A plant patent is granted by the Government to an inventor (or the inventor’s heirs or assigns) who has invented or discovered and asexually reproduced a distinct and new variety of plant, other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state. The grant, which lasts for 20 years from the date of filing the application, protects the inventor’s right to exclude others from asexually reproducing, selling, or using the plant so reproduced.

Plant patents account for only a very small percentage of total US patent applications and granted patents: in 2012, there were only 1,149 plant patent applications, out of 576,763 total applications, and 860 granted plant patents.  So where should you begin your hunt for this rare species of US patent?

Read on to learn the best search strategies for searching for plant patent records on the USPTO website and Google Patents!

Searching through the USPTO Website
Two ways that you can quickly search for plant patents on the PatFT and AppFT databases on the USPTO website include:

• Use the Patent Number Search Form - If you already know the number for the granted plant patent you are searching for, you can simply enter the publication number into the Patent Number Search Form on the PatFT database.  Granted plant patent numbers always begin with PP, followed by up to five numbers (i.e., PP08901).
• Search By PLT Class – The USPC system included a PLT class, which you can browse within the USPC schedule on the USPTO website.  According to the Plant Patents guide on the NCSU Libraries website, “Plant patents are classified first by type of plant (e.g., rose or conifer) and then by characteristics such as habit (shrub or climber for rose) and may be further subclassified (by color for a type of rose).”  From the Advanced Search forms in either the PatFT or AppFT databases, enter the field code CCL/ (for the US classification code field), followed by PLT/XXX (PLT classification number).  For example, to search for plant patents in PLT 101 class, enter the query “CCL/PLT/101″ in the Advanced Search form.
  

  Use the Advanced Search forms on the USPTO website databases to search by the PLT class.

Searching on Google Patents
Google Patents allows users to easily keyword search through both US and EP patents.  After conducting a simple keyword search on Google Patents, such as “Rose,” users can then select the “Search Tools” option above the results to open additional filtering options. The user can first filter by Patent Office to limit results to only US patents, and the user can then filter by “Any patent type” to choose the plant patent option.

Select to filter results on Google Patents by plant patent type.

Conclusion

While the USPTO website databases offer an excellent option for searching US plant patents and applications by class, Google Patents allows users to conveniently filter their keyword search results by facets like Office and patent type.  Casual searchers will benefit from using both sources simultaneously to locate plant patents by both class searching and keyword searching.  You can also rely on professional patent searchers to locate any type of patent or prior art, including plant patents, from patent and non-patent literature collections world-wide.

Do you have any tips on searching to plant patents?  Let us know in the comments!

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

ProQuest Dialog is important because it finally provides access to many valuable data files that were previously only accessible via dinosaur legacy Dialog products. It’s also exciting because it retains a transactional billing model, while allowing searchers to see record previews before actually buying access to the record. Read more to find out how this product will support your prior art search needs.

ProQuest Dialog combines the search engine power of a Dialog Classic search with the usability of a modern web-based search platform. I’m familiar with both companies, and I think of the product as literally ProQuest blended with Dialog. I make this point because Dialog is known for its powerful search capabilities, and many end user tools on the market today don’t offer this level of sophistication. Primarily, I’m thinking of unlimited simultaneous left, right and internal truncation, for example *encapsul* to find “microencapsulate,” etc. A short list of what the system will include:

• Left, right, and embedded/internal unlimited truncation
• Command line search
• Advanced search history features and the ability to run multi-line scripts
• Proximity nesting, e.g. more than one term can appear on each side of a proximity operator.
• Thesaurus-specific operators: many advanced Dialog searchers who take advantage of specialized indexing fields will appreciate that these more complex operators are being preserved. One example is the “Linking” proximity operator, which searches heading-subheading pairs within databases that use a hierarchical controlled vocabulary. For example, “asthma” LNK “diagnosis” would find records tagged as “asthma-diagnosis,” but not tagged with the heading/subheading pairs “asthma-treatment” and “diagnosis-methods.”

The ProQuest Dialog interface has also kept up with the modern trends in search platforms, including an advanced faceting menu on the results screen that both provides statistical analysis (e.g. by showing the top 10 subject terms by hit count), and allows filtering actions for further drill-down (e.g. a user might choose to exclude records with a specific subject term from the results set).

With its support of the transactional billing model, ProQuest Dialog has found a way to bring classic Dialog content to the masses, especially those who can’t afford flat fee access to all of these value-added databases. In my opinion, the way they handle the issue is quite elegant. Searching is free, as is scanning records for initial relevance on the hit list– all you pay for is the content of the full record, should you decide to open one. An alert will tell you when you are about to spend money, saving you from mistaken displays. And best of all, a rollover icon will show you an extended preview abstract for the record before you decide to display it. It’s an ingenious way to allow searchers to determine a record’s relevance by a deeper glance at the content, while not allowing them to copy and paste that content for free. Both searchers and vendor will benefit from this arrangement, as searchers will become more confident in a transaction-based environment, while ProQuest will surely collect a larger flock of those interested in taking advantage of all that Dialog content.

The main ProQuest Dialog feature demonstrated at PIUG 2013 was its new patent search capabilities, but I am less enthusiastic about this part of the product. I have found that vendors with strengths in scientific and technical literature often turn their attention to patent data without fully understanding the professional patent searcher workflow, and fall short of designing a functional interface.  However, I sometimes forget about an important market for these hybrid literature/patent search products: librarians who need to provide patent access to their novice end users. For those who need patent searching “lite,” ProQuest Dialog’s patents module could provide a good solution, as it does have some patent-specific interface features.

To be more specific about weaknesses in the patent search area, I’ll list some of my initial impressions. It seems to me that the display options in ProQuest Dialog aren’t flexible enough to allow scanning patent drawings from the hit list, and the system seems to lack advanced highlighting and record navigation features. They also haven’t yet implemented family grouping, so I can’t say how the aggregated family records will function, and that’s an important piece of the puzzle that’s missing right now.

ProQuest Dialog does also have some advantages in the patent search area, and coverage is a major strength. The product developers seem to have sourced patent collections from almost every available vendor, greatly exceeding the patent content that was available on the legacy platforms. For example, they now offer LexisNexis Univentio full text collections, which as you know from our Intellogist Community Report on TotalPatent represents over 30 patenting authorities. Unfortunately, while ProQuest Dialog is going to host both these original language and machine translated collections, the system will not support searching in non-Latin character sets (such as Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Russian, etc.).

Additionally, ProQuest Dialog benefits by licensing content from other specialty providers. A good example is the IMS Patents Focus file, which contains hand-calculated patent expiry dates in each record, along with detailed notes about the patent term extension.

Overall, I’m looking forward to the migration to ProQuest Dialog, and I think it’s great that Dialog is getting a well-deserved and long-overdue makeover. Dialog as a company has been acquired and passed around multiple times by major search vendors, and it seems that the product has finally found a home (and some TLC) at ProQuest.

Have you seen ProQuest Dialog in action? Leave your impressions in the comments!

This post was contributed by Landon IP Librarian Kristin Whitman. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company, Landon IP, a major provider of patent search, technical translation, and information services.

After the jump, learn about the new citation viewing features for INPADOC families on Espacenet, and find out the coverage of PATENTSCOPE’s new US collection!


Direct CCD Links on Espacenet

According to the Espacenet homepage, there is now a direct link to the CCD (Common Citation Document) (which we’ve reviewed in detail in previous blog posts) from the Espacenet INPADOC family view.

When viewing a record on Espacenet, users can select the “Inpadoc patent family” link in the record menu.

Select to view the INPADOC family for a record on Espacenet.

At the top of the family list, to the far right on the horizontal list of menu options, users can select the CCD icon to open the CCD viewer in a new window, displaying all documents cited by the EPO, JPO and USPTO in the search process for applications for the same invention (from the INPADOC patent family) pending simultaneously at the three Offices.

Open the CCD viewer in a new window for an INPADOC family.

Additionally, an option to “Show Citations” while viewing the INPADOC family list allows viewers to display an initial list of patent citations for each family member directly in the family list.

THe CCD viewer icon and the “view citations” option on Espacenet.

