89

CHAPTER 4

PATENTS IN CHEMICAL SCIENCES

A country without a patent office and good patent law is just a crab and cannot travel

any way but sideways and backwards.

-Mark Twain

CHAPTER 4

PATENTS IN CHEMICAL SCIENCES 89-122

4.1 Chemical sciences: an overview 90

4.2 Progress of chemical industries in Germany, UK, USA and

India: A brief outline

93

4.3 The chemical industry 94

4.4 Growth of patents in general 95

4.5 Importance of patent literature in chemical sciences 104

4.6 Growth of patents in chemical sciences 105

4.7 Patent trends in scientific area 119

References 121

90

Chapter 4: Patents in Chemical Sciences

Man‟s quest for knowledge has led to creation and accumulation of tremendous amount

of information. It has continued since the dawn of civilization to present days. Thus,

developed knowledge and information over a period of time is valuable for entire

mankind and therefore liable to be preserved. With the invention of paper man has been

able to communicate this knowledge to others by writing in various forms and formats.

4.1 Chemical Sciences: An Overview

The word chemistry comes from the earlier study of alchemy (Wikipedia,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry), which is basically a quest to make

gold from earthen starting materials. In the course of time, an alchemist was called a

'chemist' in popular speech, and later „-ry‟ was suffixed to „chemist‟ to describe the art

of „chemistry‟. Chemistry is now understood as the science of matter from atomic to

molecular scale and underpins virtually all other aspects of science. Chemistry controls

tastes and flavors of the world which appears around us in all perspectives. Chemical

behavior and interaction of elements and molecules gives the energy needed to heat

homes, to drive cars and to power our lives. This chemical behavior governs the

distribution of natural resources that are needed and industrial processes required to

extract them. In turn, man relies on chemistry to turn them into products. Chemical

sciences cover both chemistry in its traditional form, and also chemistry that falls within

other disciplines of science.

Chemistry (from Egyptian kēme (chem), meaning „earth‟) is the science concerned with

composition, structure, and properties of matter, as well as changes it undergoes during

chemical reactions. Historically, modern chemistry evolved out of alchemy following

the chemical revolution (1773). Chemistry is a physical science related to studies of

various atoms, molecules, crystals and other aggregates of matter, whether in isolation

or combination, which incorporates the concepts of energy and entropy in relation to the

spontaneity of chemical processes.

91

The definition of chemistry invariably changed gradually from time to time, as new

discoveries and theories added to the functionality of science. Some of the standard

definitions used by various chemists are:

Alchemy (330) – the study of the composition of waters, movement, growth,

embodying, disembodying, drawing the spirits from bodies and bonding the spirits

within bodies

Chymistry (1661) – the subject of the material principles of mixt bodies

Chymistry (1663) – a scientific art, by which one learns to dissolve bodies, and draw

from them the different substances on their composition, and how to unite them again,

and exalt them to an higher perfection

Chemistry (1730) – the art of resolving mix, compound, or aggregate bodies into their

principles; and of composing such bodies from those principles

Chemistry (1837) – the science concerned with the laws and effects of molecular

forces

Chemistry (1947) – the science of substances: their structure, their properties, and the

reactions that change them into other substances

Chemistry (1998) – the study of matter and the changes it undergoes.

Disciplines within chemistry are traditionally grouped by the type of matter being

studied or the kind of study. These include inorganic chemistry, the study of inorganic

matter; biochemistry, the study of substances found in biological organisms; physical

chemistry, the energy-related studies of chemical systems at macro, molecular and sub

molecular scales; analytical chemistry, the analysis of material samples to gain an

understanding of their chemical composition and structure. Many more specialized

disciplines have emerged in recent years, e.g. neurochemistry, the chemical study of the

nervous system, Nanotechnology, Stem cells etc.

4.1.1 Subdivisions of Chemistry:

Chemistry is typically divided into several major sub-disciplines. There are also several

main cross-disciplinary and more specialized fields of chemistry.

92

1) Analytical Chemistry : analysis of materials to find chemical composition and

structure

2) Biochemistry: study of chemicals and chemical reactions taking place in living

organisms. Medicinal chemistry, neurochemistry, molecular biology, genetics are

the related divisions.

3) Inorganic Chemistry: relates to study of properties and reactions of inorganic

compounds

4) Materials Chemistry: preparation, characterization, and understanding of substances

with useful functions those are unique to materials and chemistry of condensed

phases.

5) Nuclear Chemistry: study of subatomic particles coming together and making

nuclei.

6) Organic Chemistry: study of the structure, properties, composition, mechanisms,

and reactions of organic compounds. An organic compound is defined as any

compound based on a carbon skeleton.

7) Physical Chemistry: study of the physical and fundamental basis of chemical

systems and processes. In particular, the energetic and dynamics of such systems

and processes are of interest to physical chemists. The study includes chemical

thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, electrochemistry, statistical mechanics, and

spectroscopy. Physical chemistry has large overlap with molecular physics.

8) Theoretical Chemistry: study of chemistry via fundamental theoretical reasoning, in

particular the application of quantum mechanics to chemistry is called quantum

chemistry.

9) Computational Chemistry: the development of computers has allowed a systematic

development of computational chemistry, which is the art of developing and

applying computer programs for solving chemical problems.

