Searcher_115.indd

Searcher October 2007
The Newsletter of the Patent and Trademark Group
Contents
Contents
Editorial
Evaluserve - what is my compeptitor really up to?
Internet
News from STN
Bulletin 15
News from CAS
Crossing the Fence - Trademark Searching
IPI Award - Call for Nominations
IPI Award - Call for Papers
Thomson Aquires Prous
Information
see Wacky Patent page19 A Special Interest Group of the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals

Issue 115 September 2007
Searcher
The Patent and Trademark Group Newsletter
Searcher is published quarterly by:
PATMG Management Committee Members
Richard Garner Chair
[email protected] Alan Talboys
Treasurer [email protected] 7 Ridgmount Street Ann Chapman
Bob Stembridge
Peter Steele
Tel: +44 (0)20 7255 0655 Margaret Rainey
Fax: +44 (0)20 7255 0501 David Lewis
Secretary [email protected] Email: [email protected] Maria Lampert
[email protected] Web site: www.patmg.org.uk Jill Duffin
Stephen Adams CILIP
[email protected] ISSN 1467-2898
Copyright 2007 by PATMG
Correspondents
(see page 22 for full details)
Production Editor
Mrs Alexandra Acheson Editorial/Chairman's Column
Mr Richard Garner British Library
[email protected] Chemical Abstracts
Thomson Scientific
[email protected] European Patent Office
[email protected] Internet
[email protected] Minesoft Ms
IPAC Issues
[email protected] STN International Ms
UK Patent Office
World Patent Information Mr
Subscription Information
A PATMG Membership Application Form appears on page 21. If you would like to join CILIP please contact: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP)7 Ridgmount Street,London WC1E 7AEUKTel +44 (0)20 7255 0655 Fax +44 (0)20 7255 0501email: [email protected] site: www.cilip.org.uk CILIP is registered as a charity under the Charities Act 1960, registered charity no. 313014.
Copyright 2007 by PATMG
Statements and opinions All members have the possibility to send an No part of this publication may be expressed in this newsletter are ‘insert' with the Searcher newsletter, which
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or those of the various authors and will cost £300 per insert (A4 size)(looseleaf transmitted in any electronic or other form should not be taken as being or bound). Any additional postage will also without prior permission of the copyright endorsed by CILIP or PATMG. be payable if the usual postage cost is exceeded. Please contact Ken Bridger, (see page 4).
Copy deadline for Searcher Issue 116 is Friday 7th December 2007.
Please send any articles you would like included in the next issue to the Production Editor - see page 4.

The first online worldwide designs research service DesignFinder covers Industrial Designs information from major IP offices worldwide and offers a large range of functions:
• Search and watch on many criteria • Quickly browse and navigate answers • Access to full documents and link to IP office • Send reports or export answer sets • Manage customized workflow • Exchange information with third parties such as customs or external law firms • Single annual subscription: no per display, per search, per hit, per report, per alert charge For over 30 years, Questel has been helping manage the world's mostimportant IP portfolios. We provide a suite of leading-edge patents, trademarks and designs services to executives, scientists, researchers and competitive intelligenceprofessionals, and help turn their IP information into real value andenhance their organizations' competitiveness.
COPY Date for Searcher No 116
The December 2007 issue of our PATMG quarterly magazine Whilst every effort is made by The Patent and
will go to press in the second week of September, so send all Trade Mark Group committee to ensure that no
contributions by Friday 7th December please to:
inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or
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Telephone: +44 (0)20 7433 4824 Accordingly, the publishers, their officers and
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Page 4 - Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 We have been contacted by Sandra Winkler on a subject that has been to the fore in my own mind over recent weeks, namely the issuessurrounding the true ownership of patent rights. Sandra is actually a PR Executive handling marketing communications for Evalueserve (EVS), an international provider of custom research and analytics services, with main centres in Delhi, Shanghai and Santiago. Because patents feature among the five areas in which EVS operates, we are reproducing a press release in which EVS summarises a recent research project with the startling conclusion that as much of 88% of the innovation which Google protects with patents cannot be located using a conventional patent search.
To those of us who watch patent publications and their commercial exploitation carefully, the point that EVS is making about the complexities of ownership comes as no surprise. For example, I've just been checking through a list of drug candidates supplied by a colleague, who is trying to decide which of three compounds we should feature in a "Drug of the Month" spot. It soon became apparent that none of the candidates was at all straightforward in terms of origin and IP rights. A typical chain of events these days might involve a university recognising that a particular researcher or department has made a discovery that merits commercial exploitation, then spinning out a company to achieve this transition. The newly formed company may well be given patent property generated by its founding board members during their academic phase - it's always a good idea to carry out an inventor name search on the Chief Scientific Officer of the new company. Once the spun-out company has done some preliminary testing and development work, it may well decide that it needs to identify a more experienced industry partner to take the development further towards the point of market launch. So already, months or more likely years before a product reaches the market, three entities are associated with the patents that cover the original discovery - the university, the spin-out, and the commercialisation partner. Once the product is finalised, there may also need to be marketing partners brought into the equation, perhaps to manage the distribution in a difficult overseas territory.
Patent analysts are thoroughly familiar with these ownership complexities, which may involve formal reassignment, or may rest on the conclusion of licensing agreements. Either way, serious misunderstanding can arise if IP rights are interpreted simply on the basis of the assignee names that appear on the original specifications - and these are what are normally available on patent office websites and from other "free" repositories. I am not so familiar with innovation in the communications industry, which is what EVS is focusing on, but in the drug industry it is not at all unusual to come across patents with twenty or more associated third parties involved in one capacity or another. The classic case that I like to quote, now almost 20 years old, is Protein Design Labs' WO9007861, now with a list of associated companies as long as your arm, both litigants and licensees. While I was mid-way through this paragraph, another colleague came to me with a press release that purported to signify the issue of a US patent to a company called Rexahn, but no patent had issued in that name around the time in question. A trail of good and bad clues then led us to Revaax Pharmaceuticals LLC, Azevan Pharmaceuticals Inc, a string of universities including Butler and Lehigh, and then finally to a former Eli Lilly researcher named Dr Gary Koppel. And because this element of Dr Koppel's work amounts to repurposing of established drugs, there was further difficulty in grasping exactly what it was that the press release was attempting to convey. But that is typical.
