Artificial intelligence and patents in Brazil: Overview on patentability and comparative study on patent filings

Innovations related to artificial intelligence (AI) can impact many technological fields and gather attention of several sectors from industry. Brazil is a developing country with a large territory and consumer market, attracting investment from foreign companies, including AI technologies. In the present work, we carry out a review of the Brazilian IP Law, Guidelines and Resolutions regarding patentability of AI inventions in Brazil, and also perform comparative analyses with the guidelines from the EPO and USPTO. Then, patent searches are carried out to analyze filing indicators of patent applications for AI inventions, wherein it is possible to verify that most of the filing applicants in Brazil are foreign companies, mainly from the US. Brazilian entities, which rank second overall in filing for patent applications in Brazil, do not even appear among the main applicants for AI inventions. We conclude that Brazil is not a competitive country in the production of patents related to AI, and it is important for Brazil to establish some degree of legal certainty regarding patent protection for AI inventions and disseminate knowledge about protecting such inventions by patents, so that inventors opt to disclose their AI inventions instead of keeping them as a trade secret. Therefore, more and more sectors of society might benefit from innovations arising from AI.     

Statistical evaluation of patent applications on inventions in a field of coherent subjects as a base for R & D policy

Graphical representation of the number of patent families in the year of first filing, or of the cumulative number of patent families since a certain year, gives useful information regarding the inventions made in a field of coherent subjects. This provides R & D units with a better base for their policy than corresponding surveys of journal articles.     

Technological specialization and patenting strategies in East Asia — Insights from the electronics industry

We elicit filing strategies for patent families in China and Japan in two prominent technology fields: telecommunications and audiovisual technology. For the two destination countries we find substantial heterogeneity in filing strategies among applications from different countries. This heterogeneity cannot be explained with activities in technological subfields.     

International patent families: from application strategies to statistical indicators

This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the characteristics of international patent families, including their domestic component. We exploit a relatively under-studied feature of patent families, namely the number of patents covering the same invention within a given jurisdiction. Using this information, we highlight common patterns in the structure of international patent families, which reflect both the patenting strategies of innovators and the peculiarities of the different patent systems. While the literature has extensively used family size, i.e. the number of countries in which a given invention is protected, as a measure of patent value, our results suggest that the number of patent filings in the priority country within a patent family as well as the timespan between the first and last filings within a family are other insightful indicators of the value of patented innovations.     

Patent families: When do different definitions really matter?

Data on patent families is used in economic and statistical studies for many purposes, including the analysis of patenting strategies of applicants, the monitoring of the globalization of inventions and the comparison of the inventive performance and stock of technological knowledge of different countries. Most of these studies take family data as given, as a sort of black box, without going into the details of their underlying methodologies and patent linkages. However, different definitions of patent families may lead to different results. One of the purposes of this paper is to compare the most commonly used definitions of patent families and identify factors causing differences in family outcomes. Another objective is to shed light into the internal structure of patent families and see how it affects patent family outcomes based on different definitions. An automated characterization of the internal structures of all extended families with earliest priorities in the 1990s, as recorded in PATSTAT, found that family counts are not affected by the choice of patent family definitions in 75% of families. However, different definitions may really matter for the 25% of families with complex structures and lead to different family compositions, which might have an impact, for instance, on econometric studies using family size as a proxy of patent value.     

Using international patent data to identify and assess opportunities for technology acquisition from government research agencies

In today's environment of rapid technological change and global competition, it is becoming increasingly difficult for firms to keep up with the advances being made around the world in various high technology fields. This article illustrates how firms can make use of international patent data to identify and assess possible sources of new technology for acquisition, particularly government laboratories. The technological activities of eight French research agencies are assessed through quantitative analyses of the patent applications they filed during the 1980s. The aspects of their technological activities that are examined include: (1) the level and direction of technological activity, measured by counts of international patent families; (2) the technological significance of the work being performed, measured by the number of subsequent patent citations; and (3) the commercial potential of the work, measured by the number of foreign countries in which patent protection for the resulting inventions is sought. It is then shown how firms can interpret this data to identify the technological work of government laboratories that may be of interest for possible licensing or joint venture agreements.     

Patent families as macro level patent value indicators: applying weights to account for market differences

This paper introduces a methodology for the construction of a country level patent value indicator based on the family size of a country’s patent profile at the level of technology fields. Because individual family members target different markets and technologies have a different propensity to internationalization, family size has been shown to have a restricted power to assess the quality of patent profiles of countries. We address this gap by weighting the members of patent families filed at different patent offices before calculating the family size indicators, to account for the market potential in which the patents of these families were filed. We apply different weighting schemes and test which scheme is best able to explain the export performance of countries. In order to conduct our analyses, a panel dataset, consisting of annual data (1990–2002) on international trade from the UN-COMTRADE database and patent data from the “EPO Worldwide Patent Statistical Database” (PATSTAT), was compiled. Several bivariate analyses reveal that weighted and unweighted family counts are highly correlated, meaning that statistics based on absolute (weighted or unweighted) family counts are barely affected by the chosen weighting factor. This, however, is different when using the average family size, where weighting the family members by imports, as well as GDP, can be shown to have a robust positive effect to explaining export performance. The imports and the GDP weighted average family size are thus able to act as a consistent indicator of patent value at the country and technology field level.     

