Access to patent information and the role of classification Mikhail Makarov World Intellectual Property Organization IPC Forum 2006 Geneva

Aspects of Patent Information u Legal - rights for invention u Economic - assessing economic dynamics u Technological - technology transfer

Advantages of Patent Information u Uniform structure u Most recent information u Not published in other form of literature u Industry-oriented information u Problem-solving approach u Over 50 million documents u Can be freely used to support research

Uniform Structure of Patent Documentation u Presentation and data elements follow WIPO standards u Abstract - concise summary of technical disclosure u Description - background and details of invention u Claims - new technical solution

Dissemination of Patent Information u Industrial Property Offices u Patent Information Centres (over 300 in Europe) u Commercial vendors u Medium: - paper - optical discs - Internet

Use of Patent Information u To avoid redundant research u To evaluate specific technology u To identify new technical solutions u To identify state of the art u To assess novelty and patentability of potential inventions u To monitor technological progress u To monitor competitor’s activities u To identify existing IP rights

Unique Applications of Patent Classification u Use of patent information for: - investigating the state of the art - preparation of patent statistics - organization of search files - selective dissemination of information

Brief History of Patent Classifications u Alphabetical Lists of Patents (France, 1771) u Classification Systems: - US Classification (1872) - German Classification (1877) - British Classification (1880) - British Classification (1880) - Proposal for an international classification (1904) - European Classification - 1st edition of the IPC (1968)

Brief History of the IPC u Strasbourg Agreement u nd edition of the IPC u th edition of the IPC u th edition of the IPC (reformed IPC)

IPC Growth (classification groups)

IPC Growth for Some Rapidly Expanding Technologies

National Versions of the IPC u Chinese u Croatian u Czech u Dutch u German u Hungarian u Japanese u Korean u Polish u Russian u Serbian u Spanish

Other Existing Patent Classifications u UK Patent Classification - 40,000 groups u DECLA (German Office) - 100,000 groups u ECLA (EPO) - 130,000 groups u US Patent Classification - 150,000 groups u Japan Patent Classification - 190,000 groups

Different Kinds of Search with the Use of the IPC u Novelty Search u Patentability or Validity Search u Infringement Search u Informative Search (state of the art search) u Legal Status Search

Searching of Patent Information u Text searching: - Databases containing abstracts - Full-text databases u Classification-based searching: - IPC - Other classifications

Text Searching u Advantages: - Easiness to use - all invention details may be retrieved u Disadvantages: - Problem of synonyms - Various languages - Inconsistent terminology

Classification-based searching u Advantages: - Gives more complete results than text searching - Independent of the language of the text - Independent of the changes in terminology u Disadvantages: - Complex structure of classifications - Requires study of classification rules

Searching of patent information u Classification adds information value to patent documents u Combination of classification-based and text searching gives best results

Identify IPC for Search Similar documents Catchword index SUBJECT OF SEARCH IPC:CLASS IPC IPC Section Section Class Class Subclass Subclass Main Group Main Group One-dot Group One-dot Group

Three-Step Retrieval Strategy