PATENT SEARCHES IN CHEMISTRY AND OIL AREA : WEB PATENT DATABASES AND TOOLS COMPARISON Didier Bernard Nathalie Gautier-Hamel IFP-Lyon IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

IFP Institut Français du Pétrole www.ifp.fr

Institut Français du Pétrole IFP is a scientific research and industrial development, training, and information services center active in the fields of oil & natural gas, their use, in particular by vehicles, and new energy and environmental technologies (production of fuels from biomass, biofuels, hydrogen, the capture and storage of CO2, etc.). For IFP, these challenges lead to five priorities for the coming decades:       • renewing and increasing world oil & gas reserves,       • designing refining and petrochemical processes that are clean and highly efficient,       • diversifying energy sources for the production of fuels and hydrogen,       • reducing vehicle fuel consumption and emissions,       • mastering CO2 capture and storage. ~ 1800 persons, 65% of them in R&D. IFP portfolio now includes more than 12,000 patents. IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

CONSIDERED DATABASES ESP@CENET MICROPATENT PATBASE PATANALYST TOTALPATENT IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

CONSIDERED DATABASES ESP@CENET : The "advanced search" screen offers limited possibilities (title and abstract are the only searchable text fields, limited number of search terms per field (4), only Boolean operators usable, no proximity operator...) Not usable for sophisticated keyword searches or long strategy equation. Very practical tool with a large coverage (> 70 authorities) to find one or a few particular patents and allowing easy access to patent classes, technical images, family members, legal status,… IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

CONSIDERED DATABASES PATANALYST : TOTAL PATENT Promising tool but latest beta-test version will only begin late January 2006. TOTAL PATENT We didn’t have the chance to test a beta-test version but we still hope to do so before the end of 2006. IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

MICROPATENT VS PATBASE COMPARISON MICROPATENT / PATBASE MICROPATENT VS PATBASE COMPARISON IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

Searches possibility About 75 authorities PATBASE MICROPATENT Full text for Main authorities : EP, PCT, US, GB, DE, FR English Abstracts for JP (A). About 75 authorities Full text for Main authorities : EP, PCT, US, GB, DE, FR English Abstracts and/or title for other authorities : JP, ZA, CA, CN... IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

SEARCHES IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

Advanced command language : SEARCHES Command language PATBASE MICROPATENT Advanced command language : Truncations, proximity operators Query combination Search fields selection IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

SEARCHES Search strategies PATBASE MICROPATENT Search in every single patent each single patent is displayed Search in patent families ! "exotic" countries are included but when families include main authorities patents, search is only performed in main authorities patents full text IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

ANSWER SET IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

RESULTS Display format PATBASE MICROPATENT Patents numbers list including : IPC Publication data Title Click on patent number Full text Display format choice : Customized format Similar format as traditional hosts IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

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RESULTS Highlighting PATBASE MICROPATENT 5 colours highlighting Window summarizing colours highlighting Easy and direct access to the search terms in full text Search terms in bold letters IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

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RESULTS Drawings PATBASE MICROPATENT Micropatent Format : one drawing per patent to obtain all drawings need to order full text Direct link to Esp@cenet mosaic IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

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Every (covered) authorities patent RESULTS Patent families PATBASE MICROPATENT Every (covered) authorities patent Sort by families Family display Direct family display IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

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RESULTS Legal status PATBASE MICROPATENT Micropatent format from Inpadoc Legal status from : Inpadoc National registers (link) IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

RESULTS Data export format PATBASE MICROPATENT HTML Format Excel Format PDF Format RIS Format HTML Format Excel Format PDF Format Word Format IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

ADVANTAGES PATBASE MICROPATENT Very good technical support (devoted person) Fast updates : at least weekly Statistical analysis available : Applicant Applicant IPC IPC, ECLA, US classes Publication date IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

ADVANTAGES MICROPATENT Worksheet : possibility of searches reworking, updating ... Truncations : left, middle or right truncations available demetallisation *metallisation, demetalli*ation, demetallisat* Automatic session saving for 18h. IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

ADVANTAGES PATBASE Direct link to all patent drawings Search terms 5 colours highlighting Similar display as traditional hosts databases : easier to read and analyze Large authorities coverage (75 instead of 7) Word export format available (with and without html links) FR or DE patent : English abstracts often available Patent families directly displayed IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

DISADVANTAGES PATBASE MICROPATENT Errors in text cutting are (quite often) found IPIConfex - 6/03/2006 PDG – 22/09/2005 PDG – 22/09/2005

DISADVANTAGES MICROPATENT Stop words (the, of, to ...) are considered as non existing words Chemical names are considered as a "global" entity : if the query is a part of a complicated name, preceding (substituant) terms do not count for proximity operator searches e.g. "preparation of cast elastomers using 2-methyl-1,3-propanediol" is found with the query "preparation" near5 "1,3-propanediol" Patent families are not directly available Chinese patents are not included in the search database : impossible to obtain Chinese companies portfolio information (90 % of the Chinese patents do not have families) IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

