icic 2014 tutorial: training for information professionals - how to analyse, visualise and...

© 2014 WissensWert Seminare Dr. Kirch-Verfuß © 2014 WissensWert Seminare Dr. Kirch-Verfuß

WissensWert Tutorial

How to analyze, visualize and

understand patent families

© 2014 WissensWert Seminare Dr. Kirch-Verfuß

Soft top Hard top

Roof structure for convertible vehicle

Daimler-Benz AG DE 196 39 567 A1 26.09.1996


Transparent rear part

Roof structure for convertible vehicle

Daimler-Benz AG DE 196 39 567 A1 26.09.1996


Agenda

• What is a patent family?

• A simple patent family, priorities and different routes to patents

• What is all this for?

• A somewhat tricky simple patent family and the national familiy

• A complex family, multiple priorities and phantom family members

• An extended patent family, INPADOC and black sheeps

• The patent searcher‘s view


What is a patent family?


What is a Patent family?

• There is no definition of the patent family by

intellectual property law.

• There is no ultimate definition of the patent family

at all.

• Database producers define patent families

for their own convenience.

Steven Adams, Information Sources in Patents, 2006


Patent family – a definition

World Intellectual Property Organisation – WIPO

A collection of published patent documents relating to the same

invention, or to several inventions sharing a common aspect, that

are published at different times in the same country or in different

countries or regions.

Each patent document in such a collection is normally based on the

data for the application(s) on which the basis for its „priority right“

has been claimed.

WIPO Handbook on industrial property information and documentation 2013 – Glossary of terms


Patent family – another definition

European Patent Office – EPO

A patent family is a collection of related patent applications

covering the same or similar technical content.

EPO Virtual Classroom „Understanding Patent families at the EPO“ 10 October 2014


Patent family – the basis

Terms used to define patent families:

• Priority

• Patent application

• Patent publication

• Invention

• Technical content


A simple patent family, the concept of

priority and different routes to patents


Example

EP 0 832 774

First page

Application data

Priority data

Designated contracting states


Simple patent family – Definition

The set of patent documents protecting the (most likely) same

invention filed in several countries which are related to each other

by one common priority filing.

Within 12 months one or

more multinational filings

First filing of an invention = priority filing

Priority

date

18 months

Publication of

applications

Publication of

granted patents


EPO Espacenet

Bibliographic data

EP 0 832 774

Equivalents or

Simple patent

family


EPO Espacenet

INPADOC

Patent family

EP0832774


Simple Patent family EP 0 832 774

Publication

number

Publication

date

Application

date Type of document

EP 0832774 A1 01.04.1998 15.09.1997 Published application

EP 0832774 B1 26.04.2000 15.09.1997 Granted patent

DE 19639567 A1 16.04.1998 26.09.1996 Published application

Priority application

DE 19639567 C2 26.11.1998 26.09.1996 Granted patent

JP H10175448 AA 30.06.1998 26.09.1997 Published application

US 5988729 A 23.11.1999 26.09.1997 Granted patent

First publication

First application


Proquest – Derwent World Patent Index


Minesoft – Patbase Family Information


Simple Patent family EP 0 832 774

EP

97116015

Subseq. App.

US

93831297

Subseq. App.

JP

27798797

Subseq. App.

DE19639567A1

Published Appl.

EP832774A1

Published Appl.

US5988729A

Granted Patent

JPH10175448A

Published Appl.

DE19639567C1

Granted Patent

EP832774B1

Granted Patent

???

No Published

US Appl.

DE

19639567

Priority App.


Minesoft – Patbase Priority Relationship Diagramm


Simple Patent Family EP 0 832 774

DE Prio

EP

US

JP

DE A1

EP A1

US A

JP A

DE C1

EP B1

1996 2000 1997 1998 1999

Patent Family Timeline

…


Relecura Priority Map

Application Year


Questel Orbit Family Graph

Year of event



DE Prio

EP

US

JP

DE A1

EP A1

US A

JP A

DE C1

EP B1

1996 2000 1997 1998 1999


…

Dead

or

alive?