But the fun side of all this comes when patent applicants deliberately set out to conceal their identity - a strategy which can of course backfire if the true identity slips out, by drawing attention to an invention that might otherwise have remained low-profile. For example, on a couple of occasions now we have noticed a company with an address in Lincoln's Inn Fields, Harvest Lodge Ltd, filing what we can only interpret as patent applications from the Italian antibiotics manufacturer ACS Dobfar SpA. On a similar agricultural theme, but in the slightly different context of filing patent oppositions, we have now seen several appearances of Strawman, acting on behalf of opponents who did not wish to make themselves known to the patent owner. Come to think of it, Strawman might well live in Harvest Lodge - could this be a conspiracy in the making? There is also the phenomenon of Canadian companies in particular simply using their registration numbers when applying for patent protection. 1149336 Ontario Inc is a good example, in fact the most prolific we have noticed patenting drug candidates in recent years. It seems this is primarily, maybe exclusively, a legal entity that exists to exploit the research of Dr Daniel J Drucker. But if I had to choose a more recognisable corporate entity to correlate with this patenting, I would have to plump for NPS Allelix Corp, whose phase III gastrointestinal candidate teduglutide seems to be Drucker's invention. So a conclusion must be that individual inventors on the one hand sometimes try to disguise their corporate affiliations, but on the other hand often offer the patent analyst the firmest "handle" in deciding exactly where a particular invention comes from. The paradox though, is that a clean inventor analysis is one of the most difficult to achieve based on patent metadata. If everyone had obligingly distinctive names, as Drs Drucker and Koppel do, the inventor analysis would be no problem - other than the issue of inconsistencies introduced by patent issuing authorities adopting different standards for names and transliteration. A competent analysis would distinguish AstraZeneca's John C Smith from GSK's John M Smith, but might create a third "hybrid", a notional plain John Smith, working for both companies, and a few more besides, if the filing attorney or the patent office omitted the middle initial. And if you think that the problem of distinguishing John Smiths is difficult, then remember the greater difficulty in parts of the world where names are less distinctive, such as Korea. And what about inventors who inconsiderately move from one employer to another? What's needed is fuzzy logic which can accept that John C Smith working on gene polymorphisms for AZ is the same person as John Craig Smith and indeed plain John Smith patenting the same field for the same applicant, but can also spot that if any of these name variants turns up in the GSK portfolio in a couple of weeks' time claiming diagnosis of human gene polymorphism, then it is probably the same inventor. A big ask.
Well that turned out to be a bit of a rant, but we should be grateful to EVS for entering the debate. Please enjoy the rest of our contributions, and keep the feedback coming in.
Editor, PATMG Searcher
Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 - Page 5 Welcome to this new incarnation of the World Patent Information GenericsWeb, at http://www.genericsweb.com, is a web site
internet news column. As he announced recently, Steve Van aimed at the generic pharmaceuticals industry, from the Dulken has decided to concentrate on other work for the British Australian pharmaceutical patent information company XIP. It Library and pass the column on to me. I intend to continue his now has two subscription patent databases available. Pipeline coverage of developments in web databases and gazettes, Selector is claimed to allow the user to search for individual although I will also be mentioning some other interesting drugs, and discover and analyse information on their current developments on the IP internet. I would be very happy to patent status and patenting activity relating to them. Pipeline receive feedback on whether, you, the readers, think this Developer is a pharmaceutical patent database based more coverage meets your needs, as well as, of course, tip-offs about conventionally around the patent families themselves, including new material online.
their subject matter, status, and any litigation related to them. Coverage of both databases includes the USA, the UK, Armenia has a new "Information Retrieval System for Patents
Germany, Canada and Australia.
and Utility Models" at http://212.176.91.134/armpatent3.htm.
It can be searched by publication or application number, Georgia now has patent, utility model, trade mark and design
inventors, assignees, title/abstract and IPC. Bibliographic details
databases available at http://www.sakpatenti.org.ge/ of applications, including titles and abstracts, are available in PatentSearcher/Searching/main.aspx. The search page is labelled English, and full specifications in Armenian. (Note that in English but searches must be entered in Georgian. I have Armenian uses a unique non-Roman alphabet, so knowledge of been unable to retrieve any results from this site, but a Georgian- any other language will not be much help in interpreting the reader may find the system more usable.
documents.) Although the site appears to state that documents
are only available to 2005, more recent documents can be Greece has now posted patent journals since April 2002 and
retrieved.
registered design journals since January 2004 on the web at h t t p : / / w w w. o b i . g r / o n l i n e / i n d e x . p h p ? o p t i o n = c o m _docman&task=cat_view&gid=1407&Itemid=36.
Austria now has a Publication Server at http://www. patentamt.
at/Home/daspatentamt/PubServ/Pubserv_en.html. This allows
The Gulf States Co-Operation Council (including Kuwait,
downloading of all patent and utility model applications and Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab granted specifications published since 2005, in PDF format or Emirates) has placed all but the first issue of its intermittently- in XML format for Mimosa. The site is entirely available in published Patent Gazette online in various formats at http:// English, and documents can be searched by publication number, www.gccpo.org/9.htm. In some cases front pages of patents are filing number, or IPC to the level of the first subclass. Lists of available. The index page and all documents are in Arabic documents published each month are available in XML only.
India has now placed its Trade Mark Journal since April 2006
A remark in the CIPA Journal has alerted me to the fact that on the web at http://ipindia.nic.in/tmr_new/tm_journal/ index.
British granted specifications are now easily available via the htm, to complement the online copies of its patent journal. A UK Esp@cenet® server at http://gb.espacenet.com. It is space on the patent office website for Designs Notifications has necessary to select the "GB" rather than the "worldwide" been created at http://ipindia.nic.in/ipr/design/ design_n.htm, database. Any search will then retrieve separate entries for A although at the time of writing only two issues, from 2003, had and B British documents. According to the information provided, been uploaded. The unofficial Ekaswa patent databases, which all B specifications published since June 2002 are included. for a long time ran only to the end of 2004, have been The "Bibliographic data" tab on the entries on this GB database supplemented by an Ekaswa C database of applications, at http:// now also includes a direct link to the free UK IPO status www.indianpatents.org.in/db/testmainc.asp, which claims to be database entry for the patent.
up to date to the end of 2006. The information available, however, seems less than that provided by the recently- The Czech Republic's Trademarks Database at http://www. inaugurated BigPatents India.
upv.cz/pls/portal30/ozfrm?plan=English now includes national,
OHIM, and Madrid Agreement marks. It is no longer necessary
Indonesia has introduced patent, trade mark, design and
to search for Madrid Agreement marks valid in the Czech copyright databases, all accessible from the front page of the Republic on a separate database.
Indonesian Patent Office website at http://www.dgip.go.id /ebscript/publicportal.cgi. Unfortunately, at the time of access, Estonia now has a "Database of the European Patents Validated
all attempts to search all of these produced "server errors". One in Estonia" at http://www.epa.ee/client/default.asp?wa_id=798. must hope that the problems will be fixed by the time this article The search page is in Estonian, but it is easy to guess what most reaches print.
of the search boxes refer to from the examples printed next to
them. It allows searching by Estonian publication number, Lithuania has placed all its Official Gazettes since 2005 on the
European publication or application number, title (in Estonian),
web in pdf format at http://www.vpb.gov.lt/en/index.php?c IPC, applicant, and inventor. A variety of status information is =gazette.php. It also has a Patent Database at http://www.vpb. available, although only in Estonian. I was unable to determine gov.lt/db_patentai/?l=en which allows searching by subject, whether documents are available.
holder or numbers. Documents are currently available only as Page 6 - Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 abstract, claims and drawings, without the full description. BasicIPO.html. Note that trade marks consisting entirely of Searchable English titles and abstracts are included and the Chinese characters cannot be searched on this page, although entire system, including search, results and status pages, is there is apparently a database interface for this on the Chinese-provided in both Lithuanian and English.
language web site.