Other fields in chemical sciences include astrochemistry, atmospheric chemistry,

chemical engineering, chemical biology, chemo-informatics, electrochemistry,

environmental chemistry, flavor chemistry, flow chemistry, geochemistry, green

chemistry, histochemistry, hydrogenation chemistry, materials science, mathematical

93

chemistry, medicinal chemistry, molecular biology, nanotechnology, natural product

chemistry, oenology, organometallic chemistry, petrochemistry, pharmacology,

photochemistry, phytochemistry, polymer chemistry, solid-state chemistry,

sonochemistry, supramolecular chemistry, surface chemistry, synthetic chemistry,

immunochemistry and thermochemistry.

4.2 Progress of Chemical Industries in Germany, UK, USA & India: A Brief

Outline

4.2.1 German Industry: Germans were very quick in development of chemical

industry. The dyestuff industry taken shape in pre war period in Germany. This

followed the development of drug industry, perfumery, explosives etc. Germany was

the sole country and having monopoly in fine chemicals till World War II.

4.2.2 British Industry: GB had to develop its own industry for various reasons like cut

off from the German supply during World War I, prevalence of disease, shortage of

food, etc. This created an interest in developing chemical industry in GB.

4.2.3 American Industry: The stoppage of supply from Germany made America to

develop its own Chemical Industry. The attempts made by Prof Derick, C.G. and Prof

Roger Adams of University Illinois made efforts in developing chemical industry.

Eastman Kodak Developed “Department of Synthetic Chemistry” and developed 150

chemicals and today they have more than 3000 useful chemicals. Today America is the

biggest chemical manufacturer in the world. The industries like DuPont, Monsanto

Chemicals, Carbon & Carbide Corporation, Dow Chemical, and many others form the

major units in the American chemical industry.

4.2.4 Indian Industry: In India many chemicals like alum, nitre and saltpeter were

manufactured from ancient times. Earlier days in India, dyestuffs, coloring matters,

crude drugs, medicines, extraction of essence, were prepared but in an unorganisized

fashion. After World War I the development of chemical industry in India took shape

towards development. In 1921 about 14 large chemical industries were in India and by

1939 rose to 38, however the development leads to 517 industries in 1945. Fine

94

chemical industries developed very well in India after World War and Independence.

IISc Bangalore established for conducting research in the field of chemistry. Later

various efforts at University teaching level, establishment of research Laboratories, R

and D organizations made progress in chemical industry and the growth was 13.2% in

India during 1976 to 77 as indicated by Sukh Dev (1979). Since India had internal

market, the growth of chemical industry was immense.

Thus, fine chemical industries were developed everywhere covering inorganic

chemicals, organic chemicals and chemicals through biological processes by the end of

1950‟s.

4.3 The Chemical Industry:

The chemical industry comprises of companies that produce industrial chemicals.

Chemical industry is central to modern world economy, converting raw materials (oil,

natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products.

Innovative processes and products are patented by these companies to maintain

monopoly. Chemicals are used to make a wide variety of consumer goods, as well as

thousands of inputs to agriculture, manufacturing, construction, and service industries.

The chemical industry itself consumes 26% of its own output. Major industrial

customers include rubber and plastic products, textiles, apparel, petroleum refining,

pulp and paper, and primary metals. Chemical industry is nearly a $3 trillion global

enterprise, and the EU and US chemical companies are the world's largest producers.(

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_industry) The Chemical industry is

grouped into four categories i.e. basic chemical industries, life sciences based chemical

industries, speciality chemical industries, consumer product industry.

Basic Chemicals: Basic chemicals or „commodity chemicals‟ are a broad chemical

category including polymers, bulk petrochemicals and intermediates, other derivatives

and basic industrials, inorganic chemicals, and fertilizers.

95

Life Science Chemicals: These include differentiated chemical and biological

substances, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, animal health products, vitamins, and crop

protection chemicals.

Speciality Chemicals or Fine Chemicals: These covers relatively high valued, rapidly

growing chemicals with diverse end product markets. Products include electronic

chemicals, industrial gases, adhesives and sealants as well as coatings, industrial and

institutional cleaning chemicals, and catalysts. Specialty Chemicals are referred to as

„fine chemicals‟.

Consumer Products: This includes direct product sale of chemicals such as soaps,

detergents, and cosmetics.

The largest corporate producers worldwide, with plants in various countries, are BASF,

Dow, Degussa, Eastman Chemical Company, Shell, Bayer, INEOS, ExxonMobil,

DuPont, SABIC, Braskem and Mitsubishi, along with thousands of smaller firms.

The chemical industry has shown rapid growth for more than fifty years. The fastest

growing areas have been in manufacture of synthetic organic chemicals and polymers.

Historically and presently, the chemical industry has been concentrated in three areas of

the world, Western Europe, North America and Japan (the Triad). The European

Community remains the largest producer followed by USA and Japan. The growth in

China, India, Korea, the Middle East, South East Asia, etc. has been instrumental in the

changing structure of the global chemical industry.

Although the pharmaceutical industry is often considered a chemical industry, it has

many different characteristics that put it in a separate category. Other closely related

industries include petroleum, glass, paint, ink, sealant, adhesive, and food processing

manufacturers.

