Patent Information

Patent Information

<p> Patent Information</p><p>INTRODUCTION</p><p>There is an important information resource that is freely available, the patent information, which is easily accessible across different digital platforms based on the Internet, enabling a stimulus to creativity that can motivate new innovations (Maravilhas, 2009; Maravilhas & Borges, 2009). Repositories of patent information, in the form of databases and digital libraries, are a major source of scientific and technical informationi. There are about 70 million published patent documents worldwide, most of them containing information not available anywhere else (Albrecht et al., 2010; Bregonje, 2005; Greif, 1987; Marcovitch, 1983). Even the information that can also be found in other documents, such as scientific papers, technical reports, conference proceedings, and dissertations, it is not described with the same degree of detail and they take longer to reach the public. In addition, approximately 2.2 million new documents are created every year (Mueller & Nyfeler, 2011, p. 384) and their publication allows public consultation even before protection is granted. Over 30% of patents are in the public domain (they have reached the time limit for protection, or for non- payment of annual fees), or are not being exploited due to lack of funding or technical incapacity of the holder (Godinho, 2003; Idris, 2003; Maia, 1996). Some examples of its use to stimulate creativity and improve innovation will be given, allowing organizations that use it wisely to obtain competitive advantages.</p><p>PATENT INFORMATION</p><p>Regarding the technical information contained in patent documents, through their consultation, researchers, scientists or entrepreneurs, can withdraw precious ideas about the state of the art in any field of science and technology (Maravilhas & Borges, 2011a, 2011b). For Idris (2003), the main reason for patent information analysis is related to the updated information contained in patent documents that can help avoid erroneous investments concerning the possibility of duplicating research work already done by others. The insufficient use of patent information has caused a significant waste of funds invested in R&D programs whose existence is threatened by the return on investment of patented technology. According to estimates, European industry wastes between 20 to 32 billion Euros annually (Brünger-Weilandt et al., 2011; Ribeiro, 2007), primarily motivated by the lack of patent information, resulting in a duplication with the reinvention of existing inventions, and redeveloping products already available on the market that could easily have been identified if patent information was consulted. In certain circumstances, it is possible to use patent information to develop new products and processes, as long as the resulting new invention does not infringe the patents that already exist. This is a perfectly legitimate and one of the most important justifications for the existence of the patent system (Idris, 2003, p. 88). The advantage of consulting the technical information is that it encourages creativity and innovation by turning inventions into innovations (Maravilhas, 2009). Either by using patented technologies that are not being exploited; by finding ways to integrate these inventions in the business plan of a company for further development; encouraging the creation of companies to exploit these inventions; identifying technologies and finding those who want to produce them; or selling ready-made solutions or compounds to be included in finished products (Maravilhas & Borges, 2009). Patent information is not the only source of information that can stimulate innovation but it is one of the most important ones. This is mainly due to its detail, depth, timeliness and coverage, constituents (description, schematics, drawings, charts), analysis of the state of the art, external inputs of experts that complement and enrich the document (patent examiners and their research reports), among others. This source of information covers all technical and scientific activities of human knowledge and is encoded to allow its easy recovery and utilization. It nurtures insights not only from the scientific area in which we are investigating, but also of complementary areas that can increase the value of the solution developed. It can also be used for other applications not initially considered and solve other problems from intermediate crossover areas between scientific disciplines. It also improves the time necessary to introduce new products to markets, lowers costs associated with R&D and monetize the installed capacity in some industries or scientific activities (Maravilhas, 2009). Searching this information will allow the finding of certain inventions for free exploration, without the obligation to pay any license if the patent is in the public domain and free to use. Such is the case of generic drugs which are the free use of active substances that have reached their limit of protection and are free to be explored, what has been done successfully by several national and international companies.