Corporate management of patents: Role of the industrial librarian

This paper is directed for the most part to the Corporate Management of Patents, from a technical information viewpoint. The librarian, who is seldom the direct user of patents, should become knowledgeable in the rich resources of patent data. Technology transfer can be accomplished by the engineer and scientist having the complete picture, which the librarian offers in response to a search request. The General Electric Company is used as an example of corporate patent management. The author prepared two surveys. Major library schools were questioned on whether courses in Patent Information are part of the curriculum requirements of a special librarian. The other survey directed itself to several dozen major industrial libraries in the United States on patent handling and management. The results of these surveys are given. Although there are over 30 patent depositories in the United States (see Appendix I), the ‘average’ research librarian does not make complete use of these depositories. In some cases, the survey indicated they were unaware of these data sources.The paper describes several key patents within the General Electric Company supported by library research, and specifically, man-made diamonds. On-line retrieval systems, where patent license data is offered by NASA and DTIC, are an example of sources available to the aerospace librarian, and the paper concludes with a forecast of how libraries and special libraries will retrieve patents and patent applications before the next century commences.     

Patent citation analysis: A policy analysis tool

Patent citation analysis is a recent development which uses bibliometric techniques to analyse the wealth of patent citation information. This paper describes the various facets of patent citations and patent citation studies, and their important applications. Construction of technology indicators being an important use of patent citations, various patent citation based technological indicators and their applications are also described.     

Profitability decided by patent quality? An empirical study of the U.S. semiconductor industry

The investment in research and development (R&D) for semiconductor industry is never small as the technology cycle time (TCT) is relatively short comparing to other industries, thus a semiconductor company requires lots of technological innovations and capital offerings to maintain. The semiconductor industry contributes primarily part of the micro-electronic industries. Advancing technology and patent application are the centre of attention within the semiconductor sector. This research examines the relationship between patent quality and the profits a patent creates for a company in this selected field. This study distinguishes itself from prior research by including cross-sectional data, time series data to simultaneously collect and analyze. The study result shows that some indicators of patent quality are statistically significant to return on assets.     

A relationship between technology indicators and stock market performance

One of the main objectives of technology analyses is to understand how investing intechnological innovation can have commercial benefits. However, empirical studies of therelationship between investments in technology and subsequent economic performance arerelatively scarce. This paper provides such an analysis by demonstrating how quantitative R&Dand technology indicators may be used to forecast company stock price performance. The purposeof the analysis is to utilize a unique patent database, and the science and technology indicatorsdeveloped from the data therein, to explore this issue of technological competence and economicperformance.The underlying concept behind this study is that the quality of a company's technology isreflected in its patent portfolio. Previous research has shown that a company with a largepercentage of influential patents is much more likely to be technologically successful than acompany with weaker patents. The analysis presented here reveals that such a company is alsomore likely to be successful in capital markets.     

Collections of patent documentation and the way Soviet specialists need them

The patent documentation system of the USSR comprise collections at four levels: the very comprehensive collections of the All-Union Patent-Technical Library (VPTB); industry branch oriented files; regional files; and local files of organization and factories. The files of VPTB form the basis for producing abstracts in Russian of foreign inventions, for microfilming industrial designs and utility models of several countries and for issuing various reference and information retrieval publications. The other three categories of files serve, as their names suggest, the needs of specific branches or organizations or are all-purpose files serving a whole region. The system of patent files is continuously upgraded as regards its functions and the services offered. The philosophy governing this as well as techniques for selecting patent documents to be required are described in the article. As in many other countries, there are no libraries in the USSR which exclusively collect files of patent documents (with the exception of the libraries of patent and invention offices). Until recently the All-Union Patent-Technical Library (VPTB) has been practically the sole establishment of this kind. In the early sixties, however, the facilities and collections of VPTB proved to be insufficient to satisfy the public requirements for patent documentation, rapidly growing in this country. This period was marked by efforts directed towards the creation of regional and sectorial files ofm patent documents for the specialists in industry and science. When these files were created the nature, purpose and peculiar features of industrial property documents was fully taken into account. At the same time, important decisions were taken, concerning the setting up of the State system of patent documentation files, the problems of controlling the process of forming the files became highly important. In the system of patent documentation being established, the industry branch oriented and regional files collected within the central bodies of scientific and technical information (STI) have become the major components. They provide facilities for conducting thorough patent searches to specialists of the industrial ministries and organizations of the country, irrespective of where the enterprise or organization is located. At the present stage, the structural arrangement of the patent documentation system is represented by collections at four levels: The first or higher level — VPTB. The collections here comprehensively represent the files of domestic and foreign patent documents over an unlimited period of time. The second level — industry branch oriented files; they cover exhaustively their respective industry sectors, mainly backlogged over the period of renewal of industrial products; they are primarily represented by patent documents of the countries where the industry sector of interest is highly developed. The third level — regional files, of all-purpose character. They are compiled of patent documentation of the major industrially or economically developed nations and offer facilities for conducting various comprehensive patent-related studies, including patent clearance searches. The fourth level — local files of organizations and factories compiled according to their specific needs; the period, fields and countries covered — all this is determined in accordance with the general layout of the respective branch-oriented file; local files are thus the source of specialized scientific and technical information of the organization or factory concerned.     