4.4 Growth of Patents in General:

The chemical industry is always contributing to development of new areas and

processes. The research in chemical sciences is continuous and reported through various

96

means. Patents play an important role in developing research activities and protecting

the IP in all the sectors of knowledge. The patent filing growth has been witnessed in all

the subject areas throughout the world. A survey of the patent data was conducted to

check the growth and contribution of each country in the patent system. The prominent

databases available in the area of patents were evaluated and the data compiled is

presented in the following paragraphs. Among the various databases available for

chemical sciences as well as other areas of technology, the Delphion database was

evaluated for the period from 2003 to 2008 for patent filings in US, EP and PCT/WIPO

patent offices. The data compiled is presented in detail as Appendix 1. The areas

covered in the analysis were automotive industries, chemical sciences based industries,

pharmaceutical and drugs, electronics, medical devices, telecommunication,

biotechnology, etc.

From the table given in Appendix 1, it is analyzed that in every sector of knowledge,

wherever invention takes place, patent filing is also prominently reported. The

automotive industry is also at leading scale and many industries like Ford Motors,

General Motors USA, Toyota Motors, Honda Motors Japan are innovating their

products and also filing patents to avoid infringement and to protect technologies.

Patent analysis from the period 2003-2008 revealed that assignees are filing patents and

the growth is also reported to be increasing.

The electronic industry is also developing very fast. Earlier the designs and programs

were covered under IPR-copyright, but due to its specialization and automation, these

aspects are covered under patents and are protected. In electronics, Phillips, Netherland;

Hitachi, Toshiba, Japan; Sony, Matsushita, Honeywell, General Electric co, USA are

leading. They have also filed many patents in electronics and its filing is also

increasing. Industries in the area of telecommunication like Siemens; Nokia, Finland;

Nippon, Japan are also leading patent filers. However Siemens is a world class industry

compared to others.

Medical sciences and the associated industrial sectors in these areas have also shown

increasing trend in patent filing in which USA is a leading country and prominent

97

industries are Boston Scientific, Stryker Corp, Medtronics, etc. In various studies, it is

reflected that there is a continuous growth in patent filing in all sectors.

The growth is prominent among scientific disciplines like biotechnology, environmental

sciences, chemical, pharmaceutical and drug sciences. These types of industries are

mainly concerned with consumer products. The growth in chemical, pharmaceutical

sciences is more as compared to other industries as it has a prominent place in human

life. The industrial growth and patent filing growth is continuous in this area as new

innovative products, preparation, properties or uses are brought to the notice via patents.

In chemical sciences, almost all countries are filing patents but considering the output in

the form of patent filing, few countries like USA, UK, Germany, Japan, China, France

and Korea are leading. It is noticed that major industries file more than 500-600 patents

in a year. eg Bayer Germany, Dupont USA, etc. Thus, this study and analysis indicate

the global increase in patent filing numbers irrespective of subject discipline.

Patent filings from USPTO Patent Office (database) were analyzed to check the overall

growth. The data of the USPTO for filing patents during the period 1790 to 1976 are

reported below.

Table 4.1 Growth of Patents in USPTO (1790-1976)

Year Patents filed

for the

Invention

Year Patents filed

for the

Invention

1790 03 1865 6088

1795 12 1870 12137

1800 41 1880 12903

1805 57 1890 25313

1810 223 1900 24644

98

Year Patents filed

for the

Invention

Year Patents filed

for the

Invention

1815 173 1910 35141

1820 155 1920 37060

1825 304 1930 45226

1830 544 1940 42238

1835 752 1950 43040

1840 458 1960 47170

1845 473 1970 64427

1850 883 1972 74808

1855 1881 1974 76275

1860 4357 1976 70236

(Source: US Bureau of Census (1970-1977): Historical Statistics of United States

Colonial times to 1970 (1975) and US Bureau of the Census Statistical Abstracts of

United States 1977 (98th

edition 1977). Washington: GPO.)

This indicates steady and constant growth in patent filing noticed in USA since its

inception. Similarly, the present growth in patent filings at USPTO is also indicating

rise and from 2005 to 2008 voluminous growth has been reported.

PCT (WIPO) reported number of patents filed in different countries and based on this

data they have reported top 15 countries, of the world, which are at leading position in

patent filings. The data is presented in the following table.

99

Table 4.2 PCT International Applications (2003-2007) filed by leading countries.

Country 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

estimate

2007

percent

2007

growth

United States of

America (US)

41030 43350 46803 50941 52280 33.5% 2.6%

Japan (JP) 17414 20264 24869 27033 27731 17.8% 2.6%

Germany (DE) 14662 15214 15984 16732 18134 11.6% 8.4%

Republic of Korea

(KR)

2949 3558 4688 5944 7061 4.5% 18.8%

France (FR) 5171 5184 5748 6242 6370 4.1% 2.1%

United Kingdom

(GB)

5206 5027 5084 5090 5553 3.6% 9.1%

China (CN) 1295 1706 2503 3951 5456 3.5% 38.1%

Netherlands (NL) 4479 4284 4500 4529 4186 2.7% -7.6%

Switzerland (CS) 2861 2898 3290 3577 3674 2.4% 2.7%

Sweden (CH) 2612 2851 2883 3316 3533 2.3% 6.5%

Italy (IT) 2163 2189 2349 2716 2927 1.9% 7.8%

Canada (CA) 2271 2104 2318 2566 2707 1.7% 5.5%

Australia (AU) 1680 1837 1996 2001 2054 1.3% 2.6%

Finland (FI) 1557 1672 1893 1845 1952 1.3% 5.8%

Israel (IL) 1129 1227 1454 1589 1683 1.1% 5.9%

All Others 8715 9245 10326 11084 10800 6.9% -2.6%

Total 115194 122610 136688 149156 156100 4.7%

(Source: WIPO/PCT patent filings in 2007, Geneva, February 21, 2008,

(Unprecedented Number of International PR/2008/536))

100

The analyzed data indicates growth of patents filed in different countries from the

period 2003-2007 and reports that every year there is an increase in global patent

filings. However USA, Japan, Germany, China, Korea are leading countries & France,

UK, Netherlands, Italy, Canada, Australia are next in line.