The Pakistan Patent Office has now begun to place its A new historical database has been created by third parties for
intellectual property gazettes on its web site as Microsoft Word
USA patents. The Wyoming State Library's patent and trademark
files. At present the site features copies of the monthly Trade department has a number of historical US patent databases of Mark Journal since July 1996 at http://www.ipo.gov.pk/ local interest at http://will.state.wy.us/ sis/ptdl/index.html, as Trademark/TrademarkJournal.aspx. Weekly Patent Gazette well as a database of all US patents which refer to changes of Notifications are available dating back to August 2005 at http:// name by applicants. This is presumably provided mainly as a www.ipo.gov.pk/Patent/PatentGazzette.aspx, including brief potential source for family history research, but also provides descriptions of patent applications, longer abstracts of accepted interesting testimony to the gradual Anglicisation of the culture applications, and lists of patents with sealing fees due. Readers of mainland European immigrants to the USA.
should be warned that the text of the HTML links to these files
does not reliably record the dates involved, with the same link The IP Service of Venezuela has reorganised its free web
text being sometimes repeated to link to files from different database offering. Patents and designs can be searched at http://
dates. There are also annual lists of patents granted for 2005 www.sapi.gob.ve/vpat/index_patentec_n.php. The data-base
and 2006 at http://www.ipo.gov.pk/Patent/ PatentGranted.aspx. appears to contain bibliographic details of registrations dating
Lists of expired patents are available at http://www.ipo.gov.pk/
back to the early 1970s. Full documents are available in pdf Patent/PatentExpired.aspx, monthly for 2007, while a single list format for many documents published from 2000 on and a few is available for 2006. All documents are in English.
from the 1990s. Currently-valid trade marks can be searched by mark text only at http://www.sapi.gob.ve/consulta/ indexbt_n.
The Australian scientific institute CAMBIA has now extended php and the status of patents and trade marks can be searched by
the coverage of its free Patentlens database, at http://www.
number only at http://www.sapi.gob.ve/consulta/ indexmp_n.php.
patentlens.net/daisy/patentlens/patentlens.html, from biology to All three databases are Spanish-language only.
all subjects. The site allows searching of the full text (prepared by optical character recognition) of AU applications and granted An interesting new phenomenon is the collection of Global IP
specifications since 1998, US specifications since 1976, and all Scorecards created by the blogging patent attorney Duncan
WO and granted EP documents, as well as data on families and Bucknell at http://duncanbucknell.com/scorecards/. These status. This relatively little-known system is, so far as I am attempt to summarise the current state of play in well-known IP aware, the only free site allowing full-text searching of AU or legal battles by individual jurisdiction. Scorecards created so EP documents.
far deal with the Eli Lilly vs. Teva and Dr Reddy's dispute over Zyprexa; the dispute between Anheuser-Busch and Budejovický Romania has a new no-frills trade mark database at http://bd.
Budvar over the right to use the "Budweiser" brand name; and osim.ro/marci/index.jsp, at present in Romanian only and the Pfizer vs. Ranbaxy patent dispute over Lipitor. Further limited to searching by application or grant number.
scorecards dealing with general issues rather than specific legal battles include the legality under various countries' trade mark Saudi Arabia has placed its patent gazette from 1996 to date on
law of the use of other people's badges of origin as meta tags or line at http://www.kacst.edu.sa/mangement/patent/mag.php. paid search keywords to attract people to one's own website, All documents are in Arabic.
and the use of the TRIPS provisions for compulsory licensing of socially-vital pharmaceuticals by developing nations.
Serbia, now officially an independent state after the separation
of Montenegro, has placed a Trade Marks database online at And finally, in the area of promising potential rather than actual
http://www.yupat.sv.gov.yu/index.php?language=eng&tid=21#.
new developments, Dr Jeremy Phillips of Queen Mary and It is available in English and is claimed to contain all currently- Westfield College has announced, on his IPKat blog, a proposal valid marks. Design and patent databases are promised in the for a comprehensive wiki on UK intellectual property law, near future. A Montenegro patent office web site is awaited.
freely readable by the public but edited by subject experts. Those interested should view his blog posts at http://ipkitten.
Singapore has introduced a Designs eSearch database covering
current and pending designs, and placed copies of its Designs future.html and http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/ 2007/08/ip-wiki-Journal since April 2007 on the web. Both are accessible at and-room-6-manifesto-latest.html, or the wiki proposal itself at http://www.ipos.gov.sg/leftNav/des/eDesigns.htm.
http://ipdailyupdate.pbwiki.com/Draft-proposal-for-an-IP-Law-wiki. Any readers who see themselves as potential editors are Switzerland has shut down its national patent document invited to contact him.
download server on the grounds that all the documents are
available through Esp@cenet
As before, links in this column will be added to the British ®. It remains to be seen if any
other nations will decide that it is no longer necessary to provide Library links page at http://www.bl.uk/patents.
such a service. I wonder if there are any Swiss patent documents Philip Eagle, The British Library
too long to be downloaded in one go from Esp@cenet®?
Taiwan trade marks can be searched in English by mark text or
number, but not proprietor, at http://tipo.hinet.net/TIPO_DRE/
Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 - Page 7 News from STN
STN® AnaVistTM, Version 2.0, now available with Derwent World Patents Index®
STN AnaVist, Version 2.0, is now the only platform that permits analysis and visualization of both CAplusSM and Derwent World Patents Index® (DWPISM), with content processed by STN® for optimal visualization.
STN AnaVist, Version 2.0, differs markedly in both appearance and functionality from previous versions. Improved software architecture provides a variety of new ways to customize data presentation. In addition, with Version 2.0 you can: Examine the Research Landscape from your point-of-view - take advantage of new clustering fields,
including Technology Indicators, Exemplary/First Claim, All Claims, and International Patent Classification
(IPC) Codes, and customize your visualization using combinations of text fields
Gain a more complete understanding of your data - create a variety of new bar charts based on Derwent
Class, Derwent Manual Codes, Labels, and Patent Country Codes/Kind Codes
Perform comparative analysis with ease - use new document highlighting features, and up to eight
highlighting colors at once, to compare multiple data sets
Enhance your document management - create new custom labels and apply them at any time to
individual documents or document sets
Pinpoint the research of your competitors and customers - enhance your view of the Research
Landscape with new 2D displays with white or black backgrounds
To start using the new features: 1. Create a document set for visualization with the precise searching capabilities of STN Express®, Version 2. Import your document set into STN AnaVist, Version 2.0, and click Visualize…
If you have an STN login ID and password, download STN AnaVist and STN Express software for free via the STN Software License and Download web site. USGENE® - The new Biosequence Patent Database on STN
As a complement to STN´s unique biosequence database cluster, FIZ Karlsruhe has implemented the USPTO Genetic Sequence Database, USGENE, which is produced by SequenceBase Corporation (www.sequencebase.com). USGENE covers all available peptide and nucleic acid sequences from published applications and issued patents of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
The USGENE database includes extensive bibliographic and text search options, including publication title, abstract, exemplary claim, patent assignees at issue, full inventor names plus the complete set of publication, application and parent case WIPO/PCTnumbers and dates. Patent assignee and inventor data are enhanced with address details. Sequence information comprises the actualsequence as well as additional information like organism name, sequence length and feature tables for modifications.
