1. Patent information from Japan and Korea
Irene Schellner European Patent Office
AIDB Conference, Rome 6 June 2008

2. Did you know that...
... more than 50% of the patent applications published worldwide are written in Japanese, Korean or Chinese?
... Japan, Korea and China are all among the top five patenting nations in the world?
... Japan is the world's second biggest PCT user
... between 1997 and 2006, patent filings by residents doubled in Korea?
... Korean patent documents are part of the PCT minimum documentation?

3. Content Why patent information from Japan and Korea?
Some facts about patents in Japan and Korea
Free data sources in Japan and Korea
English information
Full documents
Machine translation
Legal status information

4. Why patent information from Japan and Korea?

5. Evolution of filing figures
(source: annual reports JPO, KIPO, EPO)

6. Evolution of grant figures
(source: annual reports JPO, KIPO, EPO)

7. Domestic filings ( )
Domestic Japanese applications remained at a constant high level (~ applications/year)
Domestic Korean applications doubled
Japan
Korea
(source: annual reports of JPO, KIPO)

8. Top IPCs in Japan (applications in 2006)
Electric elements and electric techniques
H01
Electric communication techniques
H04
Computing, calculating, counting
G06
Measuring, testing
G01
Photography, cinematography, etc.
G03
Medical or veterinary science; hygiene
A61
Transporting
B60
Printing, lining machines, typewriters, stamps
B41
Educating, cryptography, display, etc.
G09
Organic macromolecular compounds, etc.
C08
(source: PATOLIS database, as of May 2008)

9. Top IPCs in Korea (applications in 2006)
H01
Electric elements & electric techniques
Electric communication techniques
H04
Computing, calculating, counting
G06
A61
Medical or veterinary science, hygiene
B60
Transporting
Electric techniques not otherwise provided for
H05
Educating, cryptography, display, etc.
G09
Organic chemistry
C07
Organic macromolecular compounds, etc.
C08
Printing; lining machines, typewriters; stamps
B41
(source: KIPRIS database, as of May 2008)

10. Evolution of filings from Japan and Korea
at the EPO ( )
(source: annual reports EPO)

11. Top applicants at the EPO (2006)
Philips
Siemens
Samsung Electronics
Matsushita Electric
BASF
LG Electronics
Sony
Nokia
General Electric
Bosch
Hitachi
Mitsubishi
Fujitsu
Bayer
3M Innovative Properties Co.
(source: annual report EPO)
Top applicants at the EPO (2006)

12. Why patent information from Japan & Korea?
High numbers/rapid growth of patent applications including domestic only (i.e. with no English language family members)
High activity in key technical fields
Major corporate players (e.g. Matsushita, Samsung, Sony, LG, etc.)
PCT minimum documentation: Korean patent documents have been included since April 2007!

13. Some facts about patents in Japan and Korea

14. Some facts about patents in Japan
annually more than patent applications
annually more than granted patents
ratio of foreign to domestic applications is 1 : 10
since 1990: electronic filing
2007: patent applications

15. Some facts about patents in Japan
1885 "Patent Monopoly Act" foundation of industrial property system in Japan
Japan becomes signatory to Paris Convention
change from first-to-invent to first-to-file principle
start of publication of unexamined applications (A-publications)
1976 start of PAJ English abstracts
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) becomes effective
change from pre-grant opposition to post-grant opposition system
opposition system abolished

16. Some facts about patents in Korea
KIPO receives 4th highest number of IP applications in the world (after JP, US and CN)
in 2007: patent applications
KIPO was first patent office to publish its gazettes only on the internet (July 2001)
97.8% of patents in Korea are filed online (Oct. 2006)

17. Some facts about patents in Korea
1946 General patent law enacted
1980 Korea became party to Paris Convention
1984 Korea acceded to the Patent Cooperation Treaty
1997 change from pre-grant opposition to post-grant opposition system
1998 "KIPRIS" (Korea Industrial Property Rights Information Service) launched
2005 Access in English to all types of Korean industrial property rights via KIPRIS
2007 opposition system abolished

18. Some facts about patents ...
... in Japan
... in Korea
patent authority
Japan Patent Office (JPO)
Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO)
patent term
20 years
term extensions
several possible, for pharmaceutical, veterinary, agrochemical patents
only one extension per patent, for pharmaceutical or agrochemical patents
request for examination
3 years from the filing date (previously 7)
5 years from the filing date
opposition
abolished in 2004
integrated with invalidation procedure in 2007
invalidation
any time after grant, even after expiry of patent
3 months after grant, OR anytime (even after expiry)
annual fees
6 months grace period of payment

19. The numbering system in Japan
yy-nnnnnn
two digits for the Japanese year (y)
up to six digits for the number (n)
for: application number, unexamined publication number, examined publication number (old law)
yyyy-nnnnnn
from 2000 onwards  four-digit Western years
nnnnnnn
seven digit number (n), no year
for: grant numbers

20. Quick recap: Japanese imperial years
SHOWA (SHO, S)
reign of Emperor Hirohito
1926 (= Showa 1) to 1989 (= Showa 64)
HEISEI (HEI, H)
reign of Emperor Akihito
1989 (= Heisei 1) to date
SHOWA + 25 = Western year HEISEI + 88 = Western year
Note: Showa 64 = Heisei 01 = 1989!