PCT (WIPO) data is also analyzed based on technological area in which patent

applications are being filed and the data is presented in the following table:

Table 4.3 Main fields of technology in which PCT applications were published (2003-

2007)

Technical Field 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Increase

Compared

with 2006

I Electricity - Electronics

1 Electrical devices,

electrical engineering,

electrical energy

7365 7568 8768 10069 11035 9.6%

2 Audio-visual technology 6057 6074 6713 7453 7759 4.1%

3 Telecommunications 10821 10441 11670 13634 15751 15.5%

4 Information technology 9917 9531 10992 13791 15109 9.6%

II Instruments

5 Semiconductors 4051 4109 4719 6111 6587 7.8%

6 Optics 2616 2563 3215 5898 5960 1.1%

7 Analysis, measurement,

control technology 11447 10869 11867 13225 13531 2.3%

8 Medical technology 8600 8877 9554 11249 11890 5.7%

9 Nuclear engineering 517 496 499 572 712 24.5%

101

Technical Field 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Increase

Compared

with 2006

III Chemicals - Materials

10 Organic fine chemistry 5225 5652 6112 6512 6082 -6.6%

11 Macromolecular chemistry,

polymers 3984 4002 4532 5904 5946 0.7%

12 Chemical engineering 3879 3702 4266 5680 5863 3.2%

13 Surface technology,

coating 3293 3326 3642 4361 4247 -2.6%

14 Materials, metallurgy 3037 3031 3252 3836 4045 5.4%

IV Pharmaceuticals -

Biotechnology

15 Biotechnology 8604 7609 7312 7413 7228 -2.5%

16 Pharmaceuticals, cosmetics 9976 9436 11090 13920 13936 0.1%

17 Agriculture and food 1660 1840 1949 2336 2309 -1.2%

V Process engineering

18 Industrial processes 5365 4909 4911 5010 5295 5.7%

19 Handling, printing 4540 4555 5401 6234 6261 0.4%

20 Agricultural and food

processing, machinery and

apparatus

1274 1334 1521 1504 1478 -1.7%

21 Materials processing,

textiles, paper 4780 4285 4763 5484 5312 -3.1%

22 Environmental technology 1314 1249 1380 1585 1780 12.3%

102

Technical Field 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Increase

Compared

with 2006

VI Machinery - Mechanics -

Transport

23 Machine tools 2485 2323 2773 3009 3132 4.1%

24 Engines, pumps, turbines 2820 2975 3205 3700 4170 12.7%

25 Thermal processes and

apparatus 1580 1542 1825 2062 2297 11.4%

26 Mechanical Components 3567 3720 4108 4748 5084 7.1%

27 Transport 4597 4883 5542 6078 6696 10.2%

28 Space technology and

weapons 494 436 536 513 507 -1.2%

VII Consumer goods - Civil

engineering

29 Consumer goods and

equipment 5757 6040 7228 8310 8629 3.8%

30 Civil engineering, building,

mining 3461 3847 3908 4399 4688 6.6%

(Source: WIPO/PCT patent filings in 2007, Geneva, February 21, 2008,

(Unprecedented Number of International PR/2008/536))

From the study of the patent filings at PCT by different countries in different

technological areas, it is noticed that all sectors of knowledge have shown growth in

patent filing. However, electronic, telecommunication, IT, medical technology,

chemicals and pharmaceuticals, nuclear energy, machinery and equipments are in front

line technologies during 2007.

The data presented by USPTO is analyzed and the patent filings by major countries are

reported in the following table. The data is evaluated for the period from 1993 to 2006.

103

Table 4.4 USPTO patent filings in different countries during 1993 to 2006

(Source: USPTO Data 2007)

Fig. 4.1 USPTO patent filings in different countries during 1993 to 2006

104

The above table has revealed that the growth of patent filing in major countries shows

upward trend.

It is found that the growth of patents in all subject areas is prominent and also gaining

importance day by day due to IPR policies. The chemical patent filings were also

analyzed to notice the development in this area. The following paragraphs deal with

patent filings in chemical sciences.

4.5 Importance of Patent Literature in Chemical Sciences:

Patents are found in every area of applied science and technology, and inventions range

from simple mechanisms to complex chemical compounds. Research is an inventing

process, new developments are constantly reported, and users need to get the

information about new practices through the literature published by the researcher.

Patent literature plays an important role in disseminating the nascent ideas to users and

hence it is a unique source of delivering scientific information. Further, patents identify

the unfamiliar technical areas where one can apply concepts for solution to a problem.

The patent literature assists in indicating growth of different technical fields and trends

among them. Patent helps in recovering the expenditure involved in R & D by

providing royalty or licensing the patents. Patents help in tagging the inventors and the

investors to develop new products. Thus patent has immense value to R & D users,

scientific staff and researchers. Identification of trends in research discipline is the main

focus. Patents are very useful to research students, engineers, planners, economist, R &

D managers, innovators, business & marketing personalities and patent attorneys, etc.