USGENE records are sequence based, i.e. each sequence of a particular publication (application or granted patent) creates a record.
Thus the database structure is similar to DGENE and PCTGEN.
There are over 6 million sequences (July 2007) in the database from 1982 to the present. USGENE is updated weekly, data are typically available within 7 days of publication by the USPTO. Current-awareness alerts (SDIs), including sequence homology alerts, are available weekly.
USGENE offers three sequence searching methods: BLAST for advanced similarity searching based on NCBI BLAST® algorithm, GETSIM for advanced similarity searching based on FASTA algorithm and GETSEQ for simple fragment or motif sequence queries. Sequence data can be searched via the STN command line or via the sequence search assistant in STN® on the WebSM.
Patent Fulltext files enhanced with predefined patent family display formats FAM and CFAM from the
INPADOCDB database
As of August 16, 2007 the predefined patent family display formats FAM and CFAM from the INPADOCDB database will be available in the patent fulltext files EPFULL, FRFULL, GBFULL, PATDPAFULL, and PCTFULL. Jan Davies, STN
Page 8 - Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 News from CAS
CAS To Begin Assigning 10-digit CAS Registry
available only in CAOLD. Nearly 600,000 CAS Registry Numbers Effective January 2008
Numbers from the 6th and 7th Collective Index periods have To accommodate the continuing growth of substance information been added to more than 960,000 index entries in approximately in the CAS REGISTRYSM, CAS will begin to assign 10-digit 300,000 CA/CAplus records.
CAS Registry Number (CAS RN) identifiers for newly registered substances. We anticipate making this change in mid-January, This enhancement provides more complete substance indexing 2008, based on current trends, and encourage customers and in CA/CAplus.
business partners to take steps to be prepared for the adjusted format at that time.
CA/CAplus enhanced with utility model patents from
China
As CAS has done in the past, we will allow for the growing Utility model patents from the State Intellectual Property Office collection of substances by adding another digit to the Registry of the Peoples Republic of China (SIPO) have been added to Number. The 10th digit will appear in the left-most position in CA/CAplus. The following information applies to these the CAS RN. For example, a new CAS RN would appear in the following form: xxxxxxx-xx-x Country code CN Basic patent kind code Y CAS customers who use the check-digit algorithm (http://www.
First available publication date 1 January 2007 Full publication title Shiyong Xinxing Zhuanli Shuomingshu CAS RNs or have a controlled-length CAS RN field in an
in-house system will need to modify their systems to CAplus enhanced with French and German abstracts
accommodate the additional digit. Use of CAS products such as
French- and German-language abstracts in basic patents from STN and SciFinder will not be affected.
the European Patent Office (EPO) are now included in CAplus. These abstracts are only included when an English-language CASM/CAplus enhanced with additional kind codes
abstract is not available. for granted patents
Additional kind codes have been added to CA/CAplus for In patents that are indexed by CAS, French- and German-
granted patents received prior to the published patent application.
language abstracts are replaced by English versions shortly after The kind codes are used for selection of basic patents and the record is added to CAplus. French- and German-language include: abstracts are searchable in Basic Index (BI) in their respective • B1 Korean Intellectual Patent Office (KR) languages until replaced by the English versions. Records are • B2 Japan Patent Office (JP) added to CA only after indexing and the addition of English- • B2 United States Patent and Trademark Office (US) language abstracts is complete. • B4 German Patent and Trademark Office (DE) • C Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CA) Patents with selectively covered International Patent • P3 United States Patent and Trademark Office (US) Classification (IPC) codes that are not indexed by CAS retain First available publication dates for granted patents from JP, US, the original French- and German-language abstracts in CAplus. DE, and CA are in the first week of July 2007. For granted These records are not included in CA.
patents from KR, the first available publication date is February 1, 2007.
CA/CAplus patent coverage enhanced
Patent coverage in CA/CAplus has been enhanced to now
In addition, patents issued by the Hungarian Patent Office (HU) to non-residents are now included in CA/CAplus.
• Complete International Patent Classification (IPC) CA/CAplus enhanced with CAS indexing in pre-1907
reclassification data for the first half of 2007 • Patents from the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KR) Subject and substance indexing has been added to more than through late-January 200711,500 pre-1907 records in CA/CAplus. Records included in In addition, bibliographic data and abstracts in patent applications this enhancement represent original articles and article and from the Indian Office of the Controller General of Patents, patent abstracts from the following journals: Designs, and Trade Marks (IN) are now available in CAplus • Journal of the American Chemical Society within 14 days of publication.
• Journal of Physical Chemistry • Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions USPATOLD now available on STN
• Journal of the Chemical Society, Abstracts U.S. Patents Pre-1976 (USPATOLD) is now available on STN. Many of the U.S. patent abstract records have been replaced USPATOLD includes more than 3.5 million records and covers with patent records that include more extensive bibliographic the full text of patents issued from the U.S. Patent and and abstract information. CAS indexing based on the patent Trademark Office (USPTO) from 1790-1975. abstract from the original CA/CAplus record is included in USPATOLD records represent original U.S. patent documents these records.
converted into electronic form through an optical character recognition (OCR) process. Due to limitations of this technology, Additional indexing of pre-1907 records will follow in the some USPATOLD records may include misinterpreted characters coming months.
or portions of the patent text may be missing. To address this problem, approximately 500,000 USPATOLD records, CA/CAplus enhanced with pre-1967 CAS Registry
representing patents also covered by CAplus, were supplemented with CAS data.
CA/CAplus has been enhanced with CAS Registry Numbers from substances registered from 1957-1966 and previously Barry Dunne, CAS
Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 - Page 9

IV International Seminar on Quantitative and Qualitative Science and
Prof. Gilberto Sotolongo Aguilar Havana, Cuba.
This seminar will take place within INFO 2008 International Congress, at Palacio de las Convenciones, Havana, Cuba, April 21-25th., 2008.
The scientific committee invites interested researchers and colleagues to send R&D papers related to the quantita-tive and/or qualitative studies of science and technology. Bibliometric, Scientometric, Informetric, Patentometrics, Webometric studies are particularly invited. Review studies; case-studies or systems approaches to the measure-ment and evaluation of science and technology performance are also welcomed.
Important dates:
Submission of abstracts:
before December 7th 2007.
Notification of acceptance: before January 11th 2008.
before February 8th 2008.
Spanish is the official language of the seminar.
Further information, please contact the General Coordinator of the Seminar: César A. Macías-Chapula, [email protected] Dear Colleagues: Re: IPI-Award Call for Nominations
Nominations are now being accepted for the prestigious 'International Patent Information (IPI) Award', established to honor thegreat professionals of the patent information industry worldwide. The IPI-Award is aimed at recognizing individual contributionstowards the advancement of patent information and to the patent information world in general, and is not limited to producers andservice providers. The Award, established and sponsored by Technology & Patent Research (TPR) International, consists of a plaque and an honorarium of $3000 or other currency equivalent.
Please share this news with your colleagues and take the opportunity to nominate the person who you consider to be most deservingof this tribute. The deadline for receipt of nominations is November 9, 2007. All nominations will be reviewed by an InternationalSelection Board and the name of the IPI-Award recipient for 2008 will be announced in the coming Spring.