US Collection on PATENTSCOPE

According to the April 2013 Issue of the PCT Newsletter, PATENTSCOPE now includes a collection of US patent documents:

The PATENTSCOPE search system now includes the national patent data of the United States of America, with more than 10 million records dating from 1790 to the present day. This has expanded WIPO’s PATENTSCOPE collection to over 28 million searchable patent documents. The collection, which also includes over 2.2 million published PCT applications, is available here.This brings to 30 the number of national or regional patent Offices whose data is available in the PATENTSCOPE search system. Detailed information about data coverage for each Office can also be found at the above‑mentioned web page in the “Help” menu.

Users can search only the new US patent collection by accessing the Advanced Search on PATENTSCOPE, selecting to specify the offices searched ( which will expand a menu of all available collections organized by region), and click the check box besides the United States of America collection.  The user can then search within the US patent collection, in addition to any other selected collections.

Select to search the new US patent document collection on PATENTSCOPE.

Do You Know of Other Useful Updates?

PATENTSCOPE and Espacenet update their new tools and collections on a regular basis, so let us know if you’ve spotted other interesting updates that have recently been added to either free patent search tool! 

Which recent update to Espacenet or PATENTSCOPE do you find the most useful?  Let us know in the comments!

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

Continue reading for a quick summary of all the coverage updates and interface improvements on both the PatBase and PatBase Express platforms for Spring 2013!

Interface Improvements on PatBase

The publication “”What’s New In PatBase: Spring/Summer 2013” describes the many search, display, and export updates added to PatBase as of Spring 2013:

• Co-operative Patent Classification (CPC) in PatBase – Officially launched in January 2013, the frontfile for the new classification is now fully loaded and searchable in the database using the Classification Finder and other search tools. The backfile processing for many millions of families is well underway but will take a couple more weeks to complete. Users can also sign up for free webinars running from March-July 2013 that give an overview of searching the CPC in PatBase. PatBase has also retained ECLA legacy data in PatBase in parallel, so ECLA classifications will still be displayed on records and searchable for historical reference.

Search the CPC using the Classification Finder (screenshot from “What’s New In PatBase?”).

• Faster PatBase – PatBase now runs up to three times faster due to a server upgrade in the beginning of 2013.
• Offline Export Progress Bar – You can now keep track of offline exports with the progress bar which automatically appears at the top of your screen. The box can be closed, but if you leave it open the file can be downloaded directly from PatBase when it is complete.

The Offline Export Progess Bar (screenshot from “What’s New In PatBase?”).

• Export Updates
  • The 1st main claim can now be included in ‘other formats’ exports.
  • Japanese F-term classifications can now be included in ‘other formats’ exports.
  • Non-Latin data can now be exported into formats such as CSV and XLS (the ‘other formats’ options in PatBase).
• Long search queries minimized – Long search queries are automatically minimized on the search history page, and you can expand the query by clicking the ‘show full search.’
• New Custom Display Format Options – Display Claims or Descriptions for a single publication according to your preferred country.

Interface Improvements on PatBase Express

Minesoft and RWS Group have also expanded the search tools, display options, save features, and export options available on PatBase Express, in order to make these useful tools accessible to novice searchers:

• Saved Folders – Express users can now create and save permanent results folders by clicking on the new Folder icon found at the top of each record. Create shortcuts to add records to designated folders.
• CPC on PatBase Express – CPC frontfile is already searchable in PatBase Express using the Advanced or Boolean Search Forms. Links to the classification definitions are available. The CPC will be fully searchable within the next couple of weeks.
• Language Explorer has been added to the Basic and Non-Latin search forms on PatBase Express to enable you to retrieve multi-lingual synonyms of your keyword terms.

The Language Explorer on PatBase Express (screenshot from “What’s New In PatBase?”).

• Summarise and Compare functions now available when viewing full text on PatBase Express.
• Chemical Synonym Search has been added to provide a way to find relevant synonyms and numbers to assist with chemical patent searching in PatBase Express.
• Option to Search in the Same Publication added to the Advanced and Boolean search forms.
• Advanced Offline Export – You can now order offline exports of over 100 records.
• Family Explorer and Classification Explorer, Priority Map links now available in the record display.
• Snapshot limit increased to sets of 5,000 records.
• Advanced Highlighting now available – Apply an advanced highlighting scheme to results to highlight groups of keywords or phrases using up to five different colours.
• PatBase Express Portuguese Interface – A Portuguese-language interface option has been added to PatBase Express.

Expanded Coverage and Translated Assignee Names

The publication also lists a number of expanded full-text and bibliographic coverage for Asian countries, as well as translation of assignee names for non-Latin families:

• Russia
  • Applications (biblio., title & claims) – 2013 has been added and the backfile from 1994 is being loaded.
  • Patents (SU – biblio., Full text, representative image) – 2013 has been added and the backfile from 1924 is being loaded.
  • Utility Models (biblio., title & claims) – 2013 has been added and the backfile from 1994 is being loaded.
  • All Full-Text contains embedded images and has a side-by-side machine translation into English. You can search Russian data from the non-Latin search form.

Russian full text with embedded image and side-by-side English machine translation (screenshot from “What’s New In PatBase?”).

• Japan - JP application full-text is now available from 1993, and JP registered utility models from 1994 to 2010.
• Taiwan
  • Bibliographic data for patents and utility models to present.
  • Bibliographic data for patent applications from 200305010 (when it began) to present.
  • Full Text for patent applications with searchable machine translations from 200901 to currently 201212.
• Hong Kong bibliographic data from 200405 to date.
• India representative images for patent applications.
• Vietnam patent data from 1986, and utility models from 1989 to 2012.
• PCT non-Latin full-text (JP, CN, KR) from 1979 to date.
• EP and WO full-text machine translations from 1979.
• Canadian Bibliographic Additions.
• Coming soon: Norwegian Full Text with machine translations.
• Translated assignee names for non-Latin families – Patent Assignee names for the top filers for China, Japan, Korea and Thailand are being translated into Latin where there is no Latin name yet available in the patent family. The Latin translation appears in the standard (std) assignee field on the record. Work is also underway for Russian assignees.

Conclusion

Professional patent searchers often use PatBase during prior art searches due to its flexible advanced search options, clean interface with many useful search and display tools, broad full-text coverage, and unique family records.  PatBase Express makes the broad coverage of PatBase accessible to less experienced searchers through a simplified and user-friendly interface.  The 2013 updates to PatBase and PatBase Express integrate a new classification system onto both platforms, add many search and display tools to PatBase Express, and expand the coverage of bibliographic and full-text patent data for a number of Asian countries. 

Which recent PatBase updates do you think are most important for patent searchers? Let us know in the comments!

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

From the start, the tool offers to let you take a guided tour through a large swath of information or cut to the chase with a listing of “crash courses” that get to the meat of a specific topic of information.

The “crash course” system allows users to learn at their own pace and review previous material.

Also helpful is the design of each course, especially the small quiz at the end that tests the user’s knowledge.

Users complete questions at the end of each “crash course” to test their knowledge.

Another neat feature is the ability to “pin” certain pages and access them later in your individual “My Training” section of the tool. I found this was helpful to set aside any tips and tricks for later. Did you know, where available, the “bilbliographic data” of a document in Espacenet contains a digital object identifier (DOI) link?

Even experienced patent searchers who know a lot about patent data and search techniques should check out the guided tour entitled “New in Espacenet.” There are several neat tidbits that might enhance your Espacenet experience!

Have you used the Espacenet Assistant? Let us know what you thought in the comments below!

This post was contributed by Intellogist Team member Chris Jagalla. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

The European Patent Convention (EPC) of 1973 is the origin of the current “EP” patent administered by the European Patent Office. This patent provides protection in the member states (and extension states) party to the EPC.

The new unitary patent will live alongside the traditional “EP” patent as an option, according to the European Patent Office:

A unitary patent will be a European patent granted by the EPO under the provisions of the European Patent Convention to which unitary effect for the territory of the 25 participating states is given after grant, at the patentee’s request. The unitary patent will thus not affect the EPO’s day-to-day search, examination and granting work.

This was agreed to on December 11th, 2012, by the European Parliament, with the exception of Italy, Spain, and Poland to varying degrees. The enforcement date for the unitary patent has yet to be decided, but it will be be January 1st, 2014 at the earliest.