The statistical analysis of patent filings among selected countries was studied to find

quantitative trends in chemical sciences. Since few studies are reported in analyzing

patent literature up to 2000 and 2002 in few areas of S & T, this study is conducted for

patent literature filed during the period from 1997 to 2007 and in the area of chemical

sciences. The data is analyzed by collecting information from various information

resources available from patent databases (both free and paid) and the statistical data

analyzing organizations like OECD and Thomson Reuters.

105

The overall analysis of patent filing has indicated that there is an increase in all the

areas of knowledge and the chemical industries are also in leading position and the

patent filing trend is progressive.

4.6 Growth of patents in Chemical Sciences:

CAS/ACS is the main source for evaluation of growth in chemical sciences. CAS

publishes abstracts from scientific literature published throughout the world in the area

of chemical sciences from 1907. The historical development of abstracts covered from

1907-2007 is one of the pointers used for finding the developments in patent filing.

Hence, CAS information resources were consulted and data of abstracted literature was

collected for analysis purpose.

The statistical data recorded by CAS, regarding chemical patent publications, abstracted

in CA, reported during the period 1988 to 2007 are as under

Table 4.5 Year wise patent growth of chemical patents

Year Patents Increased by % Increase

% Increase

with

respect to

1988

1988 80795 - - -

1989 88099 7304 8.29 9.04

1990 91082 10287 11.29 12.73

1991 95526 14731 15.42 18.23

1992 98505 17710 17.97 21.91

1993 99411 18616 18.72 23.04

1994 107226 26431 24.64 32.71

1995 121214 40419 33.34 50.02

1996 121682 40887 33.60 50.60

106

Year Patents Increased by % Increase

% Increase

with

respect to

1988

1997 125883 45664 36.27 55.80

1998 117815 37020 31.42 45.81

1999 125393 44598 35.56 55.19

2000 146590 65795 44.88 81.43

2001 144498 63703 44.08 78.84

2002 167882 87087 51.87 107.78

2003 164344 83549 50.83 103.40

2004 173669 92874 53.47 114.95

2005 244575 163780 66.96 202.71

2006 248247 167452 67.45 207.25

2007 265637 184842 69.58 228.77

(Source: CAS statistical summary 2007.)

Fig 4.2 Year wise patent growth of chemical patents

107

The statistical analysis pointed out that the abstracted information in chemical sciences

is increasing every year. The growth in patent applications is reported to be 7 to 10 %

every year. From 1907 to 2001 CAS included about 7000000 patents and the rate of

increase per year was more than 50,000 patents per year alone in the area of chemical

sciences. Since 2000 onwards growth is continuous and more than 200000 patents are

filed per year. However the growth of patent literature in chemical sciences is also

prominent from 1988 onwards. In 1988, the growth rose from 9% to 70% in 2007

(cumulative growth is 228.77%).

Toussant (2002) predicted that patent trends in chemical sciences indicated growth.

CAS covers patent literature relevant to chemistry and chemical sciences contributing

43% of total coverage. The other areas contributing in CAS are physics 11%,

electronics 13%, textile 3% and transportation 15%. This indicated that chemical

sciences are at leading position.

However, a comparison between journal articles and patent literature abstracted in CA

from 1907-2007 are grouped in the following table alongwith % growth:

Table 4.6 Chemical Abstracts Publication Data Analysis

Publication

Period

Journal

articles

%Growth

in articles

Patents

Abstracted

% in Patents

abstracted

Avg

growth

1907 to 1918 153917 16.12 62048 5.7 increase 5171

1919 to 1929 224213 165 74662 377 increase 6787

1930 to 1940 437431 24.12 220829 82.6 decrease 20075

1941 to 1952 441309 58.53 131626 40.9 decrease 11966

1953 to 1963 1064178 130 217398 120 increase 19763

1964 to 1974 2435155 69 443366 121 increase 40306

1975 to 1985 3976226 20 723049 25 increase 65731

1986 to 1996 4969588 42 1074526 21 increase 97684

1997 to 2007 7197039 39 1924533 20 increase 174957

108

Fig. 4.3 Chemical Abstracts Publication Data Analysis

(Source: CAS Statistical summary 2008)

From the above table it is noticed that though the average growth is upward, decade

wise performance of the patent growth in chemical sciences is variable e.g. the average

growth during 1907-1929 was 31.25% whereas during 1930-1952 there was decrease in

patent filing by 67.76%. However, during 1953-1974 there was again an increase by

103.94%; during 1975-1996 there was increase in 48.61% and during 1997-2007, the

cumulative growth was 79.10%. This analysis indicates that there is a constant growth

in chemical sciences.

The analysis of patents covered in micropatent database published by Micropatents,

USA (commercial patent database) is evaluated and the data gathered is presented in the

following table. This database mainly covers the US, EP, WO, JP and DE patents form

1991. The patents in chemical sciences and organic chemistry are isolated from the

database using IPC code C07. (C= chemical sciences and C07= organic chemistry)

109

Table 4.7 Analysis of patents from Micropatent databases (1991 to 2008)

Patent

applications

covered

in country

Period of data

covered

Patents in

the area of

Chemical

sciences ( C)

Patents in

Organic

Chemistry(C07)

US Patents (US) 1991 to 2008 4,18,817 1,57,564

European

Patents(EP) 1998 to 2008 1,99,058 72,681

World

Applications

WIPO ( WO) 1998 to 2008 4,55,935 1,91,413

Japan Patents (JP) 1998 to 2008 10,33,227 1,95,829

German Patents

(DE) 1998 to 2008 32,374 5462

(Source: Data compiled from Micropatent Database)

Patents in chemical sciences including organic chemistry indicate development in patent

filings.