</p><p>Origin and sources</p><p>To obtain patent protection, the applicant must formalize an application with the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) of his country or other supranational office such as the European Patent Office (EPO) or the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It is also necessary to reveal a full description of the details of the invention, together with a series of claims that are the core of the invention itself and the matter to which legal protection is required (Ulrich & Eppinger, 2012). During the process of registration and grant of a patent, the official entities like the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), EPO or WIPO (if protection via Patent Cooperation Treaty – PCT - is required), will generate one or more legal documents that are called patent literature. These documents contain information that is referred to as patent information. After the publication of the patent application, typically 12 to 18 months after it has been entered in the respective office, this information becomes publicly available to those who wish to consult it. In exchange for the protection by a patent granted for your invention for 20 years, the information concerning the invention will be in the public domain and these inventions may be made by third parties for research purposes. The purpose of this disclosure is intended to catalyze inventive activity, making possible the advancement of technology that would otherwise still be kept secret. One of the conditions allowing a patent to be assigned is that the information in the patent application is so detailed that a person skilled in the art, the area in question, is capable of running her own invention (product or process) being able to duplicate it. The patent document not only describes the invention necessarily capable of industrial application, but also the scope of protection intended, if the respective patent is obtained.</p><p>State-of-the-art in Science and Technology</p><p>Much of the information contained in patent documents is not published anywhere else, making it a source of information essential to meet the needs for new technical information (Bregonje, 2005; Greif, 1987; Marcovitch, 1983). Patent literature is the major source of technological information available worldwide, thus constituting the largest repository of technical knowledge possessing a huge monetary value. The revelation of the secrets contained in the technical documentation resulting from a patent application discloses valuable information to the public about the state of the art in a given area, thus promoting, through this knowledge, technological development (Maravilhas & Borges, 2009). Every time a research program is initiated it is advisable to research all the scientific and technological work already done in the area (Naetebusch, Schoeppel, & Fichtner, 1994; Schoeppel & Naetebusch, 1995). Moreover, it is always worth to go back some years in the search to get to know many of the ideas contained in patent documents whose legal validity has expired. They could contain valuable inventions or technical information which, at the time they were made, were quite ahead of their time and, therefore, had no means of effectively being carried out, or for which consumers were not yet ready to appreciate and give due value (Marcovitch, 1983, p. 492). Currently, they can be regarded as an opportunity worth exploiting, taking advantage of recent technical developments and current knowledge and, hopefully, become extremely profitable. </p><p>Solving problems According to Marcus (1995), the patent information, in addition to providing an excellent source of information for generating ideas, also has the advantage of being a source of inspiration when it is necessary to find a creative solution to assist in solving problems of technological nature. Drucker (1987) refers to several representative examples of using an invention for applications other than that which was initially intended. Drugs developed to solve human problems eventually can be adapted to solve problems for veterinary; the creation of DDT during World War II to protect American soldiers against tropical parasites was later widely used in agriculture to protect crops and cattle; 3M® developed several products for industry and only much later realized that they could be used to solve domestic problems with minor changes and improvements, as the case of Scotch Tape® and Post it®. The Teflon®, from DuPont®, invented in 1938 and marketed since 1946, is waterproof and is the material with the lowest known friction coefficient. Widely used in aircraft wings to improve aerodynamics and prevent waste to accumulate (Drucker, 1987; Lattès, 1992), its advantages can be applied in another area of activity that requires these no sticking qualities: the kitchen. DuPont® started putting this coating into pans, preventing food cling during making. When the patent expired, the technology was free to be used, leveraging competition with this knowledge and this extra advantage without any costs, like companies such as Tefal® did.