Foreign patenting by Canadians

This study is directed at foreign patenting by Canadians, using comparative data on the foreign filling patterns of other major industrialized countries. It is divided into two parts. The first describes the foreign patenting process. The second sets forth the data on comparative foreign filings by Canadians.Reported foreign patent filings for Canadian originating inventions are small in absolute terms and low on the per capita basis when compared with other countries.The reported foreign filing activities may understate such figures by 15–25% by reason of the tendency of rights in Canadian originating inventions to be transferred to foreign corporations. Apart from statistical purposes, this phenomenon may raise policy questions concerning the loss to foreign entities of world rights in inventions originating in Canada.     

Determining patent filing targets based on patent cost retrieval from Patent Examination Data System

I have utilized Patent Examination Data System (PEDS) to propose a patent filing strategy decomposed by sub-divisions within a Research and Development (R&D) department of a large organization. The unique method relies on breaking the patent cost into fixed cost and variable cost. The variable cost is determined by automatically retrieving data from PEDS. The data includes historical average of number of interactions of a patent applicant with the patent office, grouped by technology domains. The variable cost may then be used in a linear programming model to obtain optimal filing targets for each sub-division within the R&D department. The proposed strategy will help an organization to take objective decisions for determining patent filing targets for its sub-divisions, which will eventually help with an efficient patent strategy for the organization.     

Regional Innovation Measured by Patent Data—Does Quality Matter?

This paper devises a new way of measuring the geographical scope of innovation based on patent data and compares its geographical distribution with that of patents granted and production. Indicators of patent quality are used to form an index of regional innovation, which is argued to be an improvement over patent counts, which are seen as indicators of inventions. Innovations are more concentrated than inventions, which in turn are more concentrated than production, gauged by employment levels. Innovations are, moreover, concentrated to regions with already high production and invention levels. This indicates that the concentration of innovation is understated, as raw patent counts are used to proxy for innovation rather than quality patents. The results further point to the need for revaluing effect of R&D on local innovative activity.     

A new instrument for technology monitoring: novelty in patents measured by semantic patent analysis

Given that in terms of technology novel inventions are crucial factors for companies; this article contributes to the identification of inventions of high novelty in patent data. As companies are confronted with an information overflow, and having patents reviewed by experts is a time-consuming task, we introduce a new approach to the identification of inventions of high novelty: a specific form of semantic patent analysis. Subsequent to the introduction of the concept of novelty in patents, the classical method of semantic patent analysis will be adapted to support novelty measurement. By means of a case study from the automotive industry, we corroborate that semantic patent analysis is able to outperform available methods for the identification of inventions of high novelty. Accordingly, semantic patent information possesses the potential to enhance technology monitoring while reducing both costs and uncertainty in the identification of inventions of high novelty.     

Defensive Disclosure of Patentable Inventions under Antitrust Enforcement

Why do large firms disclose patentable inventions defensively? We study IBM's disclosure and patenting activity and find that stronger antitrust enforcement and consent decrees limiting patent protection lead to more defensive disclosure. We extend our analysis to Xerox and show, using a differences-in-differences approach, a decline in patent propensity and an increase in patent scope in patent classes affected by the 1975 consent decree. We extend our analysis to include AT&;T, the other exceptionally large firm with defensive-disclosure activity, and show that their patenting propensity declined under increased antitrust enforcement relative to other firms in the industry. Overall, we show how these firms used defensive disclosure as a strategy to balance the benefits of patenting with the costs of uncertain antitrust enforcement. Our results are especially relevant in light of the defensive patent strategies many firms employ to preempt and cope with patent litigation.     

Blockchain breeding grounds: Asia's advance over the USA and Europe

Blockchain is argued to disrupt almost every industry and research field. Among other technologies, it contributes to the next fourth industrial revolution. While prominent technologies, such as AI and IoT, have already proven their potential and value in many applications, Blockchain applications have gathered only limited appeal. We ask, which countries drive inventive activity in Blockchain and to which magnitude and type. Using worldwide Blockchain patent applications from 2009 to 2020 as inventive outcome indicators the National Breeding Ground (NBG) index and the International Breeding Ground (IBG) index are calculated. The NBG index is related to the interest of a country to file Blockchain patents in its domestic market. The IBG index is related to the interest of a country to file and exploit Blockchain patents in foreign markets. We observe China and the USA as strong national and international breeding grounds. In particular, Asian countries drive Blockchain inventions. European countries contribute marginally to the Blockchain patent landscape and, together with the USA, are losing ground to Asia. Comparisons to prior work on Blockchain patenting and research patterns partially reflect our results. However, comparisons to AI suggest different patenting and exploitation strategies for Blockchain and AI in China.     