In Asian region, India has performed very well since past few years. The evaluation of

patent application filing in chemical sciences and in other areas in India (1995 to 2008)

is detailed in the following table.

110

Table 4.8 Patent applications Filed in various subjects in India during 1995 to 2008

year /

sub

Chemi

cal Sci

Applic

ations

filed

Drugs

Appli

cation

s

filed

Food

sci

appli

catio

ns

filed

Electric

al

Applica

tions

filed

Mechan

ical

Applica

tions

Filed

Com/E

le

applic

ations

filed

Biotec

hnol

Applic

ations

filed

General

Applica

tions

Filed

Total

Applica

tions

Filed

1995-96 1934 1000 104 1131 1599 - - 1268 7036

1996-97 1969 1124 121 1677 1656 - - 2015 8562

1997-98 2221 1481 112 2264 1760 - - 2317 10155

1998-99 2023 1555 140 1778 2125 - - 1333 8954

1999-00 840 1000 107 877 1187 - - 544 4555

2000-01 787 883 96 921 1106 - - 546 4339

2001-02 778 879 110 731 1174 - - 569 4241

2002-03 776 966 119 690 1257 - 46 562 4416

2003-04 2952 2525 123 2125 2717 - 23 2148 12613

2004-05 3916 2316 190 1079 3304 2787 1214 2659 17466

2005-06 5810 2211 101 1274 4734 5700 1525 3150 24505

2006-07 6354 3239 1223 2371 5536 5822 2774 1621 28940

2007-08 6375 4267 233 2210 6424 4842 1950 7110 35218

(Source: Annual Reports (1995-2008) published by Indian Patent Office)

111

Fig. 4.4 Patent applications Filed in various subjects in India during 1995 to 2008

The patents filed in chemical science, drugs, food science are showing steady growth.

This is an indication that the developing countries like India are also leading in

patenting activity due to globalization and collaboration. The growth as compared to

1995-96 (3038) rose by 257.96% in 2007-08 (10875) in these areas.

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The Delphion patent database is very popular and provides data on patents published in

various countries. The data is compiled from this database on aspects like total patent

filings by all prominent countries of the world covering all sectors of knowledge.

Separate data is also compiled for the patents filed in chemical sciences alone. This data

is compiled using the IPC code i.e “C” for chemical sciences. This data is further

refined for organic chemistry patent coverage using the IPC code “C07”. The chemical

patent filing data is compiled using country code. The data is compiled for a period of

10 years. This database is user-friendly and helps in getting appropriate data, using

different searching elements. The span for the study is covered from 1964 to 2007.

Table 4.9 Chemical sciences patent data analyzed from Delphion Patent database (1964

to 2007)

Country / Year 1964-1976 1977-1986 1987-1996 1997-2007

All

(Complete Knowledge) 4268485 8420041 1150565 19486806

All ( Chemistry) 1056996 1879649 2215849 3545836

Organic chemistry 422077 660885 752574 1244075

INPADOC 302371 477633 423689 683604

USA (US) 60357 56928 71874 114027

European (EP) 0 10655 29639 44487

Japanese (JP) 41733 113158 148242 163735

WIPO (WO) 0 2511 33194 159710

German (DE) 17616 31981 45986 78512

ARIPO (AP) 1 20 621 4746

EAPO (EA) 0 0 18 6746

OAPI (OA) 492 665 632 2621

AT (Austria) 12409 18094 18170 31121

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Country / Year 1964-1976 1977-1986 1987-1996 1997-2007

AU (Australia) 8017 23803 51681 98818

BE (Belgium) 31234 12236 1033 577

CA (Canada) 6069 21327 38235 71754

CH (Sweden) 22249 13220 1503 247

CN (China) 0 550 14688 98653

CS/CZ (Czech) 3432 11589 10414 11739

DK (Denmark) 9749 25418 22945 16222

ES (Spain) 11948 54042 21956 29033

FI (Finland) 3618 15747 24080 5067

FR (France) 50282 41468 13353 10458

GB (UK) 35736 40368 11145 9680

HU (Hungary) 3007 8067 22333 27873

IN (India) 631 1400 1696 2030

IT (Italy) 3366 13614 6867 3139

KR (Korea) 0 5618 11827 28078

NL (Netherlands) 34342 16891 4512 2955

NZ (New Zealand) 0 4339 9212 11671

PL (Polish) 2571 12606 8289 14952

RO (Romania) 1158 4730 1387 1043

RU / SU (Russia) 8427 15206 10041 16554

ZA (S. Africa) 6859 12984 14318 11888

(Source: Delphion Patent database)

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Fig. 4.5 Graphical display of the chemical Patent publications in various countries

From the analysis it is noticed that there is a growth in patents as well as patent

databases developed specially for patent literature and it also provides precise

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information. Since demand for patent information is increasing, the patent databases in

special subject areas are also increasing e.g. Delphion, Micropatent, Dolphin, CAS,

Drugpat. This is a clear indication of patent growth in chemical scienecs all over the

world.