Registry

information



DE Prio

EP

US

JP

DE A1

EP A1

US A

JP A

DE C1

EP B1

1996 2000 1997 1998 1999


JP ?

Registry

information

Rejected

Lapsed

Ceased

???

…


Minesoft – Patbase Legal Status Timeline

Event date


Patent

application

at the UK IPO

UK-Patent

Different routes to patent protection

Patent

application

at the DPMA

DE-Patent

Patent

application

at the USPTO

US-Patent

UK-Patent (EP)

Patent

application

at the INPI

FR-Patent

FR-Patent (EP)

Götting, Schwipps 2004

DE-Patent (EP)

Patent

application

at the EPO

Granted by

DPMA

Granted by

INPI

Granted by

UK IPO

Granted by

USPTO

EP-Patent Granted by

EPO

Validation by applicant

in each of 38 member states

No national documents

are published – in general!

National Regional



DE Prio

EP

US

JP

DE A1

EP A1

US A

JP A

DE C1

1996 2000 1997 1998 1999


JP ?

Registry

information

Rejected

Lapsed

Ceased

FR

GB

IT

SE

EP B1

…


New STN Family table

Designated states



DE Prio

EP

US

JP

DE A1

EP A1

US A

JP A

DE C1

1996 2000 1997 1998 1999


JP ?

Registry

information

Rejected

Lapsed

Ceased

FR

GB

IT

SE

?

?

?

?

EP B1

…


Patbase Legal Status Timeline


SIP – Invention Navigator Family Chart



DE Prio

EP

US

JP

DE A1

EP A1

US A

JP A

DE C1

1996 2000 1997 1998 1999


JP ?

Registry

information

Rejected

Lapsed

Ceased

FR

GB

IT

SE

EP B1

All d

ead

!

…

Lapsed

Lapsed

Lapsed

Lapsed


What is all this for?



The applicant‘s viewpoint:

Within 12 months one or

more multinational filings

First filing of an invention = priority filing

Priority

date

18 months

Publication of

applications

Publication of

granted patents Prior Art



Patent offices‘ viewpoint:

• Simple patent family members can get joint IPC symbols in case

reclassification has to be applied.

• Simple patent family members are automatically assigned

the CPC symbol of the document that is first classified in CPC.

• Worksharing is under development between patent offices to

reduce duplication of search and / or examination work.

PPH – patent posecution highway



Patent database producers‘ viewpoint:

As long as all patent family members protect the (most likely)

same invention, i.e. have one common priority,

the effort for abstracting and indexing can be reduced to one

member of the family.



Competitive intelligence analyst‘s viewpoint:

• Competitor‘s patent portfolio

– the overall number of patents

– the international scope

• On a family bases

– the value as given by size of family, duration etc.

– the invention as claimed and as finally protected



Patent statistician‘s viewpoint:

• In general for economic and statistical studies

inventions are counted.

• This is why counting of patent families is preferred over

counting of single patent applications.

Catalina Martinez, Insight into Different Types of Patent Families, 2010

http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5kml97dr6ptl-en



Patent searcher‘s viewpoint:


A somewhat tricky simple patent family

and the national patent family


Example

WO 2006/039890

First page


Patent

application

at the CPO

UK-Patent

Different routes to patent protection

Patent

application

at the EPO

EP-Patent

Patent

application

at the USPTO

US-Patent

Patent

application

at the INPI

FR-Patent

Götting, Schwipps 2004

Granted by

EPO

Granted by

INPI

Granted by

CPO

Granted by

USPTO

International National

PCT

application

at the WIPO

International

search

Passed by WIPO to

140+ member states


EPO Espacenet Bibliographic data

www.thefabricator.com


EPO Espacenet

INPADOC

Patent family



?

