Guide to Using Patent Information
Access to technology information has expanded rapidly in recent years, a result of the increasing availability of technical documents in digital format and the progressive development of electronic means of distribution and retrieval. As the quantities of technology information available to the public have grown, so too have the challenges of finding relevant information from which useful knowledge can be extracted.
This Guide aims to assist users in searching for technology information presented in a generally standardized format and often not reproduce anywhere else. Though the Guide focuses on patent information, many of the search techniques described here can also be applied in searching other non patent sources of technology information.
How does the patent system work?
A patent has two important functions:
· Protection. A patent allows the patent holder to exclude others from commercially exploiting the invention covered by the patent in the certain country or region and for a specific period of time, generally 20 years.
· Disclosure. A patent gives the public access to information regarding new technologies in order to stimulate innovation and contribute to economic growth.
Protection
A patent application may be filed via one of the following routes:
· National: An application for a patent is generally filed at a national patent office and a patent shall be granted and enforce only in that country in which patent protection is requested for an invention, in accordance with the law of the country. The same application can be filed in accordance with the respective national patent laws in different countries on an individual country-by-country basis.
· Regional: In some regions, regional patent applications may be filed at a regional patent office, for example the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) or the European Patent Office (EPO). Regional patent applications have the same effect as applications filed in the number states of the regional patent agreement and are centrally granted as a “bundle” of patent s by the regional patent office. Validation nationally usually follows submission of translation of the granted patent into the national language.
· International: International applications may be filed with the patent offices of Contracting State of the Patent cooperation Treaty (PCT) or the International Bureau of WIPO by any resident or national of a PCT Contracting State. A single international patent application has the same effect as national applications filed in each designate Contracting State of PCT. Although the major part of the application procedure is carried out within the national phase.
Although procedures vary amongst patent offices, the following reflects a very generalized procedure for granting a patent:
· Filing: An applicant chooses the filing route, i.e. national, regional or international and files an application; a first filing will be considered the “priority filing” from which further successive national , regional or international filings can be made within the “priority period” of one year under the Paris Convention for the protection of Industrial property;
· Formal examination: the patent office ensures that all administrative formalities have been complied with, e.g. all relevant documentation is included in the application, and that all filing fees have been paid;
· Prior art search: in many countries, but not all, the patent office caries out search of the prior, art i.e. all relevant technological information publicly known at the time of the filing of the application; using databases and expert examiners in the specific technical field of the application, a “search report” as drafted, which compares the application’s technical merits with that of the known prior art;
· Publication: In most countries, the patent application is published 18 months after the priority date ,i.e., the first filing date;
· Substantive examination: If a prior art search report is available, the examiner checks that the application satisfies the requirements of patentability, i.e. the invention is novel, involve an inventive step and susceptible to industrial application, compared to the prior art as listed in the search report; the examiner may grant the patent application without amendments, may change the scope of the claims to reflect the known prior art or he may refuse the application;
· Opposition: Within a specified period, many patent offices allow third parties to oppose the granted patent on the grounds that it does not in fact satisfy patentability requirement;
· Appeal: Many offices provide the possibility of appeal after the substantive examination or after the opposition procedure.
Disclosure
The second important function of the patent system is disclosure, i.e. a patent gives the public access to information regarding new technologies in order to stimulate innovation and contribute to economic growth.
Though the protection offered by a patent territorial, covering only the jurisdiction in which the patent has been granted, the information contained in a patent document is global , available as a disclosure to any individual or organization worldwide, allowing anyone to learn from and build on this knowledge.