Patent Statistics as Indicators of Competition an Analysis of Patenting in Biotechnology

Numbers of patents cannot indicate the state of research or the contents of patent documentation cannot indicate the true technological features achieved. Patent statistics though so used, is not a good indicator of the economic returns to investments in research. Use of this statistics for understanding the degree of competition and the competition-driven research strategy is attractive. A patent document is part of the public knowledge in such a way as to restrict the growth of the future public knowledge. This portent on the future content of research and on the number and areas of research, by a current application is a competition-defining aspect. This effect on the lagged future applications and accepting patent disclosure as an intentional strategic data — are the most significant characteristics of patent statistics. The present paper applied this understanding, and generated a number of indices derived from data bases on patenting. These are indicators on Competition, Technology Pool, Language Technology Pool, Modified Competition, Market Attractiveness and on the Strength of Patent Market. Values of these indicators for biotechnological research and for several countries have been derived as example.     

Exploring the validity of patent applications as an indicator of Chinese competitiveness and market structure

An increasing number of studies are using either worldwide Chinese patent applications as an indicator to assess the country’s international competitiveness or applications at the Chinese SIPO as an indicator of the internal structure of innovative activities on its domestic market. Whenever such macro level studies are presented, however, many practitioners tend to express disbelief regarding the validity of patent indicators in this emerging market, where IPR protection is perceived to play a role that differs strongly from that in other economies. This paper, therefore, compares the structure of both patent applications at the Chinese national office and global applications by Chinese inventors. Moreover, it contrasts Chinese application activities with those of other nations. On this basis, it analyses if there is evidence of different underlying motivations for and logics of application that would substantiate such doubts. It concludes that, following WTO accession, the Chinese technology market is finding its specific equilibrium but retains certain persistent particularities. Global filings of Chinese applicants, in contrast, remain biased towards the few major firms that can compete at the world markets for technology.     

基于专利分析的袋包装技术

目的分析近30年国内外袋包装技术专利的发展态势和专利特点,提出产业发展建议。方法通过Incopat数据库检索1985—2015年袋包装技术专利,采用专利分析方法解读袋包装技术领域的国内外申请态势、国家分布等,分析国内外重点申请人的专利发展特点,掌握中国申请人的区域分布情况。结果袋包装技术国外专利发展平缓,中国专利申请量近年来发展十分迅猛,全球专利申请人前10位虽然是国外企业,但优势不明显;已有中国企业在个别技术分支中进入10强。结论针对分析的情况,建议政府管理部门引导资金扶持,推动建立产业联盟,使中国企业的技术实力和市场竞争力进一步提升。     

Early identification of technological advances on the basis of patent data

The publication of patent applications by the patent offices is the first information available about new technologies. But patent statistics are often distorted due to the exceedingly great number of domestic applications field in Japan and the delayed publication of patent applications filed in the USA. These distortions can be eliminated to a great extent if only those patent applications are considered for which external applications are also included. Patent indicators allow for a differentiated observation of technological advances before the actual emergence of an innovation. Recent developments in superconductivity provide an example.     

On the supplementary functions of science and technology indicators

Starting from a simple phase model for scientific and technological progress the supplementary functions of various science and technology indicators are discussed. In particular, patent and literature indicators in the field of telecommunicationsR&D in West Germany are presented and compared. In addition, a few selected technometric,R&D expenditure, and trade data are included for the sake of completeness. This network of science and technology indicators is employed to analyse the institutional set up and the trends in telecommunicationsR&D on the macro-level (national level) as well as for singleR&D actors (institutional or micro-level). Further, the role of academic and other publicR&D in West Germany, including the regional distribution of activities and the specialization with respect to telecommunication subfields, are assessed. It is concluded that the various science and technology indicators — at least in the case of West German telecommunications —supplement each other. Synergisms between indicators do exist and should be explored better in future work. The case of telecommunications is ideal for such an exploratory assessment as it includes basic and applied research as well as strong industrial development activities.     