The first steps since this agreement have already taken place. The Unified Patent Court Agreement was signed on February 19th, 2013 according to the EPO:

The Agreement on the Unified Patent Court will lead to the creation of a specialised patent court with a first and an appeal instance competent for litigation relating to patents granted by the EPO under the provisions of the European Patent Convention, e.g. classical European Patents as well as future Unitary Patents.

It will be interesting to see the patent strategy developed and employed to account for the co-existence of the current “EP” patent and the new unitary patent. Peter Dehlinger of King & Spalding LLP believes it will be a balancing act:

In short, EP patentees will soon have an opportunity to test pan-European patent protection, weighed against the risk of pan-European patent revocation.

What are your thoughts about the forthcoming unitary patent? We’d love to hear your opinion in the comments below.

This post was contributed by Intellogist Team member Chris Jagalla. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

Derwent World Patents Index is a long respected and unique source of value added patent data. Specializing and known for human-generated content such as translated and summarized abstracts, controlled vocabulary, and indexing, DWPI has entered its 50th year of availability.

Coverage within DWPI has grown in recent years to encompass many emerging markets, and Indonesian coverage is the latest example of this expansion. Coverage will include all patent applications and Indonesian Simple Patents published from 2010 forward. The 50th data source in DWPI will be deployed in the following way according to CAS:

Records identified as basics will have DWPI titles and abstracts and manual coding, with deep indexing for chemical records where applicable. The first records, from October 2012, appeared in DWPI update 201309, with the most recently published records being loaded first, followed by the backfile to 2010 over subsequent weeks. The backfile load is expected to be completed in Q2.

In other exciting news, the United States National Archives announced that they will help launch the first pilot project of the new Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).

The DPLA will include 1.2 million digital copies from the National Archives catalog, including our nation’s founding documents, photos from the Documerica Photography Project of the 1970’s, World War II posters, Mathew Brady Civil War photographs, and documents that define our human and civil rights.

The Digital Hubs Pilot Project has a great deal of promise to help establish a national network out of “service hubs” based throughout the United States. At first, it appears that content will have more of a historical focus, but in time this may be a resource to keep an eye on for prior art searchers, since scientific content will also be available. To keep an eye on the DPLA and help shape its future, see the Content & Scope section of the DPLA website.

This post was contributed by Intellogist Team member Chris Jagalla. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

Read on for a description of the broad search and display options for Mexican patent, trademark, and design records accessible through various online services within the IMPI website, including VIDOC and SIGA.

Online Services through IMPI

The website of the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) provides access to a number of free online services for filing and searching Mexican patents, trademarks, and designs, including:

• Marca en Línea (Online Brands)
• Diseño Industrial en Línea (Online Industrial Design)
• Portal de pagos y servicios electrónicos (PASE) (Payment gateway and e-services)
• Sistema de Información de la Gaceta de la Propiedad Industrial (SIGA) (the Information System of the Industrial Property Gazette)
• Visor de Documentos de Propiedad Industrial (VIDOC) (the Industrial Property Document Viewer)
• Portal de tecnología (Pymetec) (Technology Portal)
• Búsqueda subregional de patentes (CADOPAT) (Subregional Patent Search)
• Banco Nacional de Marcas (Marca-Net) (National Bank of Trademarks)
• Solmarnet (Capturing System for Trademark Applications, Notices and Internet Trade Names)
• Consulta de trámites del R.G.P (Consultation Procedures of R.G.P.)
• Clasificador de Niza (CLASNIZA) (Nice Classification)
• Consulta de trámites de copias certificadas (Consultation Procedures of Certified Copies)
• Solicitud de Información Técnica de Patentes (Request of Technical Information for Patents)

There is an English-language version of the IMPI homepage, but many of the services offered through the IMPI are only available in Spanish. Users should therefore utilize a machine translation tool like Google Translate to translate the search portals and results into their language of choice.

VIDOC

According to the IMPI website, the Industrial Property Document Viewer (VIDOC) is a search engine that allows you to query and download electronic records of industrial property in the following areas: trademarks, patents, contentious issues resolved, patent bibliographic records (biblioratos) and records from the Register of General Powers (RGP). VIDOC is only available in Spanish, and the portal includes three search forms:

• Simple Search – A basic keyword search form.
• Advanced Search – A command-line search form that provides a list of search fields to automatically add to the search form, as well as parentheses, wildcards, and Boolean operators.

Advanced search form for VIDOC (Spanish-language).

• Structured Search – Select fields from drop-down menus and enter search terms in adjacent text boxes. Select Boolean operators to join the search terms.

Search results are automatically displayed below the search form and include basic bibliographic data with the search term highlighted.

Search results on VIDOC.

Select the document number to view the full record, which includes three tabs:

• Description – Bibliographic data for the record.
• Documents – Links to records for individual related documents.

Individual documents related to a patent record under the “Documents” tab on VIDOC.

• Links – Links to the document record on other systems.

A record for an individual document may also include a digital copy of the document (PDF) available under one of the tabs.

PDF version of a patent document on VIDOC.

The user is frequently asked to enter a reCAPTCHA code when submitting a query in a search form or downloading a document.

A full user guide for VIDOC (PDF) is available on the IMPI website (in Spanish only).

SIGA

The IMPI website states that the Information System of the Industrial Property Gazette (SIGA) is the official website of the Industrial Property Gazette for the circulation, consultation, and electronic download of all volumes of the Gazette. The SIGA system includes a Google Translate drop-down menu embedded directly on the site which allows the user to translate the interface into the language of their choice. Five search options are available on the SIGA portal:

• Simple Search – Select the record type, choose whether the results must contain any words, all words, or exact phrase, and enter a keyword query.
• Advanced Search – Select the record type, legal form of the record type, date of issue, gazette copy, and enter a keyword query.

Advanced search form on SIGA (English-language).

• Structured Search – Select the record type, legal form of the record type, section, select fields and connectors from drop-down menus, and enter search terms in adjacent text boxes. Select Boolean operators to join the search terms.
• Browse by Issue – Browse through PDF versions of all available gazette issues, organized by industrial property type.
• Mobile Search – Search through SIGA records on a mobile-friendly search form.

Results will appear below the search form under a “Sheets” tab and display basic bibliographic data for the record (including a representative image for some trademark, patent, and design records). Users can also choose to display results under a “PDF” tab.

Search results under the “Sheets” tab on SIGA.

Select a search result to view the full record that opens in a new window and displays a number of sections organized under tabs:

• Bibliographic data – Bibliographic data, abstract, and representative images.
• Gazette – A link to view the record in a PDF version of the gazette.
• History of Publication – A list of previous published versions of the document.
• Record – A link to the record on VIDOC.
• Links – Links to the document record on other systems.

Bibliographic data and representative image for a record on SIGA.

A full user guide for SIGA (PDF) is available on the IMPI website (in Spanish only).

Conclusion

The IMPI website helpfully lists all online services provided by the office, and the list includes databases for specific types of IP, such as the National Bank of Trademarks, and databases searchable by geographic region, like the Subregional Patent Search tool. The two broadest online search tools provided by IMPI seem to be VIDOC, which searches  and displays all Mexican IP record types and related documents, and SIGA, which searches the full Industrial Property Gazette.  SIGA records also link to the related records on the VIDOC platform, so users can first conduct a search on SIGA and then transfer directly to the corresponding VIDOC record.  The Spanish-language interface for VIDOC may provide some language barriers for searchers, but the use of a machine translation tool like Google Translate will solve this issue to a certain extent. Although subscription search systems are necessary for simultaneous searching of worldwide patent records, the services on an IP office website like IMPI may be used to locate additional data and full-text documents for a specific patent document from that issuing authority.

What do you think of the search and display capabilities for the free online services on the IMPI website? Let us know in the comments!

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

Continue reading for an overview of the coverage, search, and display options on the Swiss IP search portal Swissreg!

What Can be Searched on Swissreg?

Swissreg allows users to search through a variety of intellectual property types registered with the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, including:

• National published patent applications
• National granted patents
• European patents with designation Switzerland
• National trademark applications
• National registered trademarks
• Nationally deposited designs
• Supplementary protective certificates (ESZ)
• Topographies

The search portal is available in German, French, Italian, or English (by selecting the language options in the upper right corner of the website). A help section is accessible through a link in the bottom corner of the portal, and the English-language version of this basic help file, entitled “Everything you need to know about Swissreg,” gives additional data coverage information and limitations on searching and viewing CH trademarks, patents, SPCs, and designs on Swissreg.