A Systemic Approach to Exploring an Essential Patent Linking Standard and Patent Maps: Application of Generative Topographic Mapping (GTM)

Abstract:

As the intense competition for the international standardization of technology has increased, many companies are concentrating their capabilities on securing essential patents that claim one or more inventions required to practice a given industry standard; however, despite the importance of developing essential patents, the approaches to exploring promising essential patent: have some limitations in terms of methodology and data. As a remedy, this article proposes a method that derives an essential patent through Generative Topographic Mapping (GTM)-based standard and patent maps. The suggested approach involves a systematic process that identifies vacuums on a standard map in a specific technology field and enables analysts to find candidate for promising essential patents instead of relying on the experts. By applying the proposed methodology, this research discovered the vacuums in an industrial standard document about fuel cell technology as well as the candidates of essential patents in this technology field.     

Analysis of propensity to patent and science-dependence of large Japanese manufacturers of electrical machinery

Summary The paper aims to clarify the extent to which the results of scientific-oriented research conducted by corporations are reflected in their application-oriented research. Focusing on large Japanese manufacturers of electrical machinery, the paper analyses firm-level data on presentations of scientific papers that represent the results of scientific-oriented research activities, citations of scientific papers in patents, and inventions. The electrical machinery industry, a prototypical science-based industry, has been placing a growing emphasis on scientific-oriented research during the 1990's as is evident from trends in R&D expenses, scientific papers, and inventions. Regression analysis results suggest a complementary relationship between citations of basic scientific knowledge as presented in scientific papers on the one hand and acts of invention on the other hand, in the sense that a rise in citations corresponds to a rise in inventions. Moreover, the results suggest that invention efficiency (number of patent claims per unit of R&D expenditure) has been increasing during the 1990's. Furthermore, the results suggest that, given the exogenous influences on the patent system in Japan, it is necessary to include the number of patent claims when attempting to measure corporate technology development activity through the volume of patent applications. However, there was no finding of a clear relationship between the number of scientific papers and inventions. Implications of these results for corporate R&D strategy are examined.     

Increasing online accessibility at IP Australia

In the context of increasing usage of online services for filing, etc. at IP offices worldwide, this article describes progress at IP Australia in offering such services. A number of patent and trade mark services such as filing, and databases are available, although online filing services for designs and plant breeder’s rights are not yet available. Particular attention is paid to the Trade Mark Assisted Filing Service, which helps customers to determine the potential registrability of a proposed mark. Further attention is paid to improvements to existing patent searching capabilities, including details of a project to build and deliver a new search system for Australian patent data.     

Academic inventions and patents in the Netherlands: A case study on business sector exploitation

This paper describes a new methodology to identify patent applications based upon research at nine universities and three university medical centers in the Netherlands and a case study elaborating subsequent, scientifically research based, IP exploitation in several sectors. We address the identification and utilization of the intellectual property by domestic business enterprises and start ups based upon patents from university research. A sophisticated semi-automated data collection heuristic was adopted to identify all relevant university-invented patent applications that were filed between 2000 and 2010.In total 2898 patent applications based upon scientific research at universities and related to university inventions were identified. For 952 of these university inventions patent applications were filed by the universities themselves. The total number of university based related patent applications represent 5% of the total volume of patent applications from Dutch origin.A subsequent survey among companies exploiting university research based IP, was carried out to gather information on their actual use of their IP in terms of manpower involved in product or market development and estimated monetary value of the patents. 78 companies responded to this survey. The main findings reveal that a variety of IP exploitation strategies has been used. Overall, more than 50% of the patents still wait to be used for further development and innovations. The number of jobs created by spin offs from university research institutes is approximately 9500 jobs over a period of 10 years. Average revenues from these patents amounted to € 42,000. Several findings from our small-scale national survey on patent exploitation with regards to use and monetary values are in line with general results from the large-scale European PatVal survey and the APE-INV survey.     

Engineers who patent: Data from a recent survey of American bench engineers

A study of engineers working in a variety of job activities in U.S. industry reveals a low rate patent activity. Analysis of data on the 10% of the engineers who have received patents also suggests variation in patent activity by sized Engineers in medium sized firms generate the most inventions and more inventions come from the electrical, machinery and metals industries. Study data on information transfer indicates that engineers are not using patents as a source of information.     

Implications of uncertain patent rights for German start-ups’ commercialisation activities and access to external capital

Start-ups may benefit in two ways from patenting their inventions: from the appropriation value and the certification effect of patents which reveals the ventures’ ‘quality’ to investors. As long as the patent office’s grant decision is pending both benefits may not realise. We confirm for a data-set of German start-ups that pending patent applications decrease the likelihood of market launch for new ventures. Regarding the certification effect, we find that pending patent applications attract risk-seeking investors, while more cautious investors do not react upon pending patent applications.