</p><p>Ideas and opportunities for Businesses</p><p>Organizations need information to enable them to innovate and gain competitive advantages in the markets in which they operate. Getting the latest and greatest technologies has motivated the search for information that would maintain the productivity, competitiveness, superiority and status towards adversaries and competitors (Burgelman, Christensen, & Wheelwright, 2009; Christensen, Anthony, & Roth, 2004). Based on the knowledge of the existence of some invention, interested parties may initiate licensing contracts for the exploitation of these technologiesii in certain geographic areas or markets where they have better penetration capability than the patent holder (Maravilhas, 2009). In terms of market analysis and competition, if we develop technological surveillance and competitive intelligence, patent information can provide many surprising clues that might share a light on the competition strategies, new trends, new products or technological improvements made to existing products (Ashton & Klavans, 1997; Ojala, 1989; R. Wilson, 1987a, 1987b). Marcus (1995, p. 70) says that beyond the obvious parameters that can be found in the patent information - such as the name of the inventor, patent holder, priority dates, patent family, among other aspects - the researcher can use his imagination to find a huge variety of commercially valuable information, such as: i) ability to find or identify potential customers or business partners; ii) provide supporting information to a business meeting; iii) identify trends in R&D, new technologies and new products; iv) identify trends and movements between companies; v) facilitate technology transfer or licensing; vi) prevent duplication of research projects, avoiding the unintentional copy; vii) identify experts in a specific field of technology or scientific area; viii) establish new applications and uses for existing technologies and productsiii; ix) find solutions to technical problems; x) support the generation of ideas for new products or processes; xi) identify trends in Marketing; xii) establish the expiration date of a patent that will allow the free use of the invention; xiii) identify potential competitors; xiv) monitor the activities of competitors; xv) establish the state of the art in a certain scientific or technological area. All this possibilities may trigger a business opportunity profitable for a company. The assiduous consultation of information sources, which include patent information together with all that is new and relevant in the scientific areas in question, and even complementary scientific areas, may allow a bank of knowledge that awakens a response when confronted with a technical or scientific problem to overcome. Also, if others before have had the same problem and succeeded, people can benefit from this knowledge and find a better way to overcome difficulties (Maravilhas & Borges, 2011a). It may happen that from the existing knowledge we can find a better solution.</p><p>Future research directions Future projects consider not only the translation of the essential information of the patent documents for English, French, Spanish and German, but also making the search process more user friendly by allowing to search within human indexed keywords, by means of a thesaurus, avoiding the need to know chemical compounds or substances’ name, which is not so easy for beginners (Cavalier, 2001; Dulken, 2000; Kovac, 2010; Oda, 2009; Wang, 2009). All these measures aim to improve the number of people that effectively search patent information with benefits for the whole society.</p><p>CONCLUSION</p><p>Patent information, contained in patent documents, must be of high quality to permit the search and retrieval of the documents needed to solve a problem or stimulate new ideas and solutions (Albrecht et al., 2010; Brünger-Weilandt et al., 2011; Chakroun, 2012; Ginman, 1990). Old inventions can generate new ideas, inventions never marketed can be brought to market and satisfy needs and desires; inventions for one application can be introduced for a new domain and technologies can be applied in ecological sustainable solutions with ‘green’ products. It also allows to identify the technical fields where competitors are more active; the leading countries and companies for each technology and the patenting patterns followed in a certain period of time; the technological trends and the state of the art of a given technology; the number of citations a patent document has; the inventor and the owner of the invention, amongst other relevant information (Idris, 2003; Macedo & Barbosa, 2000; Maia, 1996; Maravilhas, 2009). Several measures are being taken by the patent offices to improve the quality of the information retrieved by the public. Standards are applied to warrant the quality and validity of the documents and its content, and audits are performed to correct possible gaps. Some value-added information is supplied by the commercial databases like DWPI and STN (Albrecht et al., 2010). That procedure could be followed by the intellectual property offices in order to facilitate and improve the use of this information and the results it promotes in the form of new patent applications and the introduction of new innovations. Due to the huge amount of documents from China, Russia, India, Korea and other Asian countries, machine translation and semantic ranks of documents are being used (Cavalier, 2001; Dulken, 2000; Kovac, 2010; Oda, 2009). Further research should allow to measure if all those strategies implemented are improving the value and quality of the information available to the public, measurable by the number of citations in the new patent filings. In the end, the quality and value of this information will be dependent on the user and related to the results that it will allow to obtain, solving a problem or improving a solution, always integrated on its context and present needs.