Searching for Patents - University College Dublin · 2016-02-04 · Classification Searching •Different classifications •IPC (International Patent Classification) •Agreed internationally

Michael Ladisch

UCD Library, November 2013

Searching for

Patents

Michael Ladisch UCD Library

[email protected]

What is a Patent?

• A patent confers upon its holder, for a limited

period, the right to exclude others from exploiting

(making, using, selling, importing) the patented

invention, except with the consent of the owner of

the patent.

• A patent is a form of 'industrial property', which can

be assigned, transferred, licensed or used by the

owner.

• Patents are territorial, in effect e.g. an Irish patent

is only valid in Ireland.

Michael Ladisch


Source: http://www.patentsoffice.ie/en/patents.aspx

http://www.patentsoffice.ie/en/patents.aspx

What is Patentable?

• Novelty: An invention is considered new if it does

not form part of the state of the art. The state of the

art comprises everything made available to the

public in any way, anywhere in the world, before

the date of filing of the patent application.

• Inventive step: An invention is considered as

involving an inventive step if it is not obvious to a

person skilled in that area of technology, having

regard to the state of the art.

• Industrial applicability: The invention must be

capable of being made or used in some kind of

industry, including agriculture.

Michael Ladisch


Source: http://www.patentsoffice.ie/en/patents.aspx

http://www.patentsoffice.ie/en/patents.aspx

Why Perform a Patent Search?

• Finding out if your invention is truly novel

• Getting a general idea of how an application and

patent is structured to help in the preparation of

your own application

• Learning more about a new field

• For market information

• Competitor tracking

• Technology tracking

Michael Ladisch


Types of Searching

• Text searching

• Classification searching

• Combinatory searching

• Date Range searching

• Discipline specific searching (Chemical

structures, Substances)

Michael Ladisch


Text Searching

• Identify keywords

• What problems does the invention solve?

• What is the invention (what are its physical

components)?

• What does the invention do?

• Use alternate terminology

• VoIP = Voice over the Internet Protocol; IP

telephony; Broadband telephony; Internet

telephony; Voice over Broadband

Michael Ladisch


Text Searching

• Use Boolean operators

• bicycle AND wheel (returns records that contain

both terms)

• bicycle OR tyre (returns records that contain

either terms)

• bicycle NOT tyre (returns records that contain

bicycle, but not tyre)

• Combine Boolean operators

• bicycle AND (rim OR wheel OR tyre)

• (bicycle AND wheel) NOT tyre

Michael Ladisch


Text Searching

• Use Wildcards * ?

• analy?e returns all records containing a variation

of a word – analyze, analyse

• electron* returns all records containing words

starting with electron, such as electron, electrons,

electronic, electronics

• Keep in mind the differences in American

and English spelling!

Michael Ladisch


Text Searching

• Use Quotation Marks “”

• “lithium battery” returns all records containing the

words in exactly that order as a phrase

• Without quotation marks you will get also records

where the words ‘lithium’ and ‘battery’ occur

unrelated to each other

Michael Ladisch


Classification Searching

• Different classifications

• IPC (International Patent Classification)

• Agreed internationally

• Published by World Intellectual Property

Organization (WIPO)

• CPC (Cooperative Patent Classification)

• Based on IPC, jointly developed by EPO and

USPTO to own requirements

• Published by European Patent Office (EPO) and

United States Patent and Trademark Office

(USPTO)

• USPC (United States Patent Classification)

• Published by United States Patent and Trademark

Office (USPTO) Michael Ladisch




• http://www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/en/

• 8 sections

• A – Human necessities

• B – Performing Operations, Transporting

• C – Chemistry, Metallurgy

• D – Textiles, Paper

• E – Fixed Constructions

• F – Mechanical Engineering, Lighting, Heating, Weapons

• G – Physics

• H - Electricity

Michael Ladisch


http://www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/en/

http://www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/en/



• First letter is “section symbol”

• A – Human necessities

• Two digit number is “class symbol”

• A43 - Footwear

• Final letter is “subclass”

• A43C – Fastenings or Attachments for Footwear

• One to three digit number / two digit number are “group”

and “subgroup”

• A43C 3/04 – Spring safety-hooks

Michael Ladisch



• IPC (international Patent Classification)

• Website offers “IPC Bridge”, links to equivalent in

• IPC national versions (German, Spanish, Polish, Korean,

etc.)

• Patent databases (USPTO, espace@net, Patenscope,

etc.)