21. The numbering system in Korea
tt-yyyy-nnnnnnn
two digits for the type of right (t)
four digits for the Western year (y)
up to seven digits for the number (n)
for: applications, unexamined publications
tt-nnnnnnn
two digits for the type of right
seven digits for the serial number (n), no year
for: grant numbers
types of right (t):
10 = patent, 20 = utility model, 30 = design, 40 = trade mark

22. Free data sources in Japan
English information
Full documents
Machine translation
Legal status information

23. www.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/ homepg_e.ipdl
Free source
Industrial Property Digital Library of the Japan Patent Office (JPO)
homepg_e.ipdl
English search interface:
all industrial property rights from 1885 on
English abstracts for patent applications from 1976 on
Japanese full documents
machine-translated full texts from 1993 on
short legal status in English from 1990 on

24. Free source
Industrial Property Digital Library of the Japan Patent Office (JPO)
homepg.ipdl
Japanese search interface:
machine-readable full texts from 1993 on
full legal status information
information on "patent term extensions"
download of full documents
electronic file inspection

25. English information
English interface for JPO's digital library:

26. Search with English keywords and IPC
Patent Abstracts of Japan (PAJ)
click here to display the results list
default combination of search fields with "AND"

27. Display - results list
no further limitation of search result possible...

28. TIP: search with F-terms

29. www5.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/pmgs1/pmgs1/pmgs_E
Search with F-terms
STEP 1: find relevant F-term theme via IPC -> FI -> F-term concordance
www5.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/pmgs1/pmgs1/pmgs_E

30. www5.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/pmgs1/pmgs1/pmgs_E
Search with F-terms
FI class
F-term theme
www5.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/pmgs1/pmgs1/pmgs_E

31. www5.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/pmgs1/pmgs1/pmgs_E
Search with F-terms
STEP 2: identify relevant term codes
www5.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/pmgs1/pmgs1/pmgs_E

32. www5.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/pmgs1/pmgs1/pmgs_E
Search with F-terms
STEP 2: identify relevant term codes
www5.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/pmgs1/pmgs1/pmgs_E

33. www4.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/Tokujitu/tjftermena.ipdl?N0000=114
Search with F-terms
STEP 3: input theme and term codes in search mask
www4.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/Tokujitu/tjftermena.ipdl?N0000=114

34. Display - results list, PAJ abstract
click on document numbers to display the English abstract (PAJ)
results list with publication numbers
www4.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/Tokujitu/tjftermenk.ipdl

35. Full documents download Japanese full documents page by page (GIF)
www4.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/Tokujitu/tjftermenk.ipdl

36. Machine translation click "DETAIL" to start the machine translation
NOTE: default setting is translation of the claims, other parts of the document can be translated separately
click "DETAIL" to start the machine translation
www4.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/Tokujitu/tjftermenk.ipdl

37. Machine translation
unexamined publications (P, U) from 1993 examined/granted publications (P, U) from 1994 PCT publications from 1996
www4.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/Tokujitu/tjftermenk.ipdl

38. Legal status information
link from PAJ abstract to basic legal status in English
new since January 2008
www19.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/PA1/cgi-bin/PA1INDEX

39. Legal status information (NEW)
www19.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/PA1/cgi-bin/PA1INDEX

40. Useful links
Industrial Property Digital Library (IPDL)
Japan Patent Office (JPO)
Cabinet secretariat (English translation of patent law)
Japan Patent Attorneys Association (JPAA)
tips for searching Japanese databases

41. Free data sources in Korea
English information
Full documents
Machine translation
Legal status information

42. Korea Industrial Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS)
Free source
Korea Industrial Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS)
English search interface:
all industrial property rights from ca.1948 to date
English abstracts (KPA) from 1979
English legal status
Korean full documents
machine-translated full texts (fee-based!)

43. English information KIPRIS access in English: http://eng.kipris.or.kr/
new since 2007: "K2E-PAT" automatic translation service (payable!)

44. Search with English keywords in KPA
Korean Patent Abstracts (KPA)
time delay: approx. 3 months
updates: monthly
gaps: non-Korean applications and foreign priority PCT applications before 2000

45. Search with English keywords in KPA
results list of KPA search
search with keywords can be too broad...

46. Search with English keywords and IPC
results list of KPA search
limit search by combining with IPC class

47. Cross-lingual patent retrieval
search interface for Korean patents and utility models
English keywords are automatically translated into Korean -> Korean full texts are searched

48. Display - results list results list
click on the title of a record in the results list to display further information

49. Display of result - link to KPA abstract
click here to view the English abstract (KPA)
NOTE: a TIFF viewer is required to display the representative drawing with the KPA abstract

50. Full documents download Korean full documents in one (PDF)

51. K2E-PAT machine translation
download machine-translated English full text (payable!)
English legal status

52. K2E-PAT machine translation
unexamined publications (P) from 1983 unexamined publications (U) from 1998 examined/granted publications from 1979 PCT publications from 1985/1986
Korean text and English machine-translated text can be displayed in parallel

53. Basic legal status information
KPA (Korean Patent Abstract) display
short English legal status (no information on payment of annual fees, etc.)

54. Detailed legal status information
direct link to register information (Korean only!)
some 63 legal status events have English translations

55. Korean register information via KIPRIS
check the Korean register for information on payment of annual fees! (currently not available in English)

56. KIPRIS improvements for 2008
new operator "NEAR" (^n), within 1 to 3 words
all claims searchable
option to enable/disable cross-lingual search
prior art documents
representative drawing in results list
Korean and English titles in results list

57. Useful links
Korea Industrial Property Rights Information Services (KIPRIS) eng.kipris.or.kr/
Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO)
Korea Institute of Patent Information (KIPI) eng.kipi.or.kr
Korea Patent Attorneys Association (KPAA)
tips for searching Korean databases

58. EPO Vienna Your gateway to East Asia