Science and technology in the region: The output of regional science and technology, its strengths and its leading institutions

Summary We operationalize scientific output in a region by means of the number of articles (as in the SciSearch database) per year and technology output by means of the number of patent applications (as in the database of the European Patent Office) per priority year. All informetric analyses were done using the DIALOG online-system. The main research questions are the following: Which scientific and technological fields or topics are most influent within a region and which institutions or companies are mainly publishing articles or holding patents? Do the distributions of regional science and technology fields and of publishing institutions follow the well-known informetric function? Are there - as it is expected - only few fields and few institutions which dominate the region? Is there a connection between the economic power of a region and the regional publication and patent output? Examples studied in detail are seven German regions: Aachen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Köln (Cologne), Leipzig - Halle - Dessau, München (Munich), and Stuttgart. Three different indicators were used, science and technology attraction of a region (number of scientific articles and patents), science and technology intensity (articles and patents per 1,000 inhabitants), and science and technology density (articles and patents per 1 billion EURO gross value added). Top region concerning both attraction and intensity is Munich, concerning density it is Aachen.     

Using patent statistics as knowledge base indicators in the biotechnology sectors: An application to France,Germany and the U.K.

In order to formulate firm, national or regional technology policy, it is necessary to have indicators that can measure technological competence. This paper develops a set of indicators using patent statistics to compare the “knowledge base” of individuals, laboratories, firms or nations. These indicators are then applied to the patent applications in France, Germany and the U.K. in the biotechnology sectors. The paper shows that France is lagging behind Germany and the U.K. in technology stocks (or its patent applications) in all biotechnology fields. However it is the leader in the technology network supporting the foods industry. It has a comparative advantage in terms of either technology stock counts or networks in Genetic Engineering, Pharmaceuticals, Foods, Chemicals, Cell Culture and Biocatalysis. Germany is leading in many sectors, but in all sectors in which it is a leader, it is a specialized leader, i.e. its technology networks need to be more extensive. It has a comparative advantage in terms of either technology stock counts or networks in all sectors except Genetic Engineering, Pharmaceuticals, Agriculture and Cell Culture. The U.K. is the leader in the important field of Genetic Engineering and in terms of the entire technology networks in the biotechnology sectors. It has a comparative advantage in terms of either technology stock counts or networks in Genetic Engineering, Pharmaceuticals, Agriculture and Purification. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Analysis of developing a specific technological field using the theme code of Japanese patent information

The paper was to establish an easy and effective method to investigate and develop a specific technological field from Japanese patent information. The walking technique of the biped humanoid robot was used as an example to study the relative research capabilities and patent citation conditions for patent owners and patent map by the searching method of the theme code for FI (File Index) and F-term classification system of the Japanese Patent Office (JPO). A formulated technical matrix of patent map was established to indicate that the ZMP (Zero Moment Point) control means was the main technology to achieve stabilized walking control of the humanoid biped robot. This method can aid to establish a specific technological matrix from the specific selected term codes (single viewpoint or multiple viewpoints) of the F-term list in the theme code of the JPO system through Boolean logical operations. The resulting particular technical fields were developed to improve the technological capability or seek the merging technology opportunities.     

Patents as potential indicators of the utility of EC research programmes

In the framework of the MONITOR-SPEAR programme of the Commission of the European Communities a critical review of the literature with regard to the utility of patent indicators being in use for evaluation world-wide has been undertaken. Availability, scope and complementarity of these indicators are discussed. A practical tool to use patent indicators for evaluation committees of EC programmes is designed and recommendations for EC procedures are given.The suggested procedures will be implemented alongside three sample exercises. One of the exercise programmes is science-led (BEP and BAP), one industry-led (BRITE I) and one interphase (MHR). In this paper only selected examples with respect to the MHR programme are outlined and discussed.The project is not completed yet and only preliminary findings will be given in this paper. From the viewpoint of its present state it is concluded that patent indicators may play a very useful role within a mixed set of evaluation procedures. The intersection with other methods is not very large, that is, patent indicators may provide supplementary information to a large extent. However, their use is limited to those types of programmes which are relevant for intellectual property rights mostly in the commercial realm. Patent indicators share with other evaluation tools the problem of best adjustment of time windows between observation and execution of the programme. Despite of these limitations, patent indicators may be employed properly as output indicators related to ongoing EC programmes, but as well for propective analysis of applied fields of R & D and may thus help in the definition phase of new R & D programmes.This work has been sponsored by the MONITOR programme of the Commission of the European Communities.     