Searching Swissreg

A vertical menu on the left side of the portal allows users to select various intellectual property types and fielded search form options:

• Trademarks – Search through the register, by publication, advanced search, or search standard (browse through publications from recent dates).
• Patents – Search through the register, by publication, advanced search, or search standard (browse through publications from recent dates).
• SPC – Search through the register, by publication, advanced search, or search standard (browse through publications from recent dates).
• Design – Search through the register, by publication, advanced search, or search standard (browse through publications from recent dates).
• Topographies – This section links directly to a brief list of all Swiss topography registrations. The list includes the publication number (with a link to the full record), filing date, date of deletion, and applicant name for each topography record.

The side menu that links to search forms for various IP types (patent options expanded).

Additional help information is provided through a link above each search form (“Everything you need to know about this search”) and small question mark icons beside each search field.

Help options available on a search form (see red arrows).

Viewing Results on Swissreg

The hit list format depends on the intellectual property type and search form used, and users can customize the list by selecting how many results to display per page and choosing various fields to display as columns in the results list. Users can select a column heading to sort the list in ascending or descending order by that particular field (in alphabetical/numerical/chronological order). Users can also create a PDF of the results list.

Hit list in Register view for patent results on Swissreg.

The detailed view for an intellectual property record may include:

• Options to create a PDF of the current IP record or send a link to current IP record by email.
• Current status (bibliographic data).
• Link to the published documents on Espacenet (for patents).

A full patent record, including a link to published documents on Espacenet.

• Representative images (for designs and trademarks).

A full trademark record, including a representative image.

• Legal status and publication history.

Additional help information about the hit list and detailed views is accessible through links at the top of each page (“Everything you need to know about this results list” and “Everything you need to know about this detailed view”).

Users can sign up for a “MyPage” account on Swissreg, which can be used for saving Swissreg searches to your account for automatic monitoring.

Conclusion

Professional patent searchers will most likely use free online portals created by IP offices for very supplemental and infrequent search tasks, such as locating the legal status for a specific Swiss patent record that can’t be located on a subscription patent database or through the European Patent Register.  Knowledge of these obscure country-specific portals may help a searcher locate that one key piece of data that they weren’t able to locate through any other resource, so it never hurts for prior art searchers to have a broad knowledge of multiple free and subscription patent search portals for a wide range of issuing authorities.  Swissreg additionally provides trademark, design, SPC, and even topography data, so searchers for other types of intellectual property may also find this portal potentially useful.

Are there any IP office websites that you’d like to see featured on Intellogist?  Let us know in the comments!

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

Google produces a number of useful products that often provide a good starting point for patent and non-patent literature (NPL) prior art searches, such as Google Scholar, Google Books, and Google Patents.  Users should remember, however, that Google is not the end-all resource for prior art searches.  Both free and subscription patent and non-patent literature (NPL) databases exist that contain specialized collections of patent records, scholarly journal articles, etc. that aren’t accessible at all on Google.  The Google search algorithm will also never replace the human strategy, technical knowledge, search skills, and multilingual knowledge of professional patent searchers. Just as a machine translation tool like Google Translate can’t replace the knowledge and comprehension of a professional human translator, Google search products can’t replace the expertise and strategy of a professional searcher.  Google is just one of many search resources in the patent searcher’s tool belt.

Keeping that caveat in mind, Google products still provide an excellent starting point for scoping out relevant prior art (especially non-patent literature), so searchers should stay up-to-date on the latest Google news and product releases.  After the jump, learn about three techniques for finding the latest Google search news!

General Tech Sites

Many general technology-related news websites publish articles and reviews on a nearly daily basis about Google.  These articles may be objective or include the author’s opinions about the strengths and weaknesses of the update, and they may also relate the Google update to broader technology trends. Although these sites don’t post as often about Google as the search engine-specific sites or official company blogs, they still provide a relatively regular source of Google-related news.  Examples of general technology sites that include tags or topic sections on Google include:

• CNet – View a list of all posts tagged with the topic “Google.”
• Tech Crunch – This site lists all Google-tagged articles under a topics page.
• ZDNet – This site lists all Google-related articles under a summary of the company on a topics page.  The Google topics page includes lists of featured stories, related topics, and articles that can be sorted under “Latest Articles,” “Photos,” “Videos,” and “Reviews.”

The Google topics section of the ZDNet website.

Search Engine New Sites

There are a number of websites devoted only to search engine-related news, and like the general technology sites, these search engine-related websites will often have a section of the site dedicated only to articles about Google. These articles are also usually objective or include reviews listing both the positive and negative aspects of the Google updates. These sites may update on the topic of Google more frequently than the general technology websites.  Examples of search engine-related websites that report on Google news include:

• Search Engine Land – This site reports often on Google news, although no section of the site is specifically dedicated to the topic.  A brief keyword search of “Google” through the search box on the site reveals a lengthy list of articles that can be sorted by date.
• Search Engine Watch – This site includes a news feed of the latest Google-related articles.
• Search Engine Roundtable – This site includes a specific section dedicated to Google Search Engine news, with suggested similar topics, recent entries, and older entries listed on the category page.

A list of Google Search Engine news on the Search Engine Roundtable site.

Google Blogs

Google publishes a large number of official blogs, including language-specific blogs and blogs on specific products.  See the full list of Official Google Blogs on the Blog Directory page, where the list can be sorted by various categories, languages, and regions.  Since the blogs are published by Google, they will generally have a positive and promotional tone about the recent updates.  These blogs may list the official Google update news more quickly than the other news sites.  Examples of popular official blogs include:

• Google Inside Search – Get general tips on utilizing recent Google product updates to improve your search strategy.
• Google Official Blog – This is the main official blog that lists important recent updates.
• Google Scholar Blog – Learn about updates to the Google Scholar product.

The directory of official Google blogs.

Conclusion

The official Google Blogs will often be the first venues to report major changes to the Google search products, and these blogs will also offer useful and insightful tips on efficiently utilizing these updates to improve your search strategy.  However, the official blog posts are often very promotional, just like the press releases on the database vendor websites, so searchers may also want to monitor the Google-related news on tech and search engines news sites to receive well-rounded insight on the positive and negative aspects of the recent Google updates.  Google products are just a few of multiple patent and NPL databases and search platforms that patent search professionals will utilize during a prior art search, so searchers should also monitor the updates to other popular free and subscription search platforms.  Keep an eye on the Major Recent Update sections of the Intellogist System Reports for the latest changes to many of these important patent and NPL search systems.

Where do you read your Google-related news? Let us know in the comments!

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Intellogist.com and the Intellogist Blog both are viewed by a wide range of IP, law, and science professionals, including IP attorneys, IP researchers, Scientists, Engineers, Legal Support Specialists, Librarians, IP service providers and other people who work at law firms, corporations, patent offices, and universities. Reach a global market of engaged IP professionals by advertising on Intellogist! All advertisements must follow Intellogist Advertising Guidelines and Creative Specifications. For more information about advertising on the Intellogist Blog or Intellogist.com, readers can contact the Intellogist team to request a free media kit.

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

Here are some patents that might help us in the fight against meteors:

1) Navigation system for exploring and/or monitoring unknown and/or difficult environments – EP 2,549,286 A1

Houston to mission control module (11).

This outer space exploring system employs a robot (sort of link a combination between Wall-E and the good robot from The Black Hole) can help identify asteroids before they are able to smash violently into out planet.

2) Systems, methods and apparatus for modeling, specifying and deploying policies in autonomous and autonomic systems using agent-oriented software engineering – US 7,992,134 A

Where’s the step to “phone home?”

Another variation on the asteroid searching system. The control system looks like the old Asteroids video game.

3) IN ORBIT SPACE TRANSPORTATION & RECOVERY SYSTEM – US 2004/0031885 A1

Grasping devices: not just for grandmas anymore.

This spacecraft can shoot laser beams at asteroids, diverting them into another orbit. Not quite as cool as sharks with laser beams on their head, but effective nonetheless.

4) Method of improving system performance and survivability through changing function – US 8,275, 724 B2

I’m taking a vacation to Lagrangian point habitat next week.

