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Searching patents using Espacenet
David Barford
Consultant
Ulaanbaatar
March 2015
Key points
Hosted by the European Patent Office http://worldwide.espacenet.com/?locale=en_EP
90 million patent documents
Patent family information
Legal status information
Citation information
European Patent Register
Free service; no log-in names or passwords required
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Collections and coverage
Currently, over 90 million patent documents:
International patent applications (WO documents published by WIPO under the PCT)
European patent applications (EP)
90 national collections
Five regional collections (ARIPO, EAPO, EPO, GCC, OAPI)
Coverage:
Full text of all WO and EP documents
Other collections vary eg abstracts from 1970 for many countries
Search optionsSmart search
Searches all collections
Flexible with wide choice of field identifiers and search operators
Can simply use without identifiers and operators
Advanced search
Need to select which collection is to be searched (WO, EP, Worldwide)
Has boxes corresponding to different fields
Classification search
Suggests appropriate classifications; then searches those selected
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Smart search
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Advanced search
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Classification search
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Example: search for ‘rotating building fisher’
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Seven results
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Earliest document
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A more complicated scenario
An automobile manufacturer intends to launch a new line of cars in Germany and would like to incorporate parking assist technologies into these cars.
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Scenario
Your task is to determine:
whether patent applications have been filed for parking assist technologies in Germany
what is the current status of these patent applications
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Task breakdown
Access Espacenet
Retrieve patent documents based on classification
Examine a specific patent document
Review legal status information
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Task breakdown
Access Espacenet
Retrieve patent documents based on classification
Examine a specific patent document
Review legal status information
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EPO Homepage
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EPO Homepage
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EPO Homepage
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Espacenet Portal
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Espacenet search page
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Task breakdown
Access Espacenet
Retrieve patent documents based on classification
Examine a specific patent document
Review legal status information
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Espacenet search page
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Classification search
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Classification search: Results
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Classification search: Results
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Classification search: Results
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Classification search: Results
/low: includes all "children" classifications/exact: includes only the specified classification symbol
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Classification search: Results
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Search: Results
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Scenario
The manufacturer has seen Volkswagen cars that have a system of particular interest and asks for a list of all these patents for information.
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Classification search: Results
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Advanced search interface
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Advanced search interface
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Advanced search interface
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Results
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Task breakdown
Access Espacenet
Retrieve patent documents based on classification
Examine a specific patent document
Review legal status information
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Search: Results
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Question
Where was this patent application filed?
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Record
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Question
If a patent has been granted for an invention related to parking assist technologies in the United States, can it be enforced in Germany?
No, unless an equivalent patent has been granted in Germany.
Patents are territorial in nature.
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Patent families
After filing an initial patent application, a patent applicant may file further applications while retaining the same priority date
Patent documents linked this way are members of a "patent family"
Useful for retrieving equivalent patent documents filed in different countries
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Record: Patent families
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Record: INPADOC patent family
Patent applications filed in Germany……and through the European Patent Office
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Task breakdown
Access Espacenet
Retrieve patent documents based on classification
Examine a specific patent document
Review legal status information
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Record: INPADOC patent family
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Record: Patent family member
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Record: INPADOC legal status
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Tip!
Legal status data may not always be up-to-date.
Always verify legal status data the responsible patent office before making critical decisions!
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Translations
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Translations
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Translation
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Translation
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Picture Mosaics
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Scenario
The automobile manufacturer has found a reference to a patent in the documentation of a car sold in the United States and would like you to retrieve this patent and any related patents.
The patent number is 6,223,847.
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Task breakdown
Retrieve a specific patent document
Retrieve closely related documents
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Task breakdown
Retrieve a specific patent document
Retrieve closely related documents
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Search: Advanced search interface
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Question
Is 6,223,847 an application number or a publication number?