Nomination letters should clearly describe the nominee's contribution to the field of patent information, and each letter shouldinclude any material in support of the nomination. Support materials could include a biography and a list of any publications andpresentations by the individual. The nominating person should also ensure that at least two seconding letters are submitted.
All nomination and seconding letters should be submitted to the Chairperson of the Selection Board at the address shown below: Dr. Ian Sinclair(IPI-Award 2008)c/o Technology & Patent Research International17055 Via Del Campo Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92127Tel: +1 858 592 9084Fax: +1 858 592 0045or email to: [email protected] The IPI-Award website has been fully updated with photos and speech transcripts from the presentation ceremony to IPI-Award 2007 recipient, Mr. Harry Allcock. For details of all past recipients, speeches, photographs, International Selection Board Members, etc., visit theAward website at http://www.IPI-Award.com For questions, please contact: Trudi Jones, Technology & Patent Research(TPR) International, Inc.; [email protected]; Tel: +1 (858) 592 9084; Fax: +1 (858) 592 0045 Page 10 - Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07

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Offices also in Australia, China, France,Germany, Israel, Italy, Korea, Switzerland. Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 - Page 11 Call for Papers & Early Bird Registration
Dear Patent Information Colleagues: We are pleased to announce the Call for Papers for IPI-ConfEx 2008 - Best Practices in Patent Information Management and Searching. IPI-ConfEx 2008 will take place 2nd - 6th March 2008 in the beautiful city of Seville in southern Spain. If you wishto submit a paper to the IPI-ConfEx Organisers for consideration, please submit a brief abstract and speaker biography as soon aspossible via email to [email protected]. Please note, that there is an Early Bird Registration Rate (20% off of the regular rate) available to all delegates who complete the registration and payment process before Friday, 30th November 2007. The tradition of IPI-ConfEx is to highlight best practices utilized by corporate patent information professionals with respect tosearching, analysis and management of patent information.
IPI-ConfEx 2008 Call for Papers
We are particularly interested to hear from patent information users within corporations, patent offices, law firms, or other
organisations who have been faced with a particular patent information challenge and who can make a presentation on how they
have overcome the problem, or are working towards a solution. Some topics for consideration may include:
• Experiences with in-depth searching and different analysis techniques • How to tackle a special project, e.g. technology landscape from searching to reporting• Keeping updated and trained on the latest patent information resources and techniques, plus utilisation of new sources and methods• Providing information for strategic practice within corporate R&D, Licensing, Legal and Business departments and proactively meeting their needs • Getting to grips with patents from China and other Asian countries - resources available and how to search them• Patent law helpful to patent information professionals• Practical use, experiences and real-life application of text mining, semantics, linguistics analysis, patent mapping, visualisation, and • How to improve and maintain search quality and metrics for measurement• Practical tips and innovative techniques on how to approach difficult searches• Federated searching • Unique challenges by subject area - chemical, pharmaceutical, biotech, engineering, etc.
• Patent information searching techniques for chemistry, chemical structures, biotechnology, biosequences, electrical, engineering, mechanical technologies, etc.
• Proactively supplying information to end users - technical and organisational considerations• Patent information management and systems• Integration of information from different sources• Requirements of different search types - freedom-to-operate, opposition/validity, etc.
• IP as a source of competitive intelligence• Patent valuation• Insights on managing a Patent Information Department• Time-efficient techniques of searching and analysis for maximum impact and cost-effectiveness• Positioning of the Information Professional within the corporate structure and marketing your services• Evaluating new products and services - techniques, methods and case studies Papers on any other topics of interest to patent information professionals are also desirable, including: • News on the latest patent information issues• The changing face of patent information• Patent information in context with our changing society, e.g. Web 2.0• Patent office developments, policies and reforms• Updates and comparisons of patent information products, tools and services If you wish to submit a paper to the IPI-ConfEx Organisers for consideration, please write a brief abstract outlining your presentation proposal and submit it as soon as possible via email to [email protected] along with a personal biography. Please visit the IPI-ConfEx website at http://www.ipi-confex.com/ for full information on how to submit a proposal, as well as forthe latest information regarding this not-to-be-missed conference. Further details regarding the conference program and logisticswill be posted to the website on a regular basis.
Please note that there is a restricted number of vendor presentation slots, exhibit spaces and sponsorship opportunities available.
Vendor/supplier/service provider speaker abstract submissions will be considered through a separate process from other abstractsubmissions (e.g. from actual corporate users of patent information). Information on participation, speaking opportunities andexhibit opportunities, etc., for commercial information providers is available from the Conference organizers. Tracy Piner & Andrea Eckenrode, IPI Organisation ([email protected])
Page 12 - Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 Thomson Acquires Prous Science
Note from the Editor: Although it is primarily of interest to those working in the pharmaceutical sector, we are reproducing in full this press release that appeared at the end of September as it represents a further important consolidation in the information industry. The acquisition comes almost four years after PJB Publications became part of Informa Healthcare. The significance of this is that both PJB and Prous Science were both essentially family businesses. The drug discovery pipeline databases that they produce, PharmaProjects from PJB and Integrity from Prous Science, have become established over more than a quarter of a century as essential information tools for the pharma sector, to the extent that many of the large drug companies quite happily subscribe to both, in the knowledge that each offers unique content and capabilities. And in the same way as the eponymous Dr Philip J Brown started his career as a pharmacist, the Prous family retains a strong interest in the science base for its publications, having established the Prous Institute for Biomedical Research. That institute, which will remain in the family's control and continue to perform research, itself emerged onto the patenting scene in its own right earlier this year with the publication of WO2007028524. Inventor Dr Josep Prous Blancafort here describes what we perceive to be a repurposing of some candesartan derivatives which were originally claimed by Takeda in EP546358. The institute bases its discovery effort on BioEpisteme®, an expert system created to predict possiblemechanisms of action for a given compound, based on proprietary data mining and knowledge-based algorithms, which are used to generatemodels and perform the predictions. Acquisition to Expand Thomson Scientific's Market-leading by providing unparalleled drug discovery content and unique Portfolio of Chemistry and Drug Discovery Information analytic functionality for chemists and biologists."Solutions "Our strong background in the life sciences coupled with Thomson STAMFORD, Conn. 09/27/2007
Scientific's expertise in intellectual property and competitive The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC), a leading intelligence equal a powerful value proposition for customers of provider of information solutions to business and professional both companies," added Dr. Josep Prous Jr., Executive Vice customers worldwide, today announced that it has acquired Prous President, Prous Science.
Science, a global leader in the provision of life sciences information solutions. Prous Science will become part of Thomson Scientific. The Thomson Corporation
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The Thomson Corporation (scientific.thomson.com) is a global leader in providing essential electronic workflow solutions to Scientists worldwide rely on Prous Science information solutions business and professional customers. With operational headquarters to enhance knowledge-based drug discovery and development. Its in Stamford, Conn., Thomson provides value-added information, well-known Prous Science Integrity® portal provides access to software tools and applications to professionals in the fields of law, more than 265,000 compounds with demonstrated biological tax, accounting, financial services, scientific research and activity and close to 100,000 patent family records. Prous Science healthcare. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the has worked closely with its customers and partners to develop this New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: highly differentiated information offering tailored to the needs of end user scientists.