In this system, swarm-based explorations can sacrifice themselves by crashing into an asteroid bound for Earth. Kind of like Bruce Willis in Armageddon.

Next time: Danny follows up his binge watching of Armageddon, Deep Impact, Volcano, Dante’s Peak, 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, and Independence, with a Doomsday Preppers marathon, and explains what he learns. The results will shock you and rock you to the core…kind of like an asteroid hitting the Earth.

Find previous writings and musings from the off-kilter Danny Rooney here.

This post was contributed by Registered Patent Agent Dan Wolka and edited by Chris Jagalla. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company, Landon IP, a major provider of patent search, technical translation, and information services.

I recently had the opportunity to test EDS, and I was particularly impressed by the variety of tools which the search platform offered for refining or expanding result sets within both the initial search form and the hit list.  EDS includes options to limit the search by discipline, subject, or content provider, and integrated searches and widgets may be used to expand the number of results.   After the jump, learn about five different ways users can expand or limit their result set on EDS!

1. Limit your search by Disciplines.
From the Advanced Search form on the EDS platform, users can select to limit their result set by discipline.  Prior art searchers may find this tool useful for limiting results to relevant scientific fields, although this may also be detrimental due to the the lack of transparency about how exactly each discipline group is defined. Users could therefore possibly filter out relevant results if they fail to select a certain discipline.

Limit the search by Disciplines.

One other downside to this tool is that the disciplines facet isn’t offered as a filtering option in the hit list. Users can delete the discipline limitations after conducting a search by selecting the “X” beside each discipline in the facets side menu, but new disciplines can’t be added to refine results within the hit list.  The user must instead return to the Advanced Search form and create a new query.

View all Disciplines limitations in the filter menu beside the search results.

2. Filter results by Subject.

From the filters side menu to the left of the hit list, users can expand the Subjects menu and select various subject headings to filter the result set by.  The subjects listed in this side menu are based on controlled vocabulary subject headings assigned to various records within specific databases (such as Inspec).  Unfortunately, the user can’t search the thesauruses of these controlled vocabularies to locate synonyms, broader terms, narrower terms, or related terms.

All Subject filtering options, expanded from the filters menu.

3. Filter results by Content Provider.

Users can also utilize the filter side menu beside the hit list to limit results by content provider, such as choosing to only view results from Inspec, TEMA, and Academic Search Complete.

All Content Provider filtering options, expanded from the filters menu.

4. Pull in results from additional databases with Integrated Search.

In a side-menu to the right of the hit list, users can select to pull in additional search results from various databases through the Integrated Search tool (available for an additional cost).  For example, in the screenshot below, users can expand the result set with patent search results from the free online USPTO databases and Espacenet.  These results will appear in the main hit list.

The Integrated Search menu, displayed to the right of the search results.

5. Conduct searches through other services directly on the EDS platform using Widgets.

Users may also customize their EDS platform by including various Widgets in a side-menu beside the hit list (under the Integrated Search options).  These Widgets will automatically conduct searches through third-party databases and websites and display results within the side menu.  Although these search results won’t be included with the main result set, these Widgets allow users to simultaneously search and display results from third-party sites and databases within the EDS platform.

Various Widgets on the EDS platform to search through other services.

Conclusion

The EBSCO Discovery Service allows organizations to create a customized search platform which simultaneously searches a broad base index, internal resources of the organization, subscription databases which the organization has access to, and free third-party databases and websites which may be searched on EDS through the Integrated Search option or Widgets. EDS may be more useful for organizations that already host large repositories of data, such as an academic library, but the tool could also be used by prior art searchers to simultaneously search both patent and NPL resources through a single platform that hosts a wide variety of filtering and search expansion tools.  EDS lacks access to important tools that more specialized search platforms may provide, such as access to controlled vocabulary thesauruses, so prior art searchers will still want to utilize a wide range of search tools besides EDS when conducting a professional patent search.

Have you used the EBSCO Discovery Service?  Is the service useful for patent searchers?  Let us know what you think in the comments!

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

Recent news out of the Northern District of Georgia provides even more evidence of the fact that shoddy patent claim translation can result in reduced intellectual property rights. According to an article on Lexology:

In a case between KEG Kanalreinigungstechnik GmbH and KEG Technologies, Inc. (“KEG”) and Reinhart Laimer, Sewer Equipment Corporation, USB-Sewer Equipment Corporation, Ulrich Simpfendörfer, USB-Duesen, USB-Sewer Equipment International GmbH, Patrick Savio, Daniel Long and Elke Krantz (“Laimer”) over patents drawn to “hydrodynamic nozzles” for cleaning the inside surface of underground sewer pipes, Chief Judge Julie Carnes appointed Special Master Gale R. Peterson of San Antonio, Texas to preside over the Markman claim construction hearing and submit a report and recommendation on claim construction to the Court.

The patent applications in question were originally filed in Germany and then translated to English and filed in the United States. The Special Master concluded in his report that:

some of the claim language is “awkward” as a result of the translation.

Furthermore:

Laimer contended that some of the claim terms and phrases are beyond “awkward,” and instead are “unintelligible” and render the claims indefinite and invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 112(2).

The report stated:

although the master finds the claims amenable to construction, that does not necessarily mean that the claim passes muster under § 112(2). That is a question for another day.

Although the parties agreed on constructions for some of the terms and phrases of the asserted claims, the Special Master recommended constructions for the other disputed claim language as well. This is yet another example of a poor translation preventing an applicant from getting the exact protection they were seeking.

One bad document translation can cost a company dearly, and this has been clearly demonstrated again by Special Master Peterson. Gale R. Peterson is also a faculty member of Patent Resources Group, the leading provider of U.S. patent bar review and advanced U.S. patent law education, and a fully-owned subsidiary of Landon IP.

How can you avoid a bad patent translation ruining your business?
Customers should only consider professional technical translators who possess an in-depth knowledge of the patent process and the relevant technical art when choosing who will translate the patent documents they intend to use to file an international patent application. Landon IP is a leading provider of patent translation services and other patent-related services, including patent search, and advanced patent law training (Patent Resources Group).

We know how important every word is in a patent application because we live and breathe patents as searchers, attorneys, former examiners, and patent law educators.

Customers who use Landon IP translation services receive highly accurate patent translations due to a process that employs native-language patent translators exclusively and includes technical review by in-house multilingual technologists who cross-check the translation for technical accuracy and readability.

Lower-cost vendors and general translation providers may save you a few dollars, but they are more likely to produce a translation containing errors because they don’t know patents. One mis-translated word can narrow the claims of the patent, as in Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co; or render it unenforceable, as in Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co. v. Samsung. Poor translations can also be rejected by courts, as in On Demand Machine Corporation v. Ingram Industries Inc., Lightning Source Inc., and Amazon.com, Inc.

Be sure to obtain only the highest quality patent application translations by using the professional translation services of Landon IP.

For example, today we’ll take a quick look at a free resource listed on Intellogist called e-Patentes, which can be used to locate PDF copies of Brazilian patent documents, as well as the search reports and file history papers related to these Brazilian patent records.

Read on to learn about e-Patentes, one of many global patent search resources described on Intellogist!

The Main e-Patentes Portal

The Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI) of Brazil provides a free online portal for patent searching, filing, and administration called the e-Patentes Platform. The portal is available in Portuguese, Spanish, or English, and users can change the interface language by selecting from the language options in the upper right corner of the portal. The service is divided into seven modules:

• e-Services
  • Module 1 – Provision of documents and Statistics through the Web
  • Module 2 – Electronic OnLine Filling
  • Module 3 – Biological Sequence Listings
• e-Administration
  • Module 4 – International Patent Classification
  • Module 5 – Collaboration among offices of Industrial Property
  • Module 6 – Document Management
  • Module 7 – Process Management

The main portal for e-Patentes, linking to a variety of patent search and filing resources.

The first module of the portal, “Provision of Documents and Statistics through the Web,” is the main section of the system that will be post useful to patent searchers, since the tools in this module allow users to access Brazilian patent search reports, full patents in PDF format, and file history documents.

According to the description on the e-Patentes homepage:

Module I is a subset of tools that are focused on providing Web documents that comprises a patent application. More specifically, the scope of this work involves three systems: e-Patentes/Parecer (e-Parecer), e-Patentes/Carta (e-Carta), and e-Patentes/Vista (e-Vista).