From the USPTO data, it is revealed that patents filed during the period 1790 to 1890

were 4,28,622. But the growth of patent is alarming and during the period 1891 to 2005,

the number of patents published were 64,39,930. (USPTO, 2008). Considering the area

of chemical sciences, the USPTO data was evaluated and the following table describes

the patents filed from 1977 to 1992 (Pre 1993) & 1993 to 2006.

Table 4.10 Chemical patents granted by USPTO for prominent countries (1977 to

2006)

(Source: USPTO, 2007. Technology assessment and forecasting report)

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Fig. 4.6 Patents granted by USPTO for prominent countries from 1977 to 2006

USPTO grants patents to non residents and prominent countries in this area are listed.

These are top countries among the patent filing countries. Among these, US, Japan,

Germany, UK and France are the leading countries. Korea entered late; still it is listed

among top countries. The patent data filed up to 1993 and from 1993 to 2006 indicated

that in case of USA there is an increase in patent filing and around 36% growth is seen

per year. Similarly in other countries, number of patents filed has almost doubled. The

statistical analysis indicates that the patent filing in chemical sciences is ever increasing.

The data collected form WIPO patent statistics for the patent filings in Chemical

sciences in general are presented in the following table.

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Table 4.11 Chemical Patent Filings from WIPO (2001 to 2006)

Chemical Sciences 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Organic fine

chemistry 64170 64026 59622 59835 63317 63981

Biotechnology 45573 47576 44632 41993 40861 43047

Pharmaceuticals 69355 69160 66050 68650 74254 83521

Macromolecular

chemistry, polymers 41842 38615 36656 36108 38137 37086

Food chemistry 21296 23535 24850 23110 24653 25610

Basic materials

chemistry 51058 48418 46106 45508 48040 49441

Materials,

metallurgy 39882 37451 36813 35579 37705 38988

Surface technology,

coating 41086 39478 39894 41208 42437 41491

Micro-structural and

nano-technology 3425 2770 2994 2967 3357 3332

Chemical

engineering 51319 48148 46306 44906 44845 44580

Environmental

technology 29889 28718 28636 28365 28650 27903

Total Chemistry

Patents 4,58,895 4,47,895 4,32,559 4,28,229 4,46,256 4,58,980

Organic Chemistry

Total 2,05,879 2,05,139 1,96,628 1,97,103 2,10,264 2,22,553

(Source: http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/statistics/patents/)

From the analysis of patent filings it is noticed that although chemical sciences are

leading in patent filings, the share of organic chemistry as one of the main components

in chemical sciences is nearly 50%. The remaining 50% is covered by different areas in

chemical sciences like biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, macromolecular chemistry,

polymers, food chemistry, materials chemistry, chemical engineering and

environmental sciences & technology etc. Similarly the data from EPO is also evaluated

from 2005 to 2009 and represented in the following table.

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Table 4.12 Data from EPO Annual Reports 2005 to 2009

Subject Area IPC Code 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Inorganic Chemistry

C01 to

C05 1677 1800 1878 2074 1994

Organic Chemistry C07 7141 8200 8743 9023 8411

Orgnaic Molecular

Compounds C08 3331 3709 3835 4001 3681

Dyes and Petroleum

C09 to

C11 12613 2777 2920 3099 3894

Total 128679 135183 140725 146561 134542

(Source: www.epo.org/annual-reports/2005/statistics.html)

Fig. 4.7 Data from EPO Annual Reports 2005 to 2009

From the data it is revealed that EPO patent filings are indicating upward trend from

2005 to 2008, but in 2009 there was a slight deviation towards decreasing side. This is

due to the economic recession all over the world along with many other factors like

technological downfall, political, social, and economical fluctuations etc. This might

have been the cause of downtrend in patent filing, and it is predicted that it may restore

to its original form from 2010 onwards.

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The above studies and analyses reveal that the growth in patent filing is increasing

globally. Since 2005, the growth in patents has doubled due to factors like globalization,

commercialization, technological developments, etc.

4.7 Patent Trends in Scientific Area:

Patent is one of the intellectual property rights, playing a vital role in scientific area of

the research. Patents are the documents, which have two aspects, legal and technical.

Hence this is a very unique information resource, which gives protection to the

invention in a country by a legal method.

From 1883 to 1959, the growth of patents was reported as 1.99%. During this period

patenting activity was more prominent in four countries viz. USA, Germany, UK and

France. From 1960 usage of patent system increased due to emergence of users from

new states or regions. Later, filing of patents in Japan and Soviet Union increased. From

1980, patent offices of USA, European Patent Offices, Republic of Korea and China

filed patents in large numbers. Among the 9 patent offices (Japan, Russia, EPO, US,

Korea, Germany, France, China), average annual growth from 1960-2005 was 3.35%.

Due to establishment of EPO in 1977, the filing of patents from Germany, France and

UK declined as many diverted to regional route for filing patents instead of using the

national route.

Since 1995, worldwide filing of patent applications has grown at an annual average rate

of 4.7% to a total of more than 1.6 million in 2005. In the area of chemical sciences, the

rate is also increasing but it is more in the pharmaceuticals, agriculture & food, and

surface technology. It is also reported that fastest growing technical fields from 2000 to

2004 were medical, audio-visual technology and information technology along with

chemical sciences. Trends in patent activity are a reflection of transition currently

occurring in worldwide industrial activity. Now a days a very high growth rate in use of

patent system is observed everywhere.

