL, PT, RO, RU, SE, SI, SK, TR, WO, etc. JPO IPDLJPO IPDL –JP USPTOUSPTO –US

WIPO PATENTSCOPE® Search Services

Search in front page bibliography data only

Advanced Search: field codes -Serial numbers -Titles-Abstract -Patent classification -Dates -Applicant data -Inventor data -Legal data -Language

Structured Search

Quick Search -Search in title/abstract or applicant/inventor only applicant/inventor only -Limited to 4 search terms

Advanced Search (no full text search)

Classification Search

USPTO Search

JPO Patent Search (IPDL)

Patent Databases:Syntax-Wildcard operator PATENTSCOPE: *PATENTSCOPE: * * JPO IPDL: [ ]JPO IPDL: [ ] USPTO: $USPTO: $

Patent databases:Syntax- Boolean operators PATENTSCOPEPATENTSCOPE –AND, OR, ANDNOT, XOR, NEAR –AND, OR JPO IPDLJPO IPDL –AND, OR USPTOUSPTO –AND, OR, ANDNOT

legal status legal status

PATENTSCOPE® Search Service: Graphical Analysis

Keyword: Hepatitis Vaccine

Competitor Search Who is currently working on……..Who is currently working on…….. Monitoring (Save results to monitor new patent applications each week Hepatitis and vaccine and PA/Novartis

Starting September 2009: More national collections

Exercises Prior Art SearchPrior Art Search –Find international patent application WO/2006/ using uspto, patentscope –Find number of application filed by Toyota using PatentscopePatentscope UsptoUspto JPO/IPDLJPO/IPDL –Find who is the leading company in the field of electric car

International Filing History of Toyota Company HO1M PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY F02D CONTROLLING COMBUSTION ENGINES ENGINES