Search Reports: e-Parecer

This system allows users to search for INPI “reports generated in accordance with Article 35 of Law 9.279/96, during the technical examination of patent applications. The reports are available as PDF files with electronic signature, [and] the cited prior art documents are also available.”  Users can search by journal number or application number (after agreeing to a “terms of use” statement).

The search form for e-Parecer, including a detailed “terms of use” statement the user must agree to.

The search results will appear in a table listing the application number, journal number, date, publication number, any observation notes, links to the PDF versions of the available documents, and links to available statistics for each result.

Search results for an INPI journal through the e-Parecer system.

Select the PDF icons under the “Documents” column to download the search reports and related documents.

The PDF version of an INPI search report.

Patents or Certificates of Addition of Invention: e-Carta

This system allows users to search for INPI “Patents or Certificates of Addition of Invention, which were granted in accordance with Article 38 of Law 9.279/96. The Patents or Certificates of Addition of Invention are available in PDF format with digital certification.” Users can search by journal number or application number in the e-Carta system, after agreeing to the “terms of use” statement. The search results will appear in a table listing the application number, application date, date of grant, any observation notes, and links to the PDF version of the available patent documents.

Search results on e-Carta.

Select the PDF icons under the “Patent” column to download the full document in PDF format (after entering a reCAPTCHA code).

The first page of a Brazilian patent document in PDF format downloaded on e-Carta.

File History Documents: e-Vista

This system allows users to search for INPI “information and public documents of patent dossiers. Currently, the system is in assisted operation period, which means that not all information and documents are available for access.” This search interface resembles the European Patent Register. Users can access a quick search form (search by application number, application number before change in nature, or filing date) or an advanced search form (search by application number, application number before change in nature, filing date, applicant names, inventor names, agent name, or IPC code).

Advanced search option for e-Vista.

The hit list displays the document title, application number, publication number, applicant name, and IPC code for each result, and the full record for a document includes basic bibliographic data and a list of all papers included in the file history for the patent record (with links to view available papers in PDF format).

List of available papers in a file history for a Brazilian patent record.

Conclusion

The Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI) of Brazil has created an easily accessible online portal for both filing and searching Brazilian patent documents and related papers, and patent searchers will find the first module of the e-Patentes portal particularly useful for locating the PDF versions of BR patent documents and corresponding papers.  The e-Parecer and e-Carta sections of e-Patentes Module 1, which allow users to access Brazilian search reports and patent documents, both offer very basic search forms that allow users to search by only journal number or application number. The e-Vista section of Module 1 (which searches for file histories related to BR patent documents) has slightly more sophisticated search options than e-Parecer and e-Carta, since users can search by additional criteria like filing date, applicant names, inventor names, agent name, or IPC code in the advanced search form.  The e-Vista interface has very similar search and display options to the European Patent Register, while the e-Parecer and e-Carta tools offer only bare-bones search and display options.  All three tools in the e-Patentes Module 1 offer useful coverage, though, if a user needs to access the full text of a specific Brazilian patent document, its patent file history, or the related search report.

The Brazilian platform e-Patentes is just one example of hundreds of patent and NPL search resources listed on Intellogist. The broad variety of patent and non-patent literature search systems listed on Intellogist reflects the highly skilled, global search capabilities of Intellogist’s provider, Landon IP. Discover the enormous range of global patent search tools by visiting Intellogist’s detailed System Reports, the Patent Coverage Map, the Quick Table Comparison tool, the Resource Finder, or the numerous Community Reports about hundreds of search and analysis tools. You can also learn more about the targeted or global prior art search services provides by Landon IP.

Which free global patent search tools would you like to see reviewed on Intellogist?  Let us know in the comments!

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

After the jump, learn about the search and display features for the new Scholrly search engine, and see how it measures up to Google Scholar!

Search Tools 

From the Scholrly homepage, users can choose from two search forms:

• Quick Search – This basic keyword search form allows users to enter a word or phrase as a query.
• Advanced Search – This fielded search form is accessible by selecting the small arrow icon within the quick search form to expand the advanced search options. Users can search by author, date range, words included/excluded from the article (or exact phrases), words included/excluded from the title (or exact phrases), and words included/excluded from the abstract (or exact phrases).

The advanced search options on Scholrly.

The homepage also includes a short list of featured publications and featured authors.

Display Options

Search results are divided into two columns: Publications and Authors.

The Scholrly hit list, divided into Publications and Authors columns.

The Publications column includes basic bibliographic data and abstract for each result, and users can expand the result in the column to view document download options. Select the publication title to view the full record, which includes:

• Link to full text
• Full citation data that can be copied and pasted (BibTeX)
• Bibliographic data dashboard (abstract, keywords, and authors)
• Citation list
• “Cited by” list
• List of venues

The full article record on Scholrly.

The Authors column lists the author name, related publication, and each result in the column can be expanded to view numbers of papers published and total citations. Select the author name to view the full record, which includes:

• Author name
• Publication dashboard (bibliographic data for publications and names of co-authors)
• List of affiliations
• List of published venues

The full author record on Scholrly.

Conclusion

The very limited coverage of the Scholrly portal currently makes the search system useful only for users who need to locate academic papers in the computer science field, whereas the very broad coverage of Google Scholar is useful for patent searchers conducting prior art searches for all types of technology.  Although the creators of Scholrly hope to expand the coverage of the system to include additional disciplines, Scholrly is currently no match for the broad NPL coverage available through Google Scholar.  Additionally, professional patent searchers will have access to a wide range of subscription non-patent literature databases, which should be thoroughly searched in addition both broad and subject-specific free NPL databases.

The search capabilities of Scholrly are relatively basic, and the advanced search form for Scholrly is only superior to Google Scholar in the ability to search for keywords or phrases in the abstract of the article (in addition to title and full-text keyword searches, which both portals allow).  The hit list for Scholrly lacks any additional filtering or sorting options for either the Publications or Authors results, while Google Scholar includes a side menu with additional filtering and sorting choices beside the search results.  The division of the search results on Scholrly into both author and publication lists is an interesting new feature that is not available on Google Scholar, and users may be able to locate useful related results by exploring author publication lists or publications by co-authors.  Google Scholar also includes the option to view publication lists and statistics for some specific authors, although these lists are not available for all authors of every publication.

Overall, the Scholrly interface has some search and display benefits when compared to Google Scholar (especially when browsing by author), but the system is still in a testing phase and therefore offers very limited coverage at this time.  I’d continue to check on the progress of Scholrly to see if it eventually offers more coverage which will make it a competitive tool to Google Scholar.

How do you think Scholrly compares to Google Scholar as a non-patent literature search tool?  Let us know in the comments!

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

Clean data is essential

We’ve all seen blatant errors in patent metadata. The industry’s standard coverage now includes millions of documents from over a hundred patent authorities, and the error rate only increases with this rapidly expanding volume.

Because of this, it’s essential to work with the raw data whenever possible, rather than relying on an end-user tool for reporting. We believe that without a human review of the format and quality of the raw data, it’s hard to have faith in the resulting analysis project.

Assignee data probably presents the biggest challenge for high-volume projects. Most patent analysis work at some point relies on assignee data, whether it involves gathering a portfolio of one company’s IP, or creating a landscape that will show major players in a technology space. Unfortunately, assignee data is seriously affected by irregularity in the source data. Examples include:

• Inconsistent name abbreviations e.g. Minnesota Mining & MFG
• Misspellings e.g. Minnesoda Mining & Manufacturing
• Transliterations e.g. Tsinghua University vs. Qinghua University, both phonetically valid translations from the Chinese university name.

Patent searches themselves can be carefully calibrated to find these variants (see our blog post on the topic). But when it comes to cleaning and standardizing the data, computers need a little help identifying equivalents.

When working with small datasets, the task of cleaning assignee data can sometimes be solved by brute force. But as always, the ultimate goal is always to work smarter, not harder! Usually, working with data means extracting it out of a commercial search product and into local files for further manipulation. Most of these search products support downloading records into spreadsheet formats such as .CSV (comma-separated values). This data can then be cleaned without the limitations imposed by a commercial search system.

