Patent Information, Documentation and PCT-Related CD-ROM Products

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• Topic 3 - The Use of Patent Information
• WIPOs Work - Overview
• Application of Patent Information

Prepared by Lee Yuke Chin Email
yclee-ip_at_streamyx.com
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Patent Documents are published
- Patent Information
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Number of patent documents

• Over 1 million patent documents in the world
• each year

• With 500,000 patents granted in different
• languages each year

• So far over 40 million patent documents
  published

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International Patent Classification

• Established by an international agreement

• Result of international cooperation by using a
  single classification system

• Applied by at least 50 patent offices

• Published by WIPO in paper form and on the
  CD-ROM IPC CLASS

• Revised every five years

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Technical structure of the IPC
Sub-divided into 8 sections A Human
Necessities B Performing Operations
Transporting C Chemistry and Metallurgy D
Textiles and Paper E Fixed Constructions F
Mechanical Engineering Lighting Heating
Weapon Blasting G Physics H Electricity
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WIPO Patent Information Services for Developing
Countries (W.P.I.S.)

• A technical cooperation to developing countries
• Since 1975
• Free of charge on the basis of contributions
  made by some
• 15 industrial property offices in industrialized
  countries, as
• well as the European Patent Office and the
  International
• Bureau of WIPO

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Services

• Reports on technical information
• ICSEI - ARIPO
• Searches on names or individuals
• Patent families
• Copies of documents

WIPO on-line searches
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• Access to patent information

• - in CD-ROMs
• - via internet at the Website of WIPO, EPO and
  USPTO
• for example
• - private companies (Questel-Orbit, Dialog and
  STN)
• - WIPO Patent Information Services

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Contents of Patent Documents
Bibliographic data of patent documents
? Date of filing and publication
? Names and addresses of parties involved
? Classification symbols, IPC, etc.
? Title of the invention, abstract of the
description, drawing(s) or chemical formulae
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Contents of Patent Documents (Contd)
Technical Information
? Background of the technology concerned
? Detailed description of the invention for
working by a skilled person
? Drawing(s) or chemical formulae, if necessary
for better understanding
? Claims, which define the scope of the
protection sought
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A Vast Resource of Technical Information
? More than 40 million patent documents published
to date 1 million being added each year
? Cover inventions of all technical fields in the
whole spectrum of technology
? Disclose inventions that are new, worthwhile
knowing and industrially applicable
? Have a fairly uniform format and hence are easy
for reference in RD
? Publish ahead of other forms of publication for
the same invention
? Provide information on the patenting activities
of inventors all over the world
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Major Benefits of Patent Information
? Studying state-of-the-art technology
? Looking for ideas for solving technical problems
? Manufacturing of unprotected ideas
? Possible infringement on others patents
? Keeping watch on competitors patenting activity
? Technology profile
? Licensing of technology
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Patent Databases to search for information
? http//ipdl.wipo.int/
? http//www.uspto.gov
? http//www.ep.espacenet.com/
? http//www.delphion.com/
? http//www.gov.sg/minlaw/ipos
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Utilization of Patent Information in RD A Case
Study
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CASE STUDY ACTIVE USER OF PATENT INFORMATION

• The Company - Rica Industries, Malaysia
• - Typical SME by definition
• lt 150 workers
• lt RM25 million annual turn-over
• - Business nature Manufacturing / Sale of
  chemicals
• Nature of RD to solve technical problems
• - Manufacturing of new chemicals for sale
• - Providing consultancy service for customers
  concerning production quality control

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COMPANYS EXPERIENCE IN USING PATENT INFORMATION

• Companys remarks . (At the beginning of our
  business operation), we used to purchase chemical
  formulations and expertise from foreign
  technology firms .. This method of operation of
  the business did not bring in much profit because
  a big percentage of our profit actually used up
  in paying for royalties to the licensors. There
  was little we could do then because we lacked the
  expertise and experience in the area of
  manufacturing chemicals.