Discovering and assessing fields of expertise in nanomedicine: a patent co-citation network perspective

Discovering and assessing fields of expertise in emerging technologies from patent data is not straightforward. First, patent classification in an emerging technology being far from complete, the definitions of the various applications of its inventions are embedded within communities of practice. Because patents must contain full record of prior art, co-citation networks can, in theory, be used to identify and delineate the inventive effort of these communities of practice. However, the use patent citations for the purpose of measuring technological relatedness is not obvious because they can be added by examiners. Second, the assessment of the development stage of emerging industries has been mostly done through simple patent counts. Because patents are not all valuable, a better way of evaluating an industry’s stage of development would be to use multiple patent quality metrics as well as economic activity agglomeration indicators. The purpose of this article is to validate the use of (1) patent citations as indicators of technological relatedness, and (2) multiple indicators for assessing an industry’s development stage. Greedy modularity optimization of the ‘Canadian-made’ nanotechnology patent co-citation network shows that patent citations can effectively be used as indicators of technological relatedness. Furthermore, the use of multiple patent quality and economic agglomeration indicators offers better assessment and forecasting potential than simple patent counts.     

JOINING METHODS FOR CARBON-CARBON COMPOSITE STRUCTURES

High temperature carbon-carbon composites (C-C) are increasingly used in both aerospace and commercial products. Hypersonic missiles, reusable reentry vehicles such as the space shuttle and National Aerospace Plane, aircraft brakes, and hot section jet engine components are a few examples. As costs decline with increasing volume usage, C-C will find other applications, such as biomedical products. For the present and near future, major applications will be for high temperature structures operating at temperatures above 2,000 F

A problem with composites of any type, polymeric as well as C-C, is finding efficient ways for their structural attachment. This is particularly difficult for elevated temperature C-C structures. Metal fasteners have been used in some designs. In applications where weight and resistance to hypersonic loads are critical, fasteners are often only a marginal solution. Materials Innovation Laboratories (MIL) has developed a family of joining techniques for C-C- This technology is new and mechanical property data is not yet available, although optical metallography and SEM examinations indicate that the joint properties should be adequate for use in several aerospace applications.     

Reaping the Benefits of Patenting Activities: Does the Size of Patentees Matter?

This paper is based upon a survey on a regional sample of Italian inventors who, between 1991 and 2005, were named in patent applications filed at the European Patent Office. Their features and patenting activities are examined in relation to the size of their organizations. Compared to those from medium and large companies, the inventors working in small firms are less productive in terms of patent applications. However, according to different indicators, it emerges that there is no difference in the average quality of patented inventions of the two groups. Nevertheless, one-third of small applicants evaluates negatively its patenting experience, while this is true for only a tiny fraction of larger patentees. On the basis of further interviews, we find that these assessments are particularly influenced by the different capacity to enforce patent rights.     

Novel mixed-encoding for forecasting patent grant duration

In an age when data is regarded as the most essential commodity, organizations are racing to use it for better decision making. The quality of the patent portfolio is an important indicator of technological innovation in an organization and its analysis can reveal several indicators linked to the growth of a company. The advancement of machine learning along with the access to large amounts of patent data has led to a paradigm shift from traditional patent data analysis methodologies to novel approaches. A lot of research has been done in this direction for analysing data on patent citations, patent text, IPC class etc. However, much less has been explored regarding the forecast of patent grant duration and its significance for decision making with an even lower focus on data collected from developing countries. This work is built upon our existing study on patent grant duration prediction by devising a novel methodology of encoding the data using a combination of augmented one-hot encoding and label-encoding. Thereafter, methodologies such as Outlier Detection have been applied to this data to yield an improved result vis-à-vis our baseline results. In addition, we identify some of the important factors which impact the decision on grant duration of patent applications using the raw data from the Indian Patent Office.     

Exploring the “value” of academic patents: IP management practices in UK universities and their implications for Third-Stream indicators

Third-Stream activities have become increasingly important in the UK. However, valuing them in a meaningful way still poses a challenge to science and technology analysts and policy makers alike. This paper reviews the general literature on “patent value” and assesses the extent to which these established measures, including patent citation, patent family, renewal and litigation data, can be applied to the university context. Our study examines indicators of patent value for short and mid-term evaluation purposes, rather than indicators that suffer from long time lags. We also explore the extent to which differences in IP management practices at universities may have an impact on the validity and robustness of possible indicators. Our observations from four UK universities indicate that there are considerable differences between universities as to how they approach the IP management process, which in turn has implications for valuing patents and how they track activity in this area. In their current form, data as collected by universities are not sufficiently robust to serve as the basis for evaluation or resource allocation.