Thomson Scientific is a business of The Thomson Corporation. Its In addition, Prous Science has developed strong relationships with information solutions assist professionals at every stage of research key global medical associations and Centers of Excellence to and development-from discovery to analysis to product development maximize the reach of medical knowledge to specialists and distribution. Thomson Scientific information solutions can be found at scientific.thomson.com.
"Prous Science has built a strong global brand on its flagship About Prous Science
solutions which have been built by scientists for scientists," said For more than 40 years, Prous Science has been a trusted source of Vin Caraher, President and CEO, Thomson Scientific. "This information on which science depends to discover safer and more acquisition really complements our Pharma & Biotechnology effective medicines. The company's products have evolved through workflow solution offerings. We look forward to working closely the years from print journals to sophisticated electronic products with the Prous Science management team to maximize synergies incorporating the latest advances in IT. The company has and add value for our customers." complemented its Drug discovery solutions with a series of key partnerships to widen the dissemination of Medical Education "Today's announcement signals an excellent opportunity to worldwide by fostering relationships with key Medical Institutions accelerate our product development and innovation plan in the and centers of excellence worldwide. For more information about drug discovery space. By combining the financial strength, Prous Science, visit www.prous.com.
creativity and technology of Thomson with Prous Science, we will further drive innovations that help scientists find better solutions to This news release includes forward-looking statements which are their specific problems while fostering the emergence of new based on certain assumptions and reflect The Thomson ideas," said Dr. J.R. Prous, President and CEO, Prous Science.
Corporation's current expectations. All forward-looking statements in this news release are subject to a number of risks and Headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, where the company's operations uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ will remain, Prous Science serves key strategic geographic areas materially from current expectations. Some of the factors that including Europe, Japan, North America and Latin America. could cause actual results to differ materially from current Founded in 1958 by current President and CEO Dr. J.R. Prous, the expectations include risks related to Thomson Scientific's ability to company has more than 180 employees. Prous Science management successfully integrate Prous Science, and actions of Thomson and employees will become part of the Pharmaceutical/Chemical Scientific's competitors. Additional factors are discussed in the business unit within Thomson Scientific.
Corporation's materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and the United States from time to time, "Thomson Scientific, through its core products, including Thomson including the Corporation's latest annual information form, which Pharma, IDDB, Derwent World Patents Index and Web of Science, is contained in its most recently filed annual report on Form 40-F. has particular strengths in patent, business intelligence and The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or investigational drug information," said Jon Brett-Harris, Executive revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new Vice President of Pharma/Chem Markets, Thomson Scientific. information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by "The Prous Integrity platform complements our portfolio offering Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 - Page 13 What is my competitor really up to?
Evalueserve research, using multiple patent databases to collect competitive
intelligence, leads to very interesting revelations
New Delhi/Gurgaon, September 3, 2007: Ever wondered what Google has been up to lately? How about Yahoo!, Microsoft, IBM or other high tech companies? Many professionals, companies and organizations frequently have the same questions about their key competitors. However, since this information is proprietary and highly confidential, there is almost no likelihood of gettingthese answers directly from the companies.
Since these leading edge companies are constantly innovating and creating barriers for their competitors, they are also continuouslyfiling patent applications and getting many – if not most – of these granted. Hence, searching through databases, such as thoseprovided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which contain recently published patent applications and granted patents, is one way of gaining an insight into the strategic direction of these companies.
Companies try to keep their strategies secret for as long as possible. Especially in the technology sector, where changes and innovations take place very fast, preventing competitors from knowing about their future products and services can be critical.
Evalueserve, a global research and analytics firm, recently used a combination of IP search techniques and found, for example, thatas much as 88 percent of Google's US patent portfolio may not be uncovered by simply searching traditional databases. In addition,Evalueserve has discovered several interesting patent applications, which provide hints that Google may be in the process of developing its own Google Phone. Finally, the patent applications Evalueserve has tracked also suggest that Google might be targeting the TV and video games markets and may be developing a device that can facilitate supermarket shopping with mobile phones.
Evalueserve research shows that traditional search techniques that only use databases such as the USPTO database, which comprises granted patents and published applications, for analysing a company's patent portfolio may not be sufficient.
Evalueserve suggests the following complementary techniques: • One technique is searching through patent-assignment databases, some of which are freely available while others are provided by Intellectual Property (IP) database vendors as licenses. For example, a complementary search within the USPTO patent-assignment database can yield some of the missing ownership information, especially if the granted patents and published applications were filed by one entity and later acquired by another. • Another technique is checking accuracy by using complementary databases, e.g., by correlating Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) filing information with USPTO filing information.
• Yet another technique is performing inventor-based searches along with assignee-based searches which often yield more meaningful results. This technique really works well because there are many published applications for which ownership information may not have been recorded earlier.
By using a combination of the techniques mentioned above, firms such as Evalueserve can provide clients with a more holistic view of a company's IP activities and innovation efforts. This information is more valuable than ever in today's fast-paced worldof innovation.
About Evalueserve: Evalueserve provides custom research and analytics services to over 1000 corporations and other organizations
in the following five areas: Intellectual Property, Market Research, Business Research, Financial/Investment Research, Data
Analytics and Modelling. Executives from IBM and McKinsey founded Evalueserve in December 2000, and it has completed over
13,000 projects till date for its globally dispersed client base. Approximately one thousand of these research engagements have
focused on emerging markets including India, China, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Evalueserve currently has over 2,100
professionals in the following four research and analytics' centres: Delhi-Gurgaon, India; Shanghai, China; Santiago-Valparaiso,
Chile; and New York, USA. Additionally, a team of 50 client engagement managers is located in all major technology, business,
and financial centres globally - from Silicon Valley to Sydney. For more details, please visit http://www.evalueserve.com.
Page 14 - Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 Patent People (contributed by the Editor except where otherwise noted) Anne Jones writes from Cambridge to report that her InfoScience
Frederique Klein, Secretary of WON in the Netherlands, has
Resources Ltd consultancy "no longer exists" but assures us that contacted us to report a change of address for the Secretariat, she will continue to operate as an independent searcher - her relocating from The Hague to the DSM Gist BV site in Delft. previous employer was Astex, so a strong interest in Founded in 1977, WON (Werkgemeenschap Octrooiinformatie biopharmaceuticals sits alongside her specialism of chemical/ Nederland) is our informal sister group, with a website at http:// environmental safety and standards. In place of the InfoScience business, Anne has embarked on a truly 21st century e-concept
business called spareground.com, designed to facilitate the Pfizer features again, in the person of Russell Shipton, who has
renting out of any spare property individuals or companies may
been sent on a kind of sabbatical to Queen Mary, University of have available, such as rooms or land or parking. Anne exhorts London (QMUL) in order to undertake a three-month intensive you all to visit the new website and see what's available.
course in patent law. That in itself is not too remarkable, but he has been allocated temporary accommodation in Cowcross Street, a stone's throw from the offices of his former employer, Congratulations are due to Lee Wilcox, recently appointed Thomson Scientific. Ex-colleagues there quickly realised that it
Business Development Manager at CPA (Computer Patent was only a matter of time before Russell decided to take a break Annuities), based at Ash House in Staines. Lee was previously from his studies and pay a visit - which duly happened in mid- with Questel as UK Sales and Account Manager, but will now September…… be selling CPA's patent searching and IP support services in the UK and Scandinavia.
