Assignee Name Harmonization Efforts at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office US Patent and Trademark Office Office of Electronic Information Products Patent Technology Monitoring Division Jim Hirabayashi, Senior Analyst October 27, 2005

Background and Characteristics of Name Harmonization Effort at USPTO (1) Harmonization is available for first-named assignees of utility patents granted since 1969 More than 325,000 assignee names are contained in the TAF database which contains selected patent bibliographic data for over 3.5 million utility patents In the current database, each assignee name is associated with a preferred or harmonized assignee name

Background and Characteristics of Name Harmonization Effort at USPTO (2) Only the first-named assignee name is captured and harmonized Assignee location is not captured or stored at this time Assignee data are limited to organizational entities (i.e, assignee names of individuals are not captured)

Background and Characteristics of Name Harmonization Effort at USPTO (3) Only limited harmonization is performed for first-named assignees listed on pre- grant patent publications Harmonized assignee data are part of the USPTO’s TAF database that includes selected bibliographic patent data

Characteristics of the USPTO Harmonized Assignee File USPTO’s harmonized assignee file consists of two parts with distinctly different characteristics 1.Assignees for patents granted before approximately July, Assignees for patents granted after July, 1992

Characteristics of the Harmonized Assignee File – Before July 1992 For patents granted prior to July 1992: Only the harmonized assignee name is stored in the TAF database Length of the harmonized name may be limited (e.g., 60 characters) Harmonization was accomplished primarily through a manual process of comparing names

Characteristics of the Harmonized Assignee File – After July 1992 For patents granted after July 1992: Both the original assignee name and the harmonized name are stored in the TAF database Permitted length of the original and harmonized names is substantially longer (255 characters) Harmonization is largely automated with limited, though significant, manual review of assignee names

Assignee Name Harmonization Effort General Observations Some variation in the rules applied for name harmonization is inevitable since harmonization has been performed for twenty to thirty years by several different persons (initiated in an effort with NSF support) Name harmonization rules used by USPTO are generally conservative based on the understanding that further consolidation of names is substantially easier than the separation of combined entities

General PTMD Guidelines Used for Assignee Name Harmonization General rules Harmonization generally is limited to variations in assignee name Harmonization efforts do not address subsidiary ownership – harmonized names are based on names declared by the assignee even if they are subsidiary names

General PTMD Guidelines Used for Assignee Name Harmonization General rules (continued) Organizations with similar names generally are not combined when associated with different countries or when different names suggest a different corporate structure –ASEA BROWN BOVERI AG =/= ASEA BROWN BOVERI AB

General PTMD Guidelines Used for Assignee Name Harmonization General rules (continued) When assignment information, as separately recorded in USPTO’s Assignment Database, suggests that two similar names are truly the same organization, the two names usually will be harmonized/combined (e.g., when a recorded assignment announces a simple change of organizational name)

General PTMD Guidelines Used for Assignee Name Harmonization General rules (continued) In a limited number of cases, the assignee name for a patent may be changed within the database –To correct an obvious error (e.g., when a patent is associated with an incorrect assignee) –To correct an ambiguity and avoid future problems (e.g., when a patent is associated with an ambiguous assignee name)

USPTO Assignee Name Harmonization Process There are three sequential steps for harmonizing assignee names listed on patents that are loaded into the TAF database: 1.Perform computer-based harmonization 2.Perform manual harmonization if no name match is obtained in step (1) 3.Perform large scale manual verification and harmonization for assignees newly identified during a recent, extended time period

(1a) Computer-based assignee name harmonization Performed for the assignee as each patent is loaded into the TAF database (weekly): A.The first-named assignee is extracted from the patent B.A “condensed” assignee name is created by removing spaces and non-alphanumeric characters and capitalizing all letters C.The condensed name is compared with the condensed names of existing assignees in the database

(1b) Computer-based assignee name harmonization Performed for the assignee as each patent is loaded into the TAF database (weekly): D.If there is a match with an existing assignee, then that matching assignee is linked to the patent in the database E.If there is no match, then the new assignee name is linked to the patent in the database and is placed into a list of assignees for manual review (step 2)

(2a) Manual assignee name harmonization A.Analyst reviews each new assignee name that did not have a (condensed) name match in the assignee database B.If a preferred, harmonized assignee name is identified for the new assignee name, then the new name is assigned to that preferred or harmonized name

(2b) Manual assignee name harmonization Various tools are used to assist an analyst in a manual assignee review if no computer-based match is found CD-ROM database tool with text search and display of assignees existing in the database Report displaying assignees of other patents granted to the inventors of the patent with the assignee under review Report displaying patent assignee information as recorded separately in the USPTO Assignment Database Other tools and resources

(3) Large scale manual review and assignee name harmonization To verify the accuracy and integrity of the entire assignee file (e.g., annually) –PTMD analysts manual review new assignees identified and added during an extended period, usually during the previous year, using tools similar to the weekly review tools –If a preferred, harmonized assignee name is identified for an existing assignee name, then the preferred, harmonized name is linked to that existing name

Assignee Name Harmonization Tools 1.CD-ROM database tool with text search and display of assignees existing in the database 2.Report displaying assignees of other patents granted to the inventors of the patent with the new assignee under review 3.Report displaying patent assignee information as recorded separately in the USPTO assignment database 4.Other tools and resources

Tools – (1) Assignee Name Harmonization CD-ROM (1/4) Permits user to view preferred, harmonized assignee names and numeric codes along with associated alternate assignee names and numeric codes Separately counts U.S. and foreign origin patents for each assignee to assist in name harmonization

Tools – (1) Assignee Name Harmonization CD-ROM Query Screen (2/4)

Tools – (1) Assignee Name Harmonization CD-ROM – General Display Screen of Harmonized Names (3/4)

Tools – (1) Assignee Name Harmonization CD-ROM Detail Display Screen of Preferred and Alternate Names (4/4)

Tools – (2) List of Assignees for other Patents Issued to Inventors of the Patent Containing the New Assignee (1/2) Using links to other assignee names through the inventors, this tool permits a user to view possible preferred or harmonized assignee names

Tools – (2) List of Assignees for Other Patents Issued to Inventors of the Patent Having the New Assignee – paper report (2/2)

Tools – (3) Comparison with Patent Assignees Listed in Separate Patent Assignments Database (1/2) Permits user to view a separately keyed set of assignees associated with the patent containing the new assignee name to suggest possible harmonized names (misspellings often caught here) Displays a limited history of assignee name changes associated with the patent

Tools – (3) Comparison with Patent Assignees Listed in Separate Patent Assignments Database (2/2)

Tools – (4) Other Tools and Resources Other tools include: Direct online access of the assignment database Comparison with assignees listed on pre- grant publications (provides only limited assistance at this time) Direct online access of selected patents

Database Table Structure Data are stored in Oracle database tables Every assignee name has a preferred or harmonized name – for preferred or harmonized assignee names, the harmonized name is the same name Table 1-Primary Table Patent number Numeric assignee code Table 2 – Assignee Table Numeric assignee code (called the “alternate assignee code”) Full assignee name (called the “alternate assignee name”) Condensed assignee name, non-alphanumeric characters removed Numeric assignee code corresponding to the harmonized assignee name (called the “preferred/harmonized assignee code”)

Assignee Name Harmonization at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office US Patent and Trademark Office Office of Electronic Information Products Patent Technology Monitoring Division Jim Hirabayashi, Senior Analyst October 27, 2005