Searching patents using Espacenet David Barford Consultant Ulaanbaatar March 2015

Key points Hosted by the European Patent Office million patent documents Patent family information Legal status information Citation information European Patent Register Free service; no log-in names or passwords required 2

Collections and coverage Currently, over 90 million patent documents: International patent applications (WO documents published by WIPO under the PCT) European patent applications (EP) 90 national collections Five regional collections (ARIPO, EAPO, EPO, GCC, OAPI) Coverage: Full text of all WO and EP documents Other collections vary eg abstracts from 1970 for many countries

Search options Smart search Searches all collections Flexible with wide choice of field identifiers and search operators Can simply use without identifiers and operators Advanced search Need to select which collection is to be searched (WO, EP, Worldwide) Has boxes corresponding to different fields Classification search Suggests appropriate classifications; then searches those selected 4

Smart search 5

Advanced search 6

Classification search 7

Example: search for ‘rotating building fisher’ 8

Seven results 9

Earliest document 10

A more complicated scenario An automobile manufacturer intends to launch a new line of cars in Germany and would like to incorporate parking assist technologies into these cars. 11

Scenario Your task is to determine: whether patent applications have been filed for parking assist technologies in Germany what is the current status of these patent applications 12

Task breakdown Access Espacenet Retrieve patent documents based on classification Examine a specific patent document Review legal status information 13

Task breakdown Access Espacenet Retrieve patent documents based on classification Examine a specific patent document Review legal status information 14

EPO Homepage 15

EPO Homepage 16

EPO Homepage 17

Espacenet Portal 18

Espacenet search page 19

Task breakdown Access Espacenet Retrieve patent documents based on classification Examine a specific patent document Review legal status information 20

Espacenet search page 21

Classification search 22

Classification search: Results 23

Classification search: Results 24

Classification search: Results 25

Classification search: Results /low: includes all "children" classifications /exact: includes only the specified classification symbol 26

Classification search: Results 27

Search: Results 28

Scenario The manufacturer has seen Volkswagen cars that have a system of particular interest and asks for a list of all these patents for information. 29

Classification search: Results 30

Advanced search interface 31

Advanced search interface 32

Advanced search interface 33

Results 34

Task breakdown Access Espacenet Retrieve patent documents based on classification Examine a specific patent document Review legal status information 35

Search: Results 36

Question Where was this patent application filed? 37

Record 38

Question If a patent has been granted for an invention related to parking assist technologies in the United States, can it be enforced in Germany?  No, unless an equivalent patent has been granted in Germany.  Patents are territorial in nature. 39

Patent families After filing an initial patent application, a patent applicant may file further applications while retaining the same priority date Patent documents linked this way are members of a "patent family"  Useful for retrieving equivalent patent documents filed in different countries 40

Record: Patent families 41

Record: INPADOC patent family Patent applications filed in Germany… …and through the European Patent Office 42

Task breakdown Access Espacenet Retrieve patent documents based on classification Examine a specific patent document Review legal status information 43

Record: INPADOC patent family 44

Record: Patent family member 45

Record: INPADOC legal status 46

Tip! Legal status data may not always be up-to-date.  Always verify legal status data the responsible patent office before making critical decisions! 47

Translations 48

Translations 49

Translation 50

Translation 51

Picture Mosaics 52

Scenario The automobile manufacturer has found a reference to a patent in the documentation of a car sold in the United States and would like you to retrieve this patent and any related patents. The patent number is 6,223,

Task breakdown Retrieve a specific patent document Retrieve closely related documents 54

Task breakdown Retrieve a specific patent document Retrieve closely related documents 55

Search: Advanced search interface 56

Question Is 6,223,847 an application number or a publication number? 57

Search: Smart search interface 6,223,847  (or US ) 58

Search: Results 59

Record 60

Record: Document 61

Task breakdown Retrieve a specific patent document Retrieve closely related documents 62