Martin Paltnoi will not mind me reporting that he recently
celebrated an Important Birthday - but he would surely
Our good friend and PIUG List stalwart Swami, now well into
excommunicate me if I revealed which it was. Suffice it to say his post-Pfizer reincarnation, emailed from his southern Indian that Martin has taken a detailed interest in patents for the past homeland of Chennai to enquire as to the location of the twenty-five years or so of his long career in pharmaceutical Thomson Scientific office there, as he was visiting with his wife marketing consultancy. The most visible output from his past on vacation. I was able to give him the address of the office, but decade is Pharma Patent Bulletin, the bimonthly newsletter had to tell him that his vacation coincided exactly with the week which he edits for Marketletter based in London W6. A brief when the entire TS management team was visiting our Hatton review of the current issue is included below in tribute to Garden office in London. Another time, perhaps? Martin's substantial contribution to the subject.
Pharma Patent Bulletin August-September 2007
A near-incredible forty items fill the 20-page vol 10 (4) issue of PPB that plopped onto my desk in the last week of September. I will declare an interest straight away, in that I am privileged to be a member of PPB's Editorial Panel, alongside Tony Pickford,Steve van Dulken and Alan White, all luminaries of our profession. Editor Martin Paltnoi arranges the material under the headingsof Articles, General News, International News and Views, SPC News and Your Questions Answered. The last of these always makes me chuckle, as it should really be called "My pent-up answer to the question I wish you'd asked" - but the end result is always splendidly educational, this time relating to the use of patents for "evergreening" drug products. It is balanced on therecently redesigned front cover by an erudite article on the re-packaging of parallel imports (PIs). Anna McKay is an authoritativewriter on such topics - I first bumped into her on the Eurostar as we headed for the CPhI exhibiton in Brussels, a "must" for anyonewho follows issues in the generic drug sector. This is followed by an equally worthwhile article contributed by a trainee solicitorwho explains the European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA) which the EPO is now promoting. This whole concept is inextricably linked with that of the Community Patent, so the article is in reality exhorting us to "watch this space". There is a very useful panel summarising the seven UK SPC applications filed since the previous PPB issue, only three of which relate to human therapeutics, two of those referring to the same therapeutic entity. Otherwise, the remaining thirteen pages serve to summarisepatent disputes and other IP issues that have arisen in the drug industry - a very handy checklist to have. Recently given a newlook, PPB comes from Marketletter (Publications) Ltd in London W6 - www.marketletter.com.
Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 - Page 15 "Crossing the fence - Trademark searching for patent searchers; Patent
searching for trademark searchers"
By Stewart Rayment from Kingsley & Talboys, London according to the Nice Classification so this needs to be checked as well. Some sytems have an option to view classifications Stewart entertained and educated members of the Patent & online, which is useful, especially in the electronic and Trade Mark Group about the vagaries of trade mark searching computing fields where there are rapid changes.
at The British Library Intellectual Property Centre on September 4th. Stewart began by mentioning how he once had to get a As far as search languages are concerned both Dialog and bottle of Grolsch lager in order to be able to search the design Questel were given as examples of a host with multiple properly… trademark files. Edital offers Catamaran Plus with a relatively simple search language. Marquesa has the same search Users can make use of the British Library facilities to carry out language as OPTIX and can also be useful for simultaneous trade mark searches and there are free resources available at BL. searching. AvantIQ is another useful service to have access to. Stewart mentioned both free and commercially available For some countries, less information may be available online services throughout.
and it can be backed up with either access direct to a Trademark Registry or by a search firm such as CompuMark, which has We were told that costs are high these days for subscription particular expertise in the area of Trademarks. services but there are free services. In the old paper system, it was surprisingly fast to do identical searches as they were Stewart showed us some of the phonetic problems encountered. surprisingly quick to scan through the images. The UK His example was EXPATEX, which involves phonetic sounds Intellectual Property Office examines trade mark applications. such as EC, EK and EQ and that XPATEX would be considered Certain things cannot be registered, such as geographic names, an identical mark as well. While the prefix is important in this the royal coat of arms! Rejecting trade marks on relative case, the suffix is also problematic, throwing up variants such as grounds will be abandoned soon. The onus is being changed in ECH, EC, ES, ES/Z and a double consonant TT in the middle the UK so that when applying for a trade mark, owners of what would also have to be considered. This was an eye opener for are considered to be closely similar marks will be written to and most of us in the audience. informed. If no opposition is received within three months, the registration can go ahead.
Use of wild cards would be necessary to search such as word, with wild cards checked in quite a few different places. Most Stewart mentioned that as far as CT marks are concerned, the commercial services concentrating on trademarks have options classes are very broad and typically a dozen or so similar marks in place for this kind of search. CompuMark are thought to may be found and it may require going to each owner to handle many such searches in the UK, as they can be tricky.
negotiate e.g. to restrict use of a mark to a narrower activity range. Their experience of 25 years plus indicates that whenever This led to a discussion about phonetic searching and fuzzy the Patent Office becomes less rigorous, the demand for logic searching and how useful they are in trademark searching searching correspondingly declines. Persumably people decide - it is imperative rally to have such advanced options for such to take a chance rather than search and check first.
cases, or so many individual cases would need to be looked at. The limitations were also pointed out, as sounds vary so much Identical mark searches - there are some problems with search in different European languages alone, so that what is phonetic engines not being accurate enough and also with stop words, in one language does not necessarily translate to another.
e.g. Art of Being is an example where a lot of noise can be found. These kinds of problems particular to trade marks and Databases are coming on stream all the time from Trademark resulting in many cases needing to be examined are being Registration offices and from commercial suppliers - at least for gradually improved by search engine enhancements and by identical searches. Not knowing exactly how the search engine commercial companies in the sector. is working on the processing of results is a limitation in this field as it is hard to rely on the results across sources.
For instance a range of vendors offer trade mark specific options such as prefix, suffix, exact string (slow), sub string searching. Dialog and Catamaran were named as useful sources for Federal US Marks, in comparison to the USPTO website. Stewart finds Designs / devices can be searched on the IBIS system at The that he gets higher numbers of results from a Dialog search than British Library. Users need to make use of the Vienna at USPTO. Increasingly, in the UK trademark searchers are Classification, which helps with the visual representation of a asked to check USA State and Federal marks as well.
device or design. There are some problems in the way the Vienna Classification has been applied by some patent offices On both Catamaran and Marquesa a simultaneous search can be - if it has not been well applied, you can end up with very heavy carried out across files, but Austria was named as being postings e.g. for a bird within a circle.
available on Questel and Dialog only.