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Search: Smart search interface
6,223,847 6223847 (or US6223847)
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Search: Results
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Record
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Record: Document
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Task breakdown
Retrieve a specific patent document
Retrieve closely related documents
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Citations
References can be made from one document to another document by:
applicants
examiners
third parties
Useful for retrieving potentially relevant documents not retrieved directly through classification or keyword search
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Record: Document
Earlier related documents
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Record: Cited documents
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Record: Cited documents
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Record: Cited documents
Later related documents
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Record: Citing documents
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More about Espacenet
Operators
Collections and coverage
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Interfaces: Smart search
Basic or command line search
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Operators
Boolean operators : AND, OR, NOT
Proximity operators
Comparison operators
Range operator
Wildcard operators
? (zero or one characters)
# (one character exactly)
* (any number of characters)
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Proximity operators (Smart search only)
Find two words within n words of each other
mouse<n trap
Find two words in the same sentence
mouse prox/unit=sentence trap
Find two words in the same paragraph
mouse prox/unit=paragraph trap
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Comparison operators (Smart search only)
all – finds all the terms listed (in any order) in the field specified
ti all “paint brush hair”
any – finds any of the terms listed in the field specified
ti any “paint hair shoe tooth”
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Comparison operators (Smart search only)
pd >= 2005 … docs published in 2005 or later
pd<= 2005 … docs published in 2005 or earlier
pd within “2005 2006” … docs published in 2005 or 2006
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Wildcard operators
Any number of characters : *electr* electric, electron, electronic …
Zero or one characters: ?forge? forge, forges, forget …
Zero or two characters: ??car?? car, cars, cart, carts … (not carpet)
One character exactly : #ri# rid, rip, rim …foc## focus, focal …
Can only be used at the end of a term
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Collections and coverage
Currently, over 90 million patent documents
International patent applications (PCT)
90 national collections
Five regional collections (ARIPO, EAPO, EPO, GCC, OAPI)
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Practical exercises using ESPACENET
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Case study 1
Your client is a manufacturer of power tools. One of his products is an electric drill incorporating a level to show when the drill is truly horizontal (sometimes called a spirit level or bubble level).
The manufacturer has a letter saying he is infringing a patent protecting this idea.
The manufacturer wishes to challenge the validity of the patent.
The patent has a filing date of 1 January 2005 and a priority date of 2 January 2004.
There are no numbered references in the discussion of prior art in the patent. Also the examining Patent Office could find only background documents which you‘ve checked and confirm are not
citable against novelty or inventive step.
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Smart search
First search: electric drill level
Result: over 200 hits
many no good, but number 15 on the list CN203003207 describes the invention
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Example - CN203003207
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Smart search
However it was published on 19 June 2013 which was too late
Check IPC on this document B23B45/02; B25F5/02
B23B45/02= electric drills, so try that
Second search: B23B45/02 AND (“spirit level” OR “bubble level”)
Result: only four hits, all describe the invention, three of them were published before 2004
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Result list
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Example
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Case study 2
The client is a bicycle manufacturer who has been developing improved bicycle frames, and wants some advice on getting a patent.
The invention might be:
the construction of the frame
the material the frame is made of
the shape of the frame.
you need to understand which features are well known (=common knowledge) and which are potentially patentable
From discussion, it transpires that her main interest is in the patentability of using magnesium alloys in bicycle frames.
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Search
Smart search: bicycle frame AND (magnesium OR Mg)
Result: over 40 hits – example on next slide
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Example
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Meeting the Client To Discuss Results
Results: There are ample results showing that it is well known to use magnesium alloys in bicycle frames
Limitations: All is not lost
% composition of magnesium in the alloy?
ranges of %-compositions (5-10% or 1-2%)
tensile strengths?
Coatings? Structure?
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Case study 3
Your client – a health institution - wishes to know whether any solutions are emerging to handle fears that cell phones are dangerous
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Search
Smart search
(cellphone or “cell phone“ or “mobile phone“) and (health or protect or shield)
Over 1800 results
Select number 4
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Result
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Search again
Smart search
(cellphone or “cell phone“ or “mobile phone“) and (health or protect or shield) and user and H01Q [=IPC for aerials]
31 results, select numbers 4 and 15
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Example from results
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Example from results
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