?


Additional information in the Espacenet Priority data field



National patent family


National patent family – Definition

Patent family whose members are associated by

coming from the same patent office and not

necessarily sharing priorities.

Background:

Divisional applications, utility models, continuations,

continuations in part or provisionals


SIP

Invention

Navigator

Family

Chart


Divisional application

• contains matter from a previously filed application

(parent application),

• claims a smaller part of the parent invention,

• is filed later than the parent application,

• retains the parent's filing date and priority.

• Reason: Lack of unity of the parent


Minesoft – Patbase Legal Status Timeline

EPO Registry information: Observations by third parties

Oppositions filed


The plasma torch case

A somewhat tricky

simple patent family

DE

WO EP

DE U

DE div

National patent

family


Patent family statistics

An OECD study was published in 2010 with

calculations on the distribution of the different patent

families types in a given sample of about 45.000

patent families:

75 % of this sample were simple families.

Catalina Martinez, Insight into Different Types of Patent Families, 2010

http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5kml97dr6ptl-en


A complex family, multiple priorities

and phantom family members


A complex

patent family


5 JP-Priorities

EPO Espacenet Bibliographic data


Background – Unity of invention

A patent application must relate to

• one invention only or to

• a group of inventions linked by a single inventive

concept.


Complex patent family – Definition

Each member of the complex patent family has at

least one priority in common with at least one other

member.


5 JP-Priorities

A complex patent family

5 JP-Priorities

Simple

patent

family



5 JP-Priorities


EPO Espacenet

INPADOC

Patent family

4 JP Applications


Questel Orbit Timeline

4 JP Applications


Phantom family members

Phantom family members are patent applications

that have never been published.

Background:

Provisional applications or withdrawn priority

applications

Edlyn S. Simmons, “Black sheep” in the patent family, World Patent Information 31 (2009) 11-18


SIP

Invention

Navigator

Family

Chart


A/D Converter case

Complex patent family.

JP1 JP2

JP3 EP

JP4

JP5

US

DET Simple

patent

family

National

patent

family

Phantom

family

member


Extended patent family, INPADOC

and black sheeps


Example

US 5 402 857

First page Application data


Espacenet

Bibliographic data

US 5 402 857

Simple patent

family


EPO Espacenet

INPADOC

Patent family

US 5 402 857


Extended patent family – Definition

• All the documents of an extended patent family are directly

or indirectly linked via a priority document.

• The patents of an extended family can protect one or

several somehow related inventions.

The INPADOC patent family is a patent family based on this

definition.


INPADOC Patent family US 5 402 857

US6

US2 US3 US4 US5 US1

US7 US8 US9 US10

US11

CA1

NL1

NO1

GB1

Simple

family 1

Sequence of US Continuations in Part


US Continuation in Part C-I-P

• Filed in case the inventor improved or expanded

the original invention

• Contains new matter that was not present in the

parent application

• With an additional priority date for the new

matter that is the filing date of the C-I-P



US6

US2 US3 US4 US5 US1

US7 US8 US9 US10

US11

CA1

NL1

NO1

GB1

Simple

family 1

Sequence of US Continuations in Part

Sequence of improvements of the first invention

07/14 WissensWert Dr. Gabriele Kirch-Verfuß - 75 -

© by WissensWert Seminare ● Beratung – 2014 – Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Vervielfältigung, Aufführung und Verbreitung nur mit schriftlicher Genehmigung der WissensWert Unternehmensberatung

INPADOC

Patent family

US 5 402 857

in Espacenet


Black sheep in the patent family

Any patent that disrupts the construction of a patent

family, e.g., with

• Typographical errors

• …

Edlyn S. Simmons, “Black sheep” in the patent family, World Patent Information 31 (2009) 11-18