DISADVANTAGES PATBASE System could be very slow depending on companies’ network Large memory size export datasheets (≈ 10 MB for ≈ 100 results) US Patents < 1975 : only bibliographic data (no full text, claims or abstracts) IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

ILLUSTRATIONS IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

SEARCH FOR 1,3-PROPANEDIOL PREPARATION : EXAMPLE 1 SEARCH FOR 1,3-PROPANEDIOL PREPARATION : ("1,3-PROPANEDIOL" or "1,3-PROPANDIOL") separated with 4 words ("PREPARATION" or "PRODUCTION" or "SYNTHES*" or "FABRICATION" or "MANUFACTURE“ or “HERSTELLUNG”) in Title, Abstract and Claims fields Specific "format", using quotes, has to be used in Patbase for accurate chemical name searches IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

MICROPATENT RESULTS : 179 patent families EXAMPLE 1 MICROPATENT RESULTS : 179 patent families 125 patent families are found in both databases 25 patent families containing 1,2-propanediol as part of a "long" chemical name 13 patent families with a large number of stop words between the 2 terms (up to 12 words may be found between the searched terms) 12 patent families depend on differences in the 2 databases content (Micropatent : French title of WO patents and no full text for < 2000 EP-B patents in Patbase) 3 results with erroneous description / claims split 1 result containing a misspelling IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

PATBASE RESULTS: 160 patent families EXAMPLE 1 PATBASE RESULTS: 160 patent families 125 patent families are found in both databases 10 results are non-covered Micropatent authorities patents (CN, KR, IT, CH, DK even one MY not found in CAS or Derwent) 8 families containing erroneous paragraph cutting 6 results are non-covered Micropatent time period patents (DE, FR, JP) 5 patent families depend on differences in the 2 databases content (in Micropatent : no abstract - in Patbase : English abstract of DE or FR patents) 4 results containing mistakes in chemical name writing 1 is a missing patent in Micropatent (GB) 1 because of erroneous patent number IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

OTHER FOUND DISCREPANCIES : EXAMPLE 1 OTHER FOUND DISCREPANCIES : US patents < 1975 : no abstracts, no claims in Patbase Faster updates in Micropatent (few days) Micropatent families include national republications of EP-B patents (DE, AT,...) IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

EXAMPLE 1 SCIENTIFIC ACCURACY : Same level of scientific accuracy is found in both databases : ≈ 40 % of patents actually deals with 1,3-propanediol preparation Significant noise but the number of accurate patents found is similar to CAS search (67 in both databases and CAS search : 62 patents for "1,3-propanediol"/SPN) IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

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3 strategies combination with the AND operator : EXAMPLE 2 SEARCH FOR PATENTS DEALING WITH TROUBLESHOOTING IN MULTITUBULAR REACTORS 3 strategies combination with the AND operator : TAC = (“multitub*” or (“multi” adj “tube?”) or (“multi” adj “tubing”) FT = (“malfunction” or (“hot” adj “spot?”) or “troubleshoot*” or “trouble” adj “shoot*”) IPC = B01J8* or B01J19* IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

MICROPATENT RESULTS : 10 patent families EXAMPLE 2 MICROPATENT RESULTS : 10 patent families All patent families are found in both databases IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

EXAMPLE 2 PATBASE RESULTS : 18 patent families 10 patent families are found in both databases 3 patent families with a dash inside one of the searched keyword (dash is considered as a writing character in Micropatent) 2 results found in Patbase because of the occurrence of each of the searched terms in 2 different family members 2 results with searched IPC belonging to a Micropatent non-covered authority family member (CA) 1 complexe case* * Only the DE family member contains the searched IPC, TAC of which not containing any of the searched terms. In Patbase, the family indicates every patent IPC (furthermore the Patbase DE patent abstract English translation contains the appropriate keywords) IPIConfex - 6/03/2006

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS EVERY TOOL HAS ITS OWN ADVANTAGES/ DISADVANTAGES : CHOICE SHOULD DEPEND ON SEARCH TYPE OR USER PREFERENCES IMPROVEMENT IN DATABASE CONTENT IS NEEDED (PARAGRAPHS OR DESCRIPTION/CLAIMS CUTTINGS, CHEMICAL NAMES,…) HOMOGENEOUS SEARCH LANGUAGE WOULD BE WELCOME EVERY DATABASE IS GIVING UNIQUE ACCURATE RESULTS, ALL OF THEM SHOULD BE USED : A DUPLICATE REMOVAL TOOL IS NOW NEEDED IPIConfex - 6/03/2006