1. Examples of technology searches Jerusalem 21 July 2010 Alex Riechel Associate Officer, Innovation and Technology Support Section

2. Example Research interest : Microbial fuel cells, i.e., fuel cells based on the biochemical activity of microorganisms or enzymes How to find relevant background information? Searching in scientific and technical books and journals Using patent information (applicant and examiner citations)

3. Searching in scientific and technical literature : Selected tools Google Scholar Scirus

4. Searching in scientific and technical literature Search criteria: (“fuel cell” OR “fuel cells”) microbial Scirus: 35,440 results Google Scholar: 9,250 results  For more comprehensive results : include synonyms

5. Scirus : Search results Substantial amount of general background information on fuel cells

6. Scirus : Features Filter by content source: journal, web (including patent), other Filter by file type: HTML, PDF, Word Filter by additional search criteria: suggested keywords or phrases

7. Scirus : Filtering by content source Filter : Journal sources  increased proportion of state-of-the-art information

8. Google Scholar : Search results

9. Google Scholar : Features Citations Provide an indication of the importance of an item in the field Additional versions Some versions may be available at no cost But: free versions may differ from the peer-reviewed version

10. Using patent information : Selected tools IPC natural language search (TACSY) PATENTSCOPE® search service esp@cenet USPTO PatFT/AppFT (+ PAIR)

11. Using patent information : Advantages Additional patent classification (e.g., IPC) Language independent Terminology / ”jargon” independent Literature summary by an expert in the field (applicant and examiner citations)

12. Applicant citations : US patent applications US patent applicants have a duty to disclose information “material to patentability” (including relevant prior art)

13. Examiner citations : Search reports A prior art search is carried out by many patent offices as part of the patenting process Compares the invention to all information available to the public at the time of filing A search report is prepared based on the prior art search and made available to the applicant and often to the public

14. Using patent information : Classification

16. Using patent information : PCT collection

17. 155 results

18. Using patent information : PCT collection

21. Using patent information : PCT collection – International Search Report Record of searched documentation

22. Using patent information : PCT collection – International Search Report Scientific and technical literature citations : Foreign language citations

23. Using patent information : PCT collection – International Search Report Scientific and technical literature citations : Non-synonyms

24. Using patent information : EP collection

28. Using patent information : EP collection – Examiner citations

29. Using patent information : US collection

32. Using patent information : US collection – Applicant citations

33. Patent citations vs. Google Scholar 61 scholarly citations (books and journals) made by applicant 40 found directly through search in Google Scholar 21 found only indirectly in Google Scholar through article citations 2 found only in the patent application Sistrom W, “The kinetics of synthesis of photopigments in Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides” Truper H & Pfenning N, “The photosynthetic bacteria”

34. Using patent information : US collection – Examiner citations

38. Limitations of patent citations Most useful in applied sciences Why?  Patentable subject matter Example: European Patent Convention “The following in particular shall not be regarded as inventions… (a) discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods; (b) aesthetic creations; (c) schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business, and programs for computers; (d) presentations of information.

39. Limitations of patent citations Information made public after the filing date of a patent application is not usually included in applicant citations or examiner citations

40. Example Research interest : Synthesis methods for lamivudine (anti-retroviral pharmaceutical) How to find relevant background information? Searching using uncontrolled vocabulary Searching using MeSH (controlled vocabulary, classification)

41. Precision vs. recall Relevant result Irrelevant result

42. Precision vs. recall Broad search

43. Precision vs. recall Narrow search

44. Keyword search : Synonyms Just plain paracetamol? Detracts from relevant results  Recall

45. Keyword search : Homonyms Looking for the animal or the computer device? Adds irrelevant results  Precision

46. Searching using uncontrolled terminology : Google Scholar

48. How can we improve our search results? Include synonyms lamivudine, 2',3'-dideoxy-3'-thiacytidine, 3TC … Include inflections synthesis, synthesize, synthesise  increase recall, decrease accuracy Use phrases “synthesis of lamivudine”  increase accuracy, decrease recall

49. Searching using MeSH : PubMed

53. Advantage : Controlled vocabulary improves accuracy and recall Disadvantage : Smaller coverage of MeSH-classified content

54. Thank you for your attention! For more information, please contact: patentscope@wipo.int

55. Websites : Search Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com Scirus http://www.scirus.com WIPO : PATENTSCOPE® search service http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/search/en/search.jsf esp@cenet http://ep.espacenet.com USPTO : PatFT / PatFT http://patft.uspto.gov

56. Websites : File inspection USPTO (PAIR) : http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/pair EPO (European Patent Register) http://www.epoline.org/portal/public/registerplus  Search reports

57. Websites : IPC WIPO : IPC http://www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/en WIPO : TACSY (Keyword search in IPC) http://www.wipo.int/tacsy