</p><p>REFERENCES</p><p>Albrecht, M. A., Bosma, R., van Dinter, T., Ernst, J.-L., van Ginkel, K., & Versloot-Spoelstra, F. (2010). Quality assurance in the EPO Patent Information Resource. World Patent Information, 32(4), 279-286. Ashton, W. B., & Klavans, R. A. (1997). Keeping abreast of science and technology: technical intelligence for business. Columbus: Battelle Press. Branscomb, L. (2004). Where Do Tech Commercial Innovations Come From? Paper presented at the Meredith and Kip Frey Lecture in Intellectual Property at Duke Law School. Retrieved 06-09- 2010, from http://www.law.duke.edu/conference/namedlectures.html Bregonje, M. (2005). Patents: A unique source for scientific technical information in chemistry related industry? World Patent Information, 27(4), 309-315. Brünger-Weilandt, S., Geiß, D., Herlan, G., & Stuike-Prill, R. (2011). Quality: Key factor for high value in professional patent, technical and scientific information. World Patent Information, 33(3), 230- 234. Burgelman, R., Christensen, C., & Wheelwright, S. (2009). Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation (5ª ed.). Singapore: McGraw-Hill. Cavalier, T. (2001). Perspectives on machine translation of patent information. World Patent Information, 23(4), 367-371. Chakroun, N. (2012). Improving Patent Information Quality: Development and the Disclosure Requirements. The Journal of World Intellectual Property, 15(3), 199-220. Christensen, C., Anthony, S., & Roth, E. (2004). Seeing What's Next: Using the Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change: Harvard Business School Press. Drucker, P. (1987). Inovação e gestão (2ª ed.). Lisboa: Presença. Dulken, S. (2000). The future of patent information. World Patent Information, 22(4), 273-275. Ginman, M. (1990). Quality Information, and Information for Quality. In Wormell (Ed.), Information Quality: Definitions and Dimensions. London: Taylor Graham. Godinho, M. (2003). Estudo Sobre a Utilização da Propriedade Industrial em Portugal (Vol. I). Lisboa: Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial. Greif, S. (1987). Patents and Economic Growth. International Review of Industrial Property and Copyright Law, 18(2), 191-213. Idris, K. (2003). Intellectual property: a power tool for economic growth. Geneva: World Intellectual Property Organization. Kovac, W. (2010). Documentation and quality: Quo vadis patent system? A patent attorney’s view. World Patent Information, 32(3), 229-232. Lattès, R. (1992). O Risco e a Fortuna: a grande aventura da Inovação. Lisboa: Difusão Cultural. Macedo, M., & Barbosa, A. (2000). Patentes, pesquisa & desenvolvimento: um manual de propriedade intelectual. Rio de Janeiro: Fiocruz. Maia, J. M. (1996). Propriedade Industrial: Comunicações e Artigos do Presidente do INPI. Lisboa: Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI). Maravilhas, S. (2009). A Informação de Patentes: vantagens da sua utilização como estímulo à criatividade, I&D, inovação e competitividade das empresas portuguesas. In IAPMEI (Ed.), Parcerias Científicas para a Inovação (pp. 91-110). Lisboa: IAPMEI. Maravilhas, S., & Borges, M. (2009). O Impacto das Bibliotecas Digitais de Patentes no Processo de Inovação em Portugal. In Borges & Sanz-Casado (Eds.), A ciência da informação criadora de conhecimento. (Vol. II, pp. 47-63). Coimbra: Actas do IV Encontro Ibérico EDIBCIC 2009. Maravilhas, S., & Borges, M. (2011a). Os recursos de informação usados na I&D em Portugal: Caracterização dos centros de investigação do ensino superior público das áreas de Ciência, Tecnologia e Medicina. In Pulgarín Guerrero & Vivas Moreno (Eds.), Límites, fronteras y espacios comunes: encuentros y desencuentros en las Ciencias de la Informacíon (pp. 321-333). Badajoz: Actas do V Encontro Ibérico EDICIC 2011. Maravilhas, S., & Borges, M. (2011b). A utilização da informação de patentes pelos centros de investigação do ensino superior público: o seu impacto no processo de inovação em Portugal. In Pulgarín Guerrero & Vivas Moreno (Eds.), Límites, fronteras y espacios comunes: encuentros y desencuentros en las Ciencias de la Informacíon (pp. 364-376). Badajoz: Actas do V Encontro Ibérico EDICIC 2011. Marcovitch, J. (1983). Administração em ciência e tecnologia. São Paulo: Edgard Blücher. Marcus, D. (1995). Benefits of Using Patent Databases as a Source of Information. In Lechter (Ed.), Successful Patents and Patenting for Engineers and Scientists. New York: The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Press. Michalko, M. (1991). Thinkertoys: a Handbook of Business Creativity for the 90's (1ª ed.). Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. Mueller, H., & Nyfeler, T. (2011). Quality in patent information retrieval: Communication as the key factor. World Patent Information, 33(4), 383-388. Naetebusch, R., Schoeppel, H. R., & Fichtner, H. (1994). Patent information in a large electrical company, exemplified by the situation at Siemens. World Patent Information, 16(4), 198-206. Oda, S. (2009). JP-NETe - A English-language search tool for Japanese unexamined patents. World Patent Information, 31(2), 131-134. Ojala, M. (1989). A patently obvious source for competitor intelligence: the patent literature. Database, 12(4), 43-49. Ribeiro, D. (2007). Propriedade Intelectual: Mais de 30% da investigação em Portugal é redundante. Jornal de Negócios, Quinta-feira(24 de Maio), 34. Schoeppel, H. R., & Naetebusch, R. (1995). Patent searching in a large electrical company, as exemplified by the situation at Siemens. World Patent Information, 17(3), 165-172. Slater, P., Twyman, P., & Blackman, M. (2000). The Smart way for patent information to help small firms. World Patent Information, 22(4), 337-341. Ulrich, K., & Eppinger, S. (2012). Product Design and Development (5ª ed.). Singapore: McGraw-Hill. Wang, D. (2009). Chinese to English automatic patent machine translation at SIPO. World Patent Information, 31(2), 137-139. Wilson, R. (1987a). Patent analysis using online databases--I. Technological trend analysis. World Patent Information, 9(1), 18-26. Wilson, R. (1987b). Patent analysis using online databases--II. Competitor activity monitoring. World Patent Information, 9(2), 73-78.</p><p>KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS </p><p>Patent information: During the process of registration and grant of a patent, the official entities like the USPTO, EPO or WIPO, will generate one or more legal documents that are called patent literature. These documents contain information that is referred to as patent information.</p><p>Innovation: The application of new knowledge, resulting in new products, processes or services or significant improvements in some of its attributes. When a new solution is brought to the market to solve a problem in a new or better way than the existent solutions.</p><p>Invention: The creation or discovery of a new idea, including the concept, design, model creation or improvement of a particular piece, product or system. Even though an invention may allow a patent application, in most cases it will not give rise to an innovation. </p><p>Creativity: Creativity is based on reasoning that produces imaginative new ideas and new ways of looking at reality. Creativity is an individual process, arises from the idea that popped into someone's head. Relates facts or ideas without previous relationship and is discontinuous and divergent. No Creative Process exists if there is no intention or purpose. The essence of the Creative Process is to seek new combinations.</p><p>Sustainability: The ability of producing goods and conduct business without exhausting nature’s resources and polluting the environment or, if not totally possible, do the less harm and take measures to compensate the harm done. Can also be used to designate the ability of an organization of being capable of maintain itself on operation, generating profits and doing the best that it can for every stakeholder and shareholder.</p><p>Serendipity: Serendipity is the ability to make important discoveries by accident. Not all the ideas for new products or processes appear voluntarily and intentionally. Sometimes a mixture of luck and preparation provides valuable discoveries. A serendipitous discovery results from the combination of a happy coincidence with perspicacity.</p><p>Creative imitation: The strategy followed by some companies that imitate something already existing but adding value. Often the imitator has the ability to foresee, better than the original creator, how the product or service can be best suited to meet the needs of consumers, changing it to match this observation. iENDNOTES</p><p>“Patents provide a constraint on the uses of commercial knowledge, while providing knowledge diffusion. It was intended to promote innovation (…), by making sure that if people have access to patent protection they would file the patent, and through the patent disclose the invention. And from that disclosure, inventors could get other ideas and move ahead” (Branscomb, 2004. parág. 48) ii “Patent information to locate existing technology used in a new context: Industrial Copolymers won an award for a product for waterproofing a roof. The additive used was spotted in a 20-year old patent as a potential candidate to achieve this” (Slater, Twyman, & Blackman, 2000, p. 340) iii “Remember that everything new is just an addition or modification to something that already existed. Much creative thinking involves synthesis, the process of combining previously unrelated ideas, goods, or services to create something new. Many creative individuals have made their fortunes by combining the ideas of others” (Michalko, 1991, pp. 71; 80-82)</p>

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