Thousands of geometric devices exist and often very large CT Registered Designs can be searched on Marquesa and numbers of pictures need to be checked to be sure, which is Questel. This is considered useful as some aspects are included time-consuming. In fact it can be prohibitive cost-wise to carry under CT Designs that would normally be found under out such as search prior to filing. Trademarks are classified Trademarks, leading to a view that CT Designs should probably Page 16 - Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 be checked as well as CT Marks. Word marks might also be Finally, Stewart mentioned Domain Names, which he finds searched alongside registered designs, an example was given quite awkward to search for trademarks, they have often already for the word Arsenal.
expired. He recommends that in this case, a check is made of the exact, actual domain name required.
Conventional design databases such as UK Designs need to be searched using the Locarno classification and it is possible to go This is a quick round-up of a very entertaining, quirky down the hierarchical classification 3 tiers at the UK website. presentation that was thoroughly enjoyed by those of us at the This is very useful in some areas such as bicycles! If you look meeting. Thanks very much to Stewart Rayment and Kingsley at bicycles or toy bicycles, there is a large variation, it saves a & Talboys for sharing their expertise with PATMG.
lot of time (and money) to look at about 25 records rather than 1000! HARNESS THE POWER OF INFORMATION
Online Information is the leading event for the changing information world and showcases all you need to know
about finding, creating, managing and sharing information for business and competitive advantage.
As someone who has registered an interest in our Online Information show in the past and has yet to make it to
the event, we hope that this year's exciting features and highlights will encourage you to attend.
Join us this year at Olympia on 4-6 December for Over 200 exhibitors showcasing the latest resources and solutions for * Business Information * Scientific, Technical & Medical Information * Social Media & Web 2.0 * Library Management * Web and Enterprise Content Management * Content Management * Document & Records Management A comprehensive programme of over 100 free seminars, bringing together the expertise and insight of industry experts with real life case studies. Programme Highlights include * Information Skills Masterclasses and Career Development Talks * Business & STM Information in Focus * ePublishing Solutions Seminars * Challenges for Academic and Corporate Libraries * Content Management 2.0 * Enterprise Search Solutions Seminars Networking opportunities with visitors from over 70 countries- build new business relationships or meet up with old colleagues To make sure you exploit all the opportunities and stay ahead in today's competitive environment, register now for your free ticket (pre-register by 30 November to save 15 entrance fee) and save the date in your dairy. We look forward to seeing you again at the show in December. Yours sincerely Jane LewisMarketing Manager Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 - Page 17 This new version of our increasingly popular patent search service includes a number of new features to increase usability, navigation, user-friendliness, and sharing capability. Earlier this year PatentExaminer, known in QPAT as Work files, has been fully integrated into QPAT, making it not only a powerful search service but a very useful service to sharing projects. QPAT v6 offers a number of enhancements to searching, navigating, displaying and exporting search results, including: Searching
• Introduction of a Quick Search page allowing novice patent searchers the ability to
perform a basic patent search
• Ability to permanently store, edit, and run a search strategy • Multi-page index search for assignees and inventors allowing you to quickly see and choose the possible differences in spellings and indexing • Easy number search allowing you to search and retrieve variations in patent numbers – for example US 5,000,000 or US5000000 Navigating
• Links to classification definitions have been expanded to include IPC Reform
• Links to EPOLINE for the EP register • On-the-fly translations to and from German, Spanish and English • Significantly enhanced multi-color key word highlighting at both the search and hitlist screens • PDF ordering available from the hitlist for either the hitlist displayed patent or all the family members • Users can now select which patent in the family will be displayed in the hitlist, from the earliest, most recent, or .preferredcountry preference family member Exporting
• Printer-friendly screens
• Faster exports in all available formats • Record export significantly expanded to 2,500 • Links to drawing mosaic and original patent facsimile in PDF available in PDF and RTF exports • Standard XML export format for all displays – XML Lite • Enhanced extended family table export Over the coming months you will see additional enhancements including integrating features developed by INCOM.
Page 18 - Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 The Patents and Designs Journal from the UK Intellectual Property Office seldom fails to come up with a handful of inventions to tickle the sense of humour, and issue No 6175 on September 26th Gill, Allan Time 2007 kept up this fine tradition of wackiness. Our attention fell first on GB0715962.7, in which Date Lodged: 16 Aug 2007 Allan Gill claims to have invented – wait for it – TIME. Which begs the question of what was going on before August 16th, the day when he made this epoch-making invention.
A mere five days after the invention of time, young (presumably) Benjamin Child was already busy solving some of the Great Problems that had arisen. He seems to have quickly become bored by his first generation entertainment medium and decided to set out his ideas for an improved version. Trouble is he didn't seem to have much of a clue Child, Benjamin My next gen first about expressing himself in writing – too much time spent playing computer games person controller. my idea would allowthe move around the game with your maybe? So what we get is a kind of stream-of-consciousness masquerading as the title feel and shoot people with 2 guns an of a patent specification. This mercifully ends abruptly after 150 characters, which hand gun which also can be presumably is the limit applied to the title field by UKIPO, in the mistaken belief that no invention, however complex, would need a working title longer than that. Date Lodged: 21 Aug 2007GB0716277.9 In fairness, inbetween these shortest and the longest titles in that PDJ issue there were a further 498 of intermediate length that made perfect sense, and no doubt many of them will in the fullness of time emerge as valuable granted patents. Not so those of Messrs Gill and Benjamin though, we fear.
Cover Image: WO2007056229
Game unit with dual joystick game
controllers - a piece of prior art that Mr Child
may need to consider before pressing ahead
with his "next gen".
BizInt announces Version 3.3 of BizInt Smart Charts for Patents, which will add support to
Minesoft PatentOrder, for delivery of patent copies in PDF format.
BizInt Smart Charts for Patents Version 3.2, an interim version, added compatibility for PatBase (developed by Minesoft and RWS), so that searches can be performed in PatBase and exported into BizInt Smart Chart for Patents for further post process-ing.
The BizInt Smart Charts post-processing tool creates tabular reports quickly, including a host of options to manipulate and analysedata further. Tables, records and images may be viewed, customised, printed or exported (to html, word, excel and other formats).
In addition, a range of statistics can be generated from the PatBase report, for subsequent graphical analysis. For further information and pricing options, please contact [email protected] or BizInt Solutions at [email protected].
Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 - Page 19 World Patent Information
Volume 29, Number 4
Harry Allcock: IPI Award 2007 Michael Blackman Michael Blackman News columns
Understanding and customizing stopword lists for enhanced News on patent, trade mark and design databases on the Antoine Blanchard Stephen van Dulken News from P.R.China The rigour of EPO's patentability criteria: an insight into the Wang Chun, Tian Yajuan, Wang Luyao and Zheng Ying "induced withdrawals"George Lazaridis and Bruno van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie WIPO NewsMichael Blackman Patent and literature statistics - the case of optoelectronicsChristian Sternitzke, AdamBartkowski, Heike Schwanbeck, Conference and meeting reports
and Reinhard Schramm East Meets West in Vienna, April 2007David Newton Database descriptions
U.S. Alien Property Custodian documents: A legacy prior art
European Patent Office Patlib Conference, Seville, Spain, May collection from World War II - Part 1 - History Michael White David Newton Patent office e-filing and information dissemination
PDG Annual Members' Conference, Maastricht, May 2007 Increasing online accessibility at IP Australia Minoo Philipp