Using a data cleaning product that can import this CSV data, such as VantagePoint, can make cleaning easier – VantagePoint uses fuzzy logic filters to suggest possible matches between names, while leaving ultimate control in the hands of the searcher.

However, in tried-and-true fashion, Microsoft Excel is the product that usually offers the right tools for initial work on the dataset. If you have no specialized data cleaning software at your disposal, you can use some of the functions in Microsoft Excel to begin the process. Excel’s Text-to-Columns, Filters, and PivotTables features can all be useful in the right situation.

By using basic MS Excel functions to clean data and separate cells containing multiple data points, we can add further dimensions for analysis to the spreadsheet. For example, by using simple Excel functions such as Text-to-Columns, a patent number column such as US6666666A could easily become:

 

US6666666A

  ↓

 

Likewise, this feature can be used to address the common problem of having two assignee names on a single patent. An example is shown in the record below:

 

 

Depending on the project goals, analyzing this dataset by assignee could require this record to be triple-counted: counted once for the National Research Institute of Metals, a second time for the Fuji Electric Company, and a third for Chubu Electric Power. By manipulating the dataset we can split these names into separate cells, the first step in counting them individually.

 

↓

 

Conclusion

Idiosyncrasies in the source data can make it difficult to translate a raw patent dataset into accurate information. The best approach to analysis projects is to be aware of the pitfalls, and avoid “black box” analysis tools advertise graphs and charts at the click of a button – these inconsistencies in the underlying data can subtract a significant number of documents from the end result, weakening the analysis.

Delivering reliable business intelligence means working with reliable data. Landon IP experts are experienced at handling all types of data collection, and frequently deal with highly complex projects. Our analysts are trained in the myriad problems that crop up in patent data grooming, such as synthesizing data from two different data formats, or filtering data to select only certain family members for analysis.

To learn more about Landon IP analysis services, please see our website.

This post was contributed by Landon IP Librarian Kristin Whitman. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company, Landon IP, a major provider of patent search, technical translation, and information services.

What is the Interactive Patent Coverage Map? Users can select a country or regional patenting authority by name or by clicking on the map to bring up a list of major known coverage providers for that specific entry. Information often includes the national patent office or related official site as well as the various offerings of coverage ranging from full text to bibliographic according to our scale.

This is a condensed screenshot of the user interface for the interactive map.

Our recent posts on the Italian Patent and Trademark Office website and the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office website (to limit ourselves to two examples) provided interesting details on those specific systems. The Interactive Patent Coverage Map, however, is a more problem oriented solution to finding desired coverage information.

Do you need to find who has Costa Rican coverage? Click on the Interactive Patent Coverage Map, click on North America, and either scroll down to Costa Rica or click directly on the location within the map. An entry will appear that lets you know that Costa Rica is a member of the PCT, has an official site, has no notable full text coverage, but has several partial and bibliographic text providers including Espacenet, Latipat, TotalPatent, and WIPO Patentscope.

We think Intellogist’s Interactive Patent Coverage Map is an easy and intuitive way to discover solutions to your search needs, but by no means is it the final word in any professional patent search. Intellogist parent company Landon IP has a specialized library support staff to track down niche tools and collections that expert searchers need to use to find the reference that may make or break your patent search.

Check out the Interactive Patent Coverage Map today!

This post was contributed by Intellogist Team member Chris Jagalla. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

Continue reading for an overview of recent inventions for controlling the weather!

1. US 3659785, Issued May 2, 1972 – Weather Modification Utilizing Microencapsulated Material

Drawing description: “The figure is a graphic representation of the particle spectrum for unencapsulated and microencapsulated area.”

This patent describes:

A fog and cloud seeding method and agent utilizing microencapsulation techniques whereby controlled seeding particle size for both dry initial particles and particles dispensed as solution droplets provides for the production and maintenance of a predetermined particle spectrum when using hygroscopic chemical compounds which are fragile, brittle, or friable in crystalline structure.

2. US 4470544, Issued Sep 11, 1984 – Method of and means for weather modification

Drawing description: “Figure 3 is a schematic side view of an embodiment of the invention wherein mixing is achieved by wave-operated mixer.”

The abstract of this patent states:

The weather near a continental arid zone is modified by increasing the heat storage of the seas westwardly of the arid zone during the summer. The heat storage is increased by mixing the relatively warmer surface water with relatively cooler deeper water thereby reducing the surface temperature of the seas during the summer. Cooling the surface of the water will increase the radiant heat flux due to solar radiation and decrease the radiant heat loss from the surface during the summer thus increasing the amount of heat stored in the water an available for evaporation during the winter. Mixing is achieved by pumping water from a lower level in the seas to the upper level. In one embodiment of the invention, normal wave motion provides the mode of power for the pumping operation. In another embodiment, mixing is achieved by a paddle that is operated by wave motion.

3. US 5357865, Issued Oct 25, 1994 – Method of cloud seeding

Drawing description: “Figure 1 shows a longitudinal sectional view of a pyrotechnic seeding flare for use in the method of the invention for cloud seeding.”

This patent describes:

A method of cloud seeding for precipitation enhancement comprises releasing hygroscopic seeding particles from a seeding flare (10). The particles are obtained by burning, in the flare, a pyrotechnic composition which includes, as an oxidizing agent, a compound selected from the group consisting in potassium chlorate and potassium perchlorate. The particles are allowed to enter a suitable cloud formation. The particles act as seeds or nuclei for precipitable water drop formation, thereby to enhance precipitation from the cloud formation.

4. US 5411209, Issued May 2, 1995 – Anti-hail shock wave generator

Drawing description: “Figure 2 is a detailed cross-sectional view of the barrel shroud according to the preferred embodiment.”

According to the abstract:

To improve the transmission of positive ions from ground level to cloud level by a shock wave generator, a shroud is provided which surrounds the barrel of the generator for guiding a convective air flow vertically along the sides of the barrel to an orifice of the barrel. Positive ions present in the ambient air and also created by the environment surrounding the hot barrel are drawn upwardly by convection and a negative pressure following each explosion. The shroud is higher than the barrel and positive ions are drawn into the area in front of the barrel where shock waves displace the ions upwardly to cloud level for preventing hail nuclei formation.

5. US 5984239, Issued Nov 16, 1999 – Weather modification by artificial satellites

Drawing description: “Figure 3. Satellite Engines 9SEs) Orbital Operations Overview.”

The technology described in this patent is a “Satellite Weather Modification System (SWMS) [that] uses earth satellites to harness solar energy to modify the thermodynamics and composition of the earth’s atmosphere.”

Conclusion

Winter is coming, so you might want to stock up on your anti-hail shock wave generators.  Maybe in a few decades, I’ll be able to turn up the heat outside using a system of weather modification satellites.  Until then, I guess I’ll just have to do things the old-fashioned way and put on an extra sweater.

What are your favorite weather modification inventions?  Let us know in the comments!

Special Announcement: Advertising on Intellogist
Did you know that you can advertise on both the Intellogist Blog and Intellogist.com? The Landon IP advertisement displayed below is one example of available advertising space on the Intellogist Blog. Companies and firms can also advertise on Intellogist.com in a variety of locations on the site, including on:

• The Homepage
• Quick Table Comparisons
• Search System Reports
• Interactive Coverage Map
• Best Practices Pages
• Resource Finder

Intellogist.com and the Intellogist Blog both are viewed by a wide range of IP, law, and science professionals, including IP attorneys, IP researchers, Scientists, Engineers, Legal Support Specialists, Librarians, IP service providers and other people who work at law firms, corporations, patent offices, and universities. Reach a global market of engaged IP professionals by advertising on Intellogist! All advertisements must follow Intellogist Advertising Guidelines and Creative Specifications. For more information about advertising on the Intellogist Blog or Intellogist.com, readers can contact the Intellogist team to request a free media kit.

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

After the jump, Landon IP’s librarian Kristin Whitman provides a brief guide on how to use the “Statistical Mapping from USPC to CPC” concordance tool!

Description of the Concordance Tool

The statistical analysis USPC-to-CPC concordance is now available at the USPTO website through the “Classification Search” page (under the “Patent Classification” section of the USPTO website).

Unlike a typical concordance, this website doesn’t associate classifications based on their definitions.  Instead, this concordance uses statistical analysis to link the most frequently co-occurring CPC classes to the US class you’re interested in.  This means that it’s less reliable than an official concordance, but it may still help you identify relevant CPC codes for your search.

