2009 Patent UpdateChemistry Librarians Workshop

University of Toronto / June 5, 2009

Michael White

Engineering & Science Library

Queen’s University

michael.white@queensu.ca

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Stormy Weather Fewer applications in 2008-2009

• EPO 1% (big drop in Q4)• JPO 1.2%• UKIPO 12%• USPTO 10% in 2009?• WIPO 2.4% (smallest increase

since 2005) Fewer maintenance fees paid

• Companies weeding portfolios• CIPO budget = 52.3%• USPTO budget = 31.4%

Less revenue• USPTO hiring freeze• AU, DK, UK, EPO staff layoffs• Cancelled or delayed IT projects?

CLOSED

2Sources: USPTO, EPO, JPO annual reports; IAM Magazine

Gloomy Forecast

Quality counts! Patent offices tightening up on allowed applications:• USPTO 44.2% ( from 72% in 2000)• JPO 48%• EPO 42%

Backlogs still growing:• EPO 250K / 40 months 1 million by 2011?• USPTO 1.2 million / 32.3 months

USPTO abandoned applications up 25%

3Sources: USPTO, EPO, JPO annual reports; IAM Magazine

Milder in Asia 50+ % of new applications are

filed in Asia (1.76 million worldwide)

828K Chinese applications Apps per million pop. (US = 800)

• JP, KR 2500

Apps per $million in R&D (US = .8)• KR 5.5• CN, JP 3.5

Top 25 university assignees• #10 Tsinghua University (Beijing)• #24 Korean Advanced Institute of

Science and Technology

Sources: WIPO 2008 World Patent Report; Boliven Top 25 Report, 2008 4

Patent Office Cooperation USPTO Patent Prosecution Highway (est. in 2006)

• Fast track patent application process; eliminate redundancy

• Partners: DE, SG, KR, AU, CA, JP, EPO, AU, UK Patent Work Sharing Initiative (USPTO, KIPO,

SIPO, EPO, JPO)• Common document database (EPO)• Common hybrid classification system (EPO)• Common application format (JPO)• Mutual machine translation (KIPO)• Common search and examination support tools (USPTO)• Common approach to sharing and documenting search

strategies (USPTO)

5Sources: EPO Patent Information News, WIPO press releases

Fun Facts

EPO publishes 2,000,000th application in Dec. 2008

USPTO issues patent 7,500,000 in Feb. USPTO publishes 2,000,000th application in Feb. Kia Silverbrook received 581 US patents in 2008

• Founder, Silverbrook Research, Sydney, AU• 400 employees• Specialist in inkjet printer technology • Issue fees = $438,655 (small entity fee)• 2,500 US patents total, 1994+

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CIPO “Filings down minimally but payment of maintenance

fees down substantially” – CEO Mary Carman, May 7 Patent Appeal Board rejects Amazon’s “one-click”

patent application (CA 2246933A1) Increase IP instruction at the university and college

level Canadian Patents Database

• Data available within one week of filing / issue• PCT application data within 9 weeks of date of national

entry• Modified search interface• Download biological sequence files

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WIPO / PatentScope Inventor and individual application address data

suppressed • Does not affect searches or search alerts• Still printed on PDF

New kind codes• A4 Amended claims or statement• A8 republished front page data• A9 republished with corrections, alterations or

supplements Complete file contents of published applications

(2006+) Int. Application Status Report available New 44-page guide to using patent information

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USPTO

Record-breaking 495,095 applications in 2008 (5.7 percent)

New Director…TBA Patent reform?

• First to file v. first to invent• 18 month publication – no opt

out

MPEP 8th edition, July 2008 rev.

Glossary of USPC terms

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US 7500000 – Method and system for assigning or creating a resourceAssignee: IBM

New USPC Classifications

850, Scanning probe techniques and apparatus

73, Measuring and testing 506, Combinatorial

chemistry technology: method, library, apparatus

374, Thermal measuring and testing

US 7320261 - Animal skin and eye moisture and heat simulator

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Chemical structure searching via SureChem Personal accounts now store:

• 10,000 documents in up to 20 folders

Titles added for cited references CitePatents: encourage journalists and bloggers

to link to patents mentioned in stories

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EPO / esp@cenet Beta SmartSearch

• One search box for searching inventor & applicant names, numbers, dates, keywords, IPC

• Advanced SmartSearch: Combine up to 21 terms in 23 fields Download up to 100 pages “My patents” stores 100 documents Data for Cuba, Peru, Costa Rica and El Salvador Chinese legal status back to 1985 New online helpdesk for Indian patents New online tutorials and webinars Espace EP : search four weeks of EP full text documents Global Patent Index in 2009?

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Claims Display

Priority Claims Table

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US provisional applications

US application WO application

US patent WO publicationFull Text

Patent Family Chart

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Boliven Patents

Launched in Jan. 2008 Start-up company based in NYC Search, analysis and valuation services Networking site for inventors, IP attorneys,

business development professionals Patent database

• US, KR, EP, JP… • 60 million documents

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Boliven Patents Search Results

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Analyze Search Results

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Website for patent searchers Created by Landon IP

• patent and trademark search firm based in N. Virginia• Supported in part by advertising

Quick comparison of patent search systems Find prior art resources by technical field Interactive patent coverage map Wiki - Best practices in prior art searching

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Other News

IP Australia launches AusPat, retires PatentSearch• Bib data, 1970+; full text 1998 +

Google Patents• US applications added, six month delay

Patents.com launched in Sept. 2008• Formerly Patentmonkey.com• US, 1976+; EP 1998+?• Supported by advertisements

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