• Other classifications (USPC, CPC)

Michael Ladisch



• CPC (Cooperative Patent Classification)

• http://worldwide.espacenet.com/classification

• Jointly developed by EPO and USPTO (est. 1st Jan 2013)

• A – H like IPC

• Y – General Tagging of New Technological Development

• Technologies for Adaptions Against Climate Change

• Cross-sectional technologies

Michael Ladisch


http://worldwide.espacenet.com/classification

http://worldwide.espacenet.com/classification


• USPC (United States Patent Classification)

• http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/selectnumwit

htitle.htm

• Over 400 classes

Michael Ladisch


http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/selectnumwithtitle.htm

http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/selectnumwithtitle.htm


• Classification searching is in general preferable

• Terminology/”jargon” independent

• Patent specifications often written by lawyers:

• non-experts, generalists; don’t know specific terminology

• prefer generic, unspecific terminology for legal reasons,

• e.g. to avoid any unnecessary limitation of the scope

of protection as defined by claims

Michael Ladisch



• Classification searching in general preferable

• Examples for “Lawyerish”

• Swimming pool = “Water retaining recreational structure”

• Paper bin = “Arrangement for the disposal of refuse”

• Shoe = “Footwear”

• Battery = “Electrical power source for electronic circuits”

Michael Ladisch


Patent databases

Michael Ladisch


• http://www.intellogist.com/wiki/Main_Page

• Wiki for patent searchers

• Information about patent search systems

• Coverage map

• Comparing search systems

• Best practices in Prior Art searching (general and for

specific disciplines)

• Resource Finder for specific disciplines

Michael Ladisch


http://www.intellogist.com/wiki/Main_Page

• http://www.uspto.gov/patents/index.jsp

• Over 8.7 million patents granted, 16 million applications

received

• Two databases: PatFT (issued patents) and AppFT

(applications since 2001)

• Prior to 2001 applications were confidential

• Search is very user unfriendly (display of patents in TIFF –

needs plug-in; old fashioned interface; but getting overhaul)

Michael Ladisch


http://www.uspto.gov/patents/index.jsp

http://www.uspto.gov/patents/index.jsp

• http://www.google.com/patents =

https://www.google.com/?tbm=pts

• Mostly US patents, but adding EPO patents

• Over 8 million patents from USPTO

• Bulk download offered

• Some scanning errors pre-1976

• ‘Finding Prior Art’ option = finding related information in

Google Scholar, Google Books, Web etc.

Michael Ladisch


http://www.google.com/patents

http://www.google.com/patents



Michael Ladisch


Michael Ladisch


Michael Ladisch


• Chemistry and Life science patents from US (since 1976),

Worldwide and Europe (since 1978)

• Structure search

• Links to fulltext in relevant database

• Not free, but subscription by UCD Library (search online

catalogue for ‘reaxys’ or ‘scifinder’)

Michael Ladisch


• http://patentscope.wipo.int/

• About 32.5 million patent documents, including 2.2 million

international patent applications (PCT)

• Interface in different languages

• Maintained by World Intellectual Property Organization

(WIPO)

Michael Ladisch


http://patentscope.wipo.int/

http://patentscope.wipo.int/

• http://www.patentlens.net/

• About 11 million full text of PCT applications, US patents

and applications, EPO patents, Australian patents

• Interface in different languages

• Search for over 80 million protein and DNA sequences

• Patent “landscape” reports on specific subjects

• Will continue as The Lens (http://www.lens.org/), currently

in beta; improved search options, new interface

Michael Ladisch


http://www.patentlens.net/

http://www.lens.org/

http://www.lens.org/

• http://www.epo.org/espacenet

• Containing data for 80 million patent documents

• Almost worldwide coverage

• Search engine for European countries

• http://ie.espacenet.com/ for Ireland

• Espacenet Assistant – interactive training tool

• http://application.epo.org/wbt/espacenet/assistant.php?l

g=en

Michael Ladisch


http://www.epo.org/espacenet

http://www.epo.org/espacenet

http://ie.espacenet.com/

http://application.epo.org/wbt/espacenet/assistant.php?lg=en



Michael Ladisch


Thank you!

Michael Ladisch

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 01 716 7530

Michael Ladisch


Please provide feedback at

http://goo.gl/4BEYAb

mailto:[email protected]

http://goo.gl/4BEYAb

Searching for Patents - University College Dublin · 2016-02-04 · Classification Searching •Different classifications •IPC (International Patent Classification) •Agreed internationally

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