Citations References can be made from one document to another document by: applicants examiners third parties  Useful for retrieving potentially relevant documents not retrieved directly through classification or keyword search 63

Record: Document  Earlier related documents 64

Record: Cited documents 65

Record: Cited documents 66

Record: Cited documents  Later related documents 67

Record: Citing documents 68

More about Espacenet Operators Collections and coverage 69

Interfaces: Smart search  Basic or command line search 70

Operators Boolean operators : AND, OR, NOT Proximity operators Comparison operators Range operator Wildcard operators ? (zero or one characters) # (one character exactly) * (any number of characters) 71

Proximity operators (Smart search only) Find two words within n words of each other mouse<n trap Find two words in the same sentence mouse prox/unit=sentence trap Find two words in the same paragraph mouse prox/unit=paragraph trap 72

Comparison operators (Smart search only) all – finds all the terms listed (in any order) in the field specified ti all “paint brush hair” any – finds any of the terms listed in the field specified ti any “paint hair shoe tooth” 73

Comparison operators (Smart search only) pd >= 2005 … docs published in 2005 or later pd<= 2005 … docs published in 2005 or earlier pd within “ ” … docs published in 2005 or

Wildcard operators Any number of characters : * electr*  electric, electron, electronic … Zero or one characters: ? forge?  forge, forges, forget … Zero or two characters: ?? car??  car, cars, cart, carts … (not carpet) One character exactly : # ri#  rid, rip, rim … foc##  focus, focal … Can only be used at the end of a term 75

Collections and coverage Currently, over 90 million patent documents International patent applications (PCT) 90 national collections Five regional collections (ARIPO, EAPO, EPO, GCC, OAPI) 76

Thank you for your attention! For more information, please contact: 77

Practical exercises using ESPACENET 78

Case study 1 Your client is a manufacturer of power tools. One of his products is an electric drill incorporating a level to show when the drill is truly horizontal (sometimes called a spirit level or bubble level). The manufacturer has a letter saying he is infringing a patent protecting this idea. The manufacturer wishes to challenge the validity of the patent. The patent has a filing date of 1 January 2005 and a priority date of 2 January There are no numbered references in the discussion of prior art in the patent. Also the examining Patent Office could find only background documents which you‘ve checked and confirm are not citable against novelty or inventive step. 79

Smart search First search: electric drill level Result: over 200 hits many no good, but number 15 on the list CN describes the invention 80

Example - CN

Smart search However it was published on 19 June 2013 which was too late Check IPC on this document B23B45/02; B25F5/02 B23B45/02= electric drills, so try that Second search: B23B45/02 AND (“spirit level” OR “bubble level”) Result: only four hits, all describe the invention, three of them were published before

Result list 83

Example 84

Case study 2 The client is a bicycle manufacturer who has been developing improved bicycle frames, and wants some advice on getting a patent. The invention might be: the construction of the frame the material the frame is made of the shape of the frame. you need to understand which features are well known (=common knowledge) and which are potentially patentable From discussion, it transpires that her main interest is in the patentability of using magnesium alloys in bicycle frames. 85

Search Smart search: bicycle frame AND (magnesium OR Mg) Result: over 40 hits – example on next slide 86

Example 87

Meeting the Client To Discuss Results Results: There are ample results showing that it is well known to use magnesium alloys in bicycle frames Limitations: All is not lost % composition of magnesium in the alloy? ranges of %-compositions (5-10% or 1-2%) tensile strengths? Coatings? Structure? 88

Case study 3 Your client – a health institution - wishes to know whether any solutions are emerging to handle fears that cell phones are dangerous 89

Search Smart search (cellphone or “cell phone“ or “mobile phone“) and (health or protect or shield) Over 1800 results Select number 4 90

Result 91

Search again Smart search (cellphone or “cell phone“ or “mobile phone“) and (health or protect or shield) and user and H01Q [=IPC for aerials] 31 results, select numbers 4 and 15 92

Example from results 93

Example from results 94