The use of Internet as a source of prior art By Marios Sideris September 2003

Contents Introduction Tools & Search Strategy Methods of search - examples Dates of Internet disclosures Conclusions

Introduction Introduction of Internet in EPO (1996) How to search on Internet in general? Can Internet be used as a search tool for patent search? What about Automotive Engineering? Year 2002: More than 1 per 100 European Patent search reports comprise at least one Internet disclosure

Tools and Search Strategy Tools: Search Engines (dynamic & interactive) Search strategy: Trial & error Conditions for a successful & efficient Internet search  Knowledge of search engine used  Knowledge of technical field  Knowledge of relevant sites

Most important Internet Search Engines Database Total Size Estimates (31 Dec 02) Source: searchengineshowdown.com Sept ,300 millions 3,200 millions

Source: searchengineshowdown.com

EPO criteria for choosing a tool for patent search  Use of many keywords in a search statement  Combination of different search statements (sub-searching)  Use of Boolean operators  Possibility of Truncation  Use of Proximity operators  Search whole phrases  Search in certain fields only  Limit by age of document  Ranking of results The Tools

 The advanced Search option of ALTAVISTA for EPO style searches (Full Boolean + truncation + proximity)  The simple & advanced Search option of GOOGLE for any other kind of searches The Tools Which tools satisfy most of criteria?

Methods of Search Only synonyms of keywords (OR)  unmanageable nr. of results Combination of keywords (AND, AND NOT, NEAR, WITHIN)  Limitation of nr. of results Use of whole Phrases  Most limited nr. of results (too limited?) Recommendation: Combination of all above Methods of Search

Example I : Scenario: Find information about O 2 sensors used in exhaust pipes of internal combustion engines to control fuel injection Synonyms: [Oxygen, O 2, lambda, (air fuel), ego, hego] sensors Use:  Boolean operators  Proximity operators  Right Truncation Methods of Search

(lambda OR oxygen OR O2 OR ego OR hego OR (air WITHIN 3 fuel)) NEAR sensor*) AND inject* Results in > sites Find disclosures describing all different kinds of OXYGEN SENSORS used in exhaust pipes of internal combustion engines.

Find a single document describing all different OXYGEN SENSORS used in exhaust pipes of internal combustion engines. (lambda NEAR sensor*) AND ((oxygen OR O2) NEAR sensor*) AND (ego NEAR sensor*) AND (hego NEAR sensor*) AND (“air fuel” NEAR sensor*) AND inject*

13 results found A relevant site

REPEAT SEARCH BY SORTING THE RESULTS (lambda NEAR sensor*) AND ((oxygen OR O2) NEAR sensor*) AND (ego NEAR sensor*) AND (hego NEAR sensor*) AND (“air fuel” NEAR sensor*) AND inject* exhaust Sorting of results

Results sorted according to the importance of the word “exhaust”

Repeat the same search in GOOGLE lambda oxygen O2 ego hego “air fuel” sensor OR sensors injected OR injection Maximum 10 keywords Resulted in 26 hits (compared to 13 of Altavista)

Repeat the same search in Advanced Search of GOOGLE ego hego oxygen lambda air fuel sensor sensors Resulted in 33 hits (search not complete yet)

Continue search within the 33 results found

injection OR injected Resulted in 26 hits (compared to 13 of Altavista)

Example II: Scenario: Stirling Engines comprising heat buffers Use:  Phrases  Boolean operators Methods of Search

(“heat buffer”) AND stirling OR stirling heat buffer

2 Relevant sites found

Repeat the same search in GOOGLE stirling heat buffer Resulted in 3 hits (compared to 2 hits of Altavista)

Example III: Scenario: Regeneration of an exhaust NO x trap Use:  Boolean operators  Truncation  Proximity operators  A specific word or phrase in one of the searchable fields e.g. URL (Universal Resource Locator) Methods of Search

((nox OR nitrogen* OR n2) WITHIN 5 (trap* OR adsor*)) NEAR regener* AND url:dieselnet

Summary of article available in site dieselnet Methods of Search

Search in GOOGLE by using a URL (domain) inurl:dieselnet

Search in a known site Search by using the search capabilities of a known Internet site Each site offers its own search engine - usually of limited capabilities but allows to access “invisible web pages” (dynamically generated pages that are not retained after the search or pages requiring passwords to access) Methods of Search

Example IV: Scenario: Search for documents related to “NO x traps” in the site of the “Society of Automotive Engineers” ( Methods of Search

“NOx trap” Choose a document Subscription required or documents are sold separately

Dates of Internet Disclosures Prior art  defined by Art. 54(2) EPC Analogy between oral and Internet disclosures  When did the disclosure occur (date)?  What was the content of the disclosure?  How did the disclosure become available to the public (place – form of publication – confidential information)? Dates

Dates of Internet Disclosures Case I: Disclosures from publicly recognized publishers like: - technical journal sites - public databases - encyclopedias - newspapers - subscription sites - etc. carrying a publication date  use this date as the publication date of the document. Dates

Publication date: April Dates Dates of disclosures from publicly recognized publishers

Dates of Internet Disclosures Case II: Disclosures from: - publicly recognized publishers without publication date, or - sites from non-publicly recognized publishers with or without publication date  date of publication should be found or verified. How? s are not considered as prior art except if send in an open chat group Dates

Web Last Modified Date on server Javascript:alert(document.lastModified) Dates

Web Last Modified Date on server Freeware Program: Webdate Dates

Date of Gigablast Cached Page Dates Archiving date Last modified date “heat buffer”

Dates

Use retrieval/printing date as publication date of disclosure Printing date: 28 February 2002 Site address

Conclusions For an efficient search of patent applications Analyze patent application Choose right search tool (Google, Altavista,...) and/or relevant sites Choose search strategy – query language - keywords Evaluate publisher – recognized? Evaluate date of disclosure