Foreign applications at the Japan Patent Office - An empirical analysis of selected growth factors

This article aims to evaluate some of the possible factors which could have had a significant role in the increase in the yearly number of foreign patent applications at the Japan Patent Office. The analysed period ranges from 1991 to 2005. In the years considered, foreign applications increased constantly while the number of domestic filings remained almost the same or even decreased. The increase is more striking when compared to analogous figures of the US Patent and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office, where the corresponding ratio did not change too much in the same period. Building on previous literature, this paper analyses the impact of some macroeconomic and structural characteristics of the extending countries, on one side, and, on the other side, some features specific to the receiving country and its Patent Office (here Japan and the JPO). This work tries to capture the relevance of such drivers in the increased amount of foreign patent applications at the JPO.     

Abridgments of British patents — The end of an era

The Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852 and the coming into being of the “modern” British Patent Office is briefly mentioned. In 1852 Bennet Woodcroft F.R.S. was appointed Superintendent of the specifications and it was his idea to publish abridgments of each patent specification so that searches could be readily conducted in the Patent Office Library (or at home if the abridgments were purchased). The four series of abridgments covering the years from 1617 (or earlier in some cases) to the present day are described. Patent applications currently being published under the Patents Act 1977 contain abstracts of the specification on their front pages and there are several important differences between these abstracts and all the earlier series of abridgments. These differences are discussed and commented on and it is found that there are both advantages and disadvantages in the new system.     

Patent backlogs at USPTO and EPO: Systemic failure vs deliberate delays

This paper first describes the so-called patent backlogs and assesses the extent to which they might affect the examination process in major patent offices. Second it puts forward that the root causes of these backlogs in Europe and in the US are different. The backlog at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is three times larger than one at the European Patent Office (EPO) and is essentially due to very low fees and a weak rigor of the examination process. The observed long pendency at the EPO is more due to applicants’ strategic filing behaviors that aim at delaying the grant date, as it marks the start of high expenses due to translation requirements and multiple validation or renewal fees. Since the root causes of backlogs diverge between EPO and USPTO, their cure should also be different.     

The technical information provided by the European Patent Office

The search documentation of the European Patent Office at the Hague is essentially used in view of the tasks carried out within the framework of the European Patent Convention and the PCT and also for the preparation of search reports with respect to national applications filed in France, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Turkey. Moreover the general public can indirectly benefit from this search documentation through the standard or special search services. The standard searches are carried out on the basis of granted patents or patent applications (published or not) in compliance with the guidelines established for the European searches; the standard search report is identical to the European search report. The special services of the EPO encompass searches on: the state of the art, infringement, inventories, monographs, designed to respond to a great variety of needs.In the near future, the EPO will provide a direct access to its technical information through EURONET.     

Interactive overlay maps for US patent (USPTO) data based on International Patent Classification (IPC)

We report on the development of an interface to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that allows for the mapping of patent portfolios as overlays to basemaps constructed from citation relations among all patents contained in this database during the period 1976–2011. Both the interface and the data are in the public domain; the freeware programs VOSViewer and/or Pajek can be used for the visualization. These basemaps and overlays can be generated at both the 3-digit and 4-digit levels of the International Patent Classification (IPC) of the world intellectual property organization (WIPO). The basemaps can provide a stable mental framework for analysts to follow developments over searches for different years, which can be animated. The full flexibility of the advanced search engines of USPTO are available for generating sets of patents and/or patent applications which can thus be visualized and compared. This instrument allows for addressing questions about technological distance, diversity in portfolios, and animating the developments of both technologies and technological capacities of organizations over time.     

Chinese patent applications reach six figures in 1996

Since the Chinese Patent Office started accepting patent applications on 1 April 1985, the yearly patent application number has increased steadily, although a sluggish period appeared later. The Office expected to reach the 100,000 year mark in the last year of the century, that also will be the end of the national “Ninth Five-year Plan” period. However, the promotion of science and technology and the sustained and rapid economic growth in the country have shown China to be a huge potential market, and this has contributed to a recent sharp increase in patent applications both from home and abroad. The number of applications filed in 1996 reached 102,735, 23.7% higher than the total number of 83,044 made in 1995. Of the 1996 applications, 80% came from domestic applicants and 20% were of foreign origin. The Chinese Patent Office granted 43,780 patents in the same year. A faster examination process of better quality and a more efficient overall administration procedure were scheduled at the Patent Office in order to cope with the new challenge.     

Patent information from the Polish Patent Office

The Polish Patent Office activity within the scope of its patent information policy—with emphasis on the changes since the 1990s—is described. In addition to aspects of patent searching, such as documentation and databases, dissemination activities, for example education and training, and the role of Patent Information Centres, is covered. New challenges associated with the promotion of intellectual property protection and its role for the economy are also highlighted.     

The classification of plants in the United States Patent Classification system

More than 11 100 plant patents have been granted US Patent and Trademark Office since 1931. The system for classifying such patents for efficient retrieval is a specialized part of the United States Patent Classification. It is described here under the following topics: purpose, the classification schedule, schedule organisation, relationship to design and utility patent classification, class definition, search notes, line notes, hierarchy, and special features of plant patents, such as coloration and the effect of commercial or market practice. The article then considers placement rules for consistent classification of such patents, searching for a patented plant, and aids for such searching. Illustrative examples of the schedule, and of the placement of and retrieval of plant patents are provided.     

Japanese submarine patents: examined patents within a year of filing!

Changes to the criteria for accelerated examination in the Japanese Patent Office have resulted in some examined applications never appearing as A documents, being first published as B1 documents, often very quickly. The article explores the implications of this change for all involved in searching and using Japanese patent information. For example, coverage of these patents is very sparse outside of Japanese-language commercial patent databases. In addition, they are granted almost exclusively to Japanese applicants. They are concentrated in electronics and telecommunications. Numbers at present are about 7000 annually.     

The international preliminary examination of patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty — a proxy for patent value?

One way to achieve international patent protection is to file patents via the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The application process therein can be divided into two phases, those represented by chapters I and II of the PCT. According to the literature, patent applications filed via chapter II of the Treaty tend to be more valuable. The results presented in this paper suggest that in general this assumption is not justified. The analyses further revealed that for practitioners seeking fast patent protection at the European Patent Office (EPO) via the PCT, the choice should be chapter II of the PCT, with the EPO as preliminary examination authority.