9 10




US6

US2 US3 US4 US5 US1

US7 US8 US9 US10

US11

CA1

NL1

NO1

GB1

Simple

family 1

USX

Split the extended family into simple families



Espacenet US 5 839 251 – Bibliographic data

4 Simple

patent

family




US6

US2 US3 US4 US5 US1

US7 US8 US9 US10

US11

CA1

NL1

NO1

GB1

Simple

family 1

USX

CA4

EP4

GB4

NO4

AU4

WO4

Simple

family 4


1

2

3

4

5

6 7

8

9

10

11



MaxVal 1

2

3 4 6

7

8

9

10

11

5

MaxVal Patent Family Tree


SIP Invention

Navigator

Family Chart

1 2

3 4

6

7 8

9 10

11 5




US6

US2 US3 US4 US5 US1

US7 US8 US9 US10

US11

CA1

GB1

NL1

NO1

Simple

family 1

USX

CA4

EP4

GB4

NO4

AU4

WO4

CA6

EP6

GB6

NO6

AU6

WO6

CA8

EP8

NO8

AU8

CA9

CA10

EP10

NO10

AU10

Simple

family 4

Simple

family 6

Simple

family 8

Simple

family 10



Total Patent Authority Analysis



Total Patent Authority +

Kind Code Analysis

C2 A B C

T

T3

T2 T8 D1

A1

B1 A1 A4 A2 A3

D0 B A

B2

B1 D0

A

A

A1 C

A B1


Derwent World Patent Index DWPI Family

The Derwent patent family structure can be described as a

"technical" or "artificial" patent family (WIPO guidelines).

One database record in Derwent WPI represents one

invention and shows all the patent documents which Derwent

has collected relating to that invention.

At Derwent patents are allocated to families on an individual

basis.

No


Proquest Derwent World Patent Index

1


CCD Viewer

Common

Citation

Document

http://ccd.trilateral.net/20111223/

1


The patent searcher‘s view




• Less effort for keyword collection in different languages by

analysing keywords across family members

• Less effort for collection of appropriate classification

symbols by analysing classes across family members

This works as long as the members of a patent family protect

the same invention.




Some database providers allow for keyword and / or

classification searching across family members data

Sometimes results might be suprising.




• One record per patent family in the results list

Less effort for relevance checking

• One member per relevant family for deeper analysis

Best language selection and less effort for reading

This works as long as the members of a patent family protect

the same invention.




• Citation analysis across all family members

• Get deeper insight into the technology

• Quality check when compared with search

results


The Lens – Patent family data – Graphical analysis


TotalPatent Citation Map


If I could make three wishes …

• Do not confuse family trees by non-priority linking

of family members.

• Reduce the amount of „Black sheeps“ for less

falsification of patent families.

• Support splitting of extended families into

simple families.


Summary

Cabriolet case • Simple patent

family

• European patents

in families

• Legal status

DE Prio

EP

US

JP


Summary

The plasma torch case

DE

WO EP

DE U

DE div

• Somehow tricky

simple patent

family

• Divisional

application

• National patent

family


Summary

US6

US2 US3 US4 US5 US1

US7 US8 US9 US10

US11

CA1

NL1

NO1

GB1

Simple

family 1

USX

CA4

EP4

GB4

NO4

AU4

WO4

Simple

family 4

Extended Patent family

Drill cuttings case


The worst case

PIUG web page: Global Record Breaking Patents

Category: Most family members

US20030060406 got

5402 family members Source: STN

http://wiki.piug.org/display/PIUG/Global+Record+Breaking+Patents


Acknowledgements

Stephen Adams

Edlyn S. Simmons

Catalina Martinez

EPO

FIZ Karlsruhe

LexisNexis

Minesoft

Proquest

Questel

Relecura


Thank you for listening!

Contact:

WissensWert Seminare – Beratung

Dr. Gabriele Kirch-Verfuß

[email protected]

T: +49-2361-9040-273

www.wissenswert-wm.de

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icic 2014 tutorial: training for information professionals - how to analyse, visualise and...

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