The WIPO patent report 2007 (WIPO, 2007) gives the statistical information on

worldwide patent activities and reports growth and development of the patent literature.

According to this report it is recorded that at the end of 2005 there were approximately

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5.6 million patents in force worldwide. The patents granted worldwide have increased at

an average rate of 3.6% and reached to about 6,00,000 patents in 2005. Among the 5.6

Million patents in force in 2005, 49% patents were owned by the applicants from

countries like Japan and USA, and then followed by the European countries.

Asian economies were main factors responsible for highest recorded patent growth in

2007 with China, Japan and South Korea accounting for more than a quarter of new

registrations. (WIPO, 2007). China saw a 38.1% rise in the number of new patents over

the year 2006. The United States remains the world's leader, with an estimated 52,280

patents recorded in 2007, followed by Japan with 27,731. On a global basis, the number

of new patents reached a record of 156,100 (increase by 4.7%) from 2006. Asian rival,

India came up with 6354 new patents in 2007 compared to 840 in 1999.

The top 20 patent offices, according to the total number of fillings in 2005, were Japan,

USA, China, Korea, EPO, Germany, Canada, Russia, Australia, UK, India, France,

Brazil, Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Poland, Thailand and Israel. The

largest number of patents granted worldwide originates from residents of Japan, USA,

Korea, Germany and France. These accounts for 74% of patents granted worldwide in

2005. In 2005, from the 5.6 million patents in force worldwide, 90% are accounted from

the patent offices of USA, Japan, Germany, Republic of Korea, UK, France, Spain,

China, Canada, Russia. From this information it is found that Japan, USA, Germany,

UK, France, Russia, Korea/China are the main countries contributing to patents.

The statistical information of patents is very alerting and hence this area is very popular

for carrying out research studies to find the development in chemical sciences and

compare the various aspects of patent as a prominent information resource to the

researchers.

The publication data of Chemical Abstracts since 1907 indicated that the abstracts

covered in CA are progressive in abstracting patent literature. It has increased from

55441 in 1977 to 265637 in 2007 (379.13% growth) (CAS, 2007). This indicator in

chemical sciences is measured as quantifiable aspect in considering the development in

patent literature. Biglu (2008) rightly pointed out that one of the most reliable ways to

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track S & T activities is the study of scientific literature, which consists of periodical

articles, forms of scientific literature like patents, reviews and citations to literature etc.

The scientific literature is a mechanism for dissemination and archiving of research as

well as an object of study. Analysis of this data gives information on scientific

orientation and development of country as well as its participation in S & T worldwide.

Measuring the IPR activities especially in patents and patenting activities is also

essential to track developments. Such studies help in monitoring the patent trend

activities, which are now possible due to availability of improved quality data and

access to it and hence it is getting importance in the recent years. Patent data is also now

available in electronic media and it is possible to analyze this data in various aspects to

judge the trends and indicators of scientific output and information flow.

From the analysis of different patent information sources it is noticed that there is

increasing awareness of patent filings all over the world in all subject areas including

chemical sciences and the information resources are also known to the users and

information professionals very well because of the need to search information required

in R & D organizations. This study proves the hypothesis „There is a growing

awareness of significance of patents and related published literature in chemical

sciences‟.

References:

1. Biglu, M.H.(2008). Scientiometric study of Patent literature in medicine. In H.

Kretschmer & F Havemann (Eds) Proceedings of WIS 2008, Berlin,4th

International

Conference on webometrics and scientiometrics. Accessed at http://creative

commons.org/lisences/by/2.0 ( Accessed on 20 Feb 2008)

2. Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS). (2007). Statistical Summary, 2007. Columbus:

Author.

3. Delphion. Patent database. Accessed at http://www.delphion.com/ (Accessed on 25th

March 2010).

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4. History of Chemistry. Accessed at http://www.columbia.edu/itc/chemistry/chem-

c2507/navbar/chemhist.html ( accessed on 2 Jan 2010)

5. Indian Patent Office (IPO). Annual Reports of Indian Patent Office (1995-2007)

6. Micropatent database. Accessed at http://www.micropat.com/static/index.htm.

(Accessed on 20th April 2010.)

7. Sukh Dev.(1979). „Chemistry, Chemical industry and Chemists in India‟. Journal of

Indian Chemical Society, 56, 1-6

8. Toussant, M.J.(2002). Trends and impacts in chemical patent Information.

Symposium on impact of American Inventors Protection Act (AIPA) 9th

April 2002

CAS. Accessed at

http://acscinf.org/docs/meetings/223nm/presentations/223nm48.pdf. (Accessed on

21st February 2010.)

9. US Bureau of Census (1970-1977): Historical Statistics of United States Colonial

times to 1970 (1975) and US Bureau of the Census Statistical Abstracts of United

States 1977 (98th

edition 1977). Washington: GPO.

10. USPTO (2007). Technology Assessment and Forecasting Report. (2007). Chemical

Classes 1977 to 2006. Accessed at www.uspto.gov. (Accessed on 2 Jan 2010)

11. Wikipedia. Chemical Industry. Accessed at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry.( accessed on 2 Jan 2010)

12. Wikipedia. History of Chemistry. Accessed at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry.( accessed on 2 Jan 2010)

13. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). (2007 & 2008). The International

Patent System in 2007 & 2008. PCT Yearly Review: Developments and

Performance. Accessed at http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/activity/pct_2008.html.

(Accessed on 22nd April 2010).