Use of the Concordance Tool

To use the USPC-to-CPC concordance on the “Classification Search” page, select the classification system (USPC) and enter your US classification code into the box. You can then select the output format as HTML or PDF. Finally, in the “Select Content” box, you must choose *Statistical Mapping from USPC to CPC* and then click submit.

Search for a USPC symbol to locate the closest corresponding CPC symbols.

The first column of the results table will contain your US class, as well as other closely related classes.  The next columns will show the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd most statistically relevant CPC classes.

The USPC-to-CPC concordance table for a specific USPC class.

You can click “more…” and see up to the 5th statistically relevant CPC class.

An expanded list of the 3rd-5th most relevant corresponding CPC symbols (in the 1st row).

The user can also select to view the most statistically relevant CPC subclasses (listed at the very bottom of the table) or view a printable version of the table in PDF format.

Most statistically relevant CPC subclasses, listed at the bottom of the table.

Clicking on one of the classification numbers will open the respective class schedule so you can read the full definition.

A link in the concordance table takes the user to a definition in the CPC class schedule on the USPTO website.

Conclusion

With the release of this USPC-to-CPC concordance tool, searchers now have free access to resources for locating the closest related CPC symbols for USPC, IPC, and ECLA codes.  This USPC-to-CPC concordance tool is just one of many resources that professional patent searchers will use when incorporating CPC codes into their patent search projects. Effective January 1, 2013, Intellogist’s provider Landon IP began incorporating CPC codes into all of their patent search projects, for both their commercial customers around the world and for the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) searches that they perform in support of the USPTO.  Landon IP customers will continue to receive the high-quality search results that they have come to expect, now enhanced through the incorporation of CPC codes into the search strategies.

Do you know of any other useful tools related to the CPC?  Tell us in the comments!

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

The USGENE® BLAST® Search Portal is a subscription-based online search platform created by the SequenceBase Corporation that allows users to search USGENE®, a database that lists peptide and nucleotide sequences from US published applications and issued patents. Previously in July 2012, there were a number of updates added to the portal, and additional updates were implemented in December 2012, including options to expand and download all alignments for search results.

Continue reading to learn about all the new coverage, search, display, and download options recently added on two major sequence search platforms, GenomeQuest and the USGENE BLAST Search Portal!

GenomeQuest Updates

October 2012, Emerging Countries Domestic Patents Archive:

According to a GQ-PAT Premium Update Sheet from GenomeQuest, GQ-PAT Premium now offers an Emerging Countries Domestic Patents Archive that covers “domestic-only filed applications/patents with sequences from China, Brazil, India and an expanding list of counties”:

• India: GQ has identified and acquired hundreds of India patents with sequences. These are being curated and formatted. We currently have 260 of these domestic-only filed Indian patents with sequences and will only continue to add going forward. By November, we expect to have an additional 800 Indian patents available through GQ-PAT Premium.
• Brazil: There are over 270 Brazil patents in GQ-PAT Premium. This brings us up to date with all domestic only Brazil patents with sequences. We will continue to add new Brazil patents with sequences moving forward.
• China: We have made strides to bring new China patents with sequences into GQ-PAT Premium faster. We believe we have the industry’s fastest delivery of sequence-based patents from the China patent office (SIPO).

The next countries under consideration to add to the archive include “Argentina, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Vietnam, Russia, European Countries (patents with no EP), Mexico, Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Chile, and Malaysia.”

October 2012, Extended Legal Statuses:

According to a GQ-PAT Premium Update Sheet from GenomeQuest, extended legal statuses are now available on GQ-PAT Premium, and “these legal statuses are not limited to Premium content, but are only accessible to Premium customers.” The update sheet gives the following description of the extended legal status:

When doing searches for patents using GenomeQuest’s premier IP product, you will be able to view legal statuses beyond Granted and Application. Legal Statuses will include: Pending, Granted, Lapsed, Expired, and Revoked and are updated monthly, presenting the most current and up to date information available.

For more information on viewing the Extended Legal Status and Legal Status National Phase (which will only be available to users that subscribe to GQ-PAT Gold+ or GQ-PAT Platinum after January 2013), see this page on the GenomeQuest Documentation Wiki.

January 2013, Normalized Patent Assignee and Subject Database Filtering:

According to a GenomeQuest representative, the following updates have been added to the system:

• Normalized Patent Assignee: Allows you to group and filter so you can quickly find or remove the correct patent holders. This feature is only available to Gold Plus & Platinum subscribers. See this page on the GenomeQuest Documentation Wiki for more information on the Normalized Patent Assignee.
• Subject database filtering: Now when you are searching, you can filter based on either publication date and/or remove the jumbo sequences to narrow your results which will return more relevant hits. See this page on the GenomeQuest Documentation Wiki for more information on Subject Databases Prefiltering.

New GenomeQuest subject database filtering options (screenshot from GenomeQuest Documentation Wiki).

USGENE BLAST Search Portal Updates

December 2012, Expand/Download All Alignments:

According to an email from a SequenceBase representative:

Over the last few weeks two important detailed enhancements have been made to the USGENE BLAST Search Portal Evaluate tab results table. We invite you to try out the new features and let us know what you think about them. The enhanced features are summarized below.

• Expand all alignments: At the top right of the Evaluate tab results table there are now two Expand all options. A completely new option to Expand all alignments, and the previously existing one to Expand all documents. The two options now work seamlessly together to allow you to see all the alignment details, and/or all bibliographic summary information for the hit sequences, in one step.
• Download all alignments: At the top left of the Evaluate tab results table there are now three buttons: Add all selected, Add all with filter applied, and Download alignments. The new Download alignments button will export a plain text file of all the alignments, intended for use in offline expert analysis of the BLAST search results.

“Expand all alignments” option beside each result on the USGENE BLAST Search Portal (image from SequenceBase email).

December 2012, Links to Thomson Innovation Records:

According to an email from a SequenceBase representative:

SequenceBase are pleased to announce that the USGENE BLAST Search Portal now provides the option to set patent and published application number full-text links to go directly to corresponding Thomson Innovation records. To change the default USGENE BLAST Search Portal full-text links to go to Thomson Innovation, simply visit the “Edit profile” section of the Account tab and select your preferred service. In addition to Thomson Innovation, your full-text link options include PatBase Express, Orbit.com, and Espacenet. Changing the default setting will update the default full-text links throughout the USGENE BLAST Search Portal, including in any subsequently generated reports in either XLS, DOCX or PDF format.

Conclusion

New coverage, such as the Emerging Countries Domestic Patents Archive on GenomeQuest, and updated search and display features, such as the options to expand/download all alignments for a result on the USGENE BLAST Search Portal, are regularly added to these two subscription-based sequence searching platforms.  Professional patent searchers, especially those who conduct searches for new innovations in the biotech and pharmacology fields, need to stay updated on the best search methods and coverage availability for peptide and nucleic acid sequence data within patent documents.  Continue to check the Intellogist Community Reports for GenomeQuest and the USGENE BLAST Search Portal to learn about  further updates on search, display, and coverage changes for these two major patent sequence search tools.

Have you recently used either GenomeQuest or the USGENE BLAST Search Portal to conduct sequence searches within patent records?  Let us know how you feel these patent sequence search portals compare to each other in the comments!

Special Announcement: Advertising on Intellogist
Did you know that you can advertise on both the Intellogist Blog and Intellogist.com? The Landon IP advertisement displayed below is one example of available advertising space on the Intellogist Blog. Companies and firms can also advertise on Intellogist.com in a variety of locations on the site, including on:

• The Homepage
• Quick Table Comparisons
• Search System Reports
• Interactive Coverage Map
• Best Practices Pages
• Resource Finder

Intellogist.com and the Intellogist Blog both are viewed by a wide range of IP, law, and science professionals, including IP attorneys, IP researchers, Scientists, Engineers, Legal Support Specialists, Librarians, IP service providers and other people who work at law firms, corporations, patent offices, and universities. Reach a global market of engaged IP professionals by advertising on Intellogist! All advertisements must follow Intellogist Advertising Guidelines and Creative Specifications. For more information about advertising on the Intellogist Blog or Intellogist.com, readers can contact the Intellogist team to request a free media kit.

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.