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COMPANYS EXPERIENCE IN USING PATENT INFORMATION
(Contd)

• To reduce royalty payment and increase profits,
  Company established its own RD department having
  objectives
• - Research develop own chemical formulations
• - Manufacture and sell new chemical products
• Frequent user of patent information for RD
  projects
• - Chief chemist I find patent information
  exciting. Different patents teach me different
  ways of solving problem.

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COMPANYS EXPERIENCE IN USING PATENT INFORMATION
(Contd)

• - Patent documents give me new ideas. This
  method of doing RD suits my type of technical
  consultancy and manufacturing business. All
  these years, patent information has actually
  helped me build up my expertise and confidence
  in dealing with technical problems which I
  encounter from time to time .
• Company has a few success stories in developing
  new chemicals with the help of patent information

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HOW PATENT INFORMATION SOLVE TECHNICAL PROBLEMS

• Background
• In metal cabinet manufacturing industry,
  conventionally, mild steel metal sheets need to
  be treated with iron phosphate material in heat
  chamber, which operates in temperature range of
  50 - 70oC. After said heat treatment, the metal
  sheets are to be painted.
• The problem - The construction of heat chamber
  and its maintenance incur high costs. The
  problem is how to avoid the heat treatment
  procedure.

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HOW PATENT INFORMATION SOLVE PROBLEM (Contd)

• Therefore, a technical solution is wanted To
  develop a new chemical formulation such that it
  can be used to treat metal sheets with iron
  phosphate under normal room temperature
  condition. And, there is no requirement to build
  a heat chamber and hence saving in operating cost.

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RD TEAM STARTED TO COLLECT INFORMATION for RD

• Collected information from technical journals /
  publications e.g.
• - Metal Finishing magazine
• - Surface Treatment Technology
• - European Surface Treatment
• Conducted patent searches
• - At SIRIM Patent Information Service center

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PATENT SEARCH REPORT WITH CITATIONS

• Among the many patented solutions, there are
• US-A 3,060,066 - Wilford
• This invention relates to improved phosphate
  coating compositions and a method for producing
  phosphate coatings on metallic articles,
  especially for use on ferrous metal surfaces.
• US-A 4,017,335 - Maloney
• Liquid phosphatizing composition with salt
  concentrates which is well suited for automatic
  dispensing of a phosphatizing spray or make-up
  solution and is efficient at low temperatures.

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PATENT SEARCH REPORT WITH CITATIONS (Contd)

• US-A 4,149,909 - Hamilton
• An iron phosphate accelerator which is used in
  phosphatizing ferrous metal at low temperatures
  to produce an iron phosphate coating with good
  salt spray resistance.
• US-A 5,137,589 - Kinkelaar
• A method and composition for depositing heavy
  iron phosphate coating on ferrous substance.
  Such method ensures that the coating is
  non-powdery or dust free and largely satisfactory
  for paint pre-treatment.

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VERIFICATION ON PRIOR ART DOCUMENTS

• Companys comments Some (prior art embodiments)
  worked. Some did not work satisfactorily. But,
  I am least bothered. What is important are the
  clues or ideas given in the prior art documents.
• In the process, we have gathered many good ideas
  and clues in solving the problem at hand. We
  value them all.

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VERIFICATION ON PRIOR ART DOCUMENTS (Contd)

• We have combined the valuable ideas found in
  patent documents with our own research and ideas
  of solving the problem. We have done many
  experiments. In this connection, patent
  information has provided us with the various
  possibilities of tackling the problem, a
  short-cut problem-solving process.

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A TECHNICAL SOLUTION FOUND IN 3 MONTHS

• What the researchers of Company have done
• Patent searches on prior art
• Verification of prior art embodiments
• Combine patent information with other resources
• Experimentation for new formulation and testing
• Solution found start of production

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LESSON LEARNED ..

• Use Patent Information for
• Studying state-of-the-art of technology to avoid
  re-inventing the wheel
• Looking for ideas for solving technical problems
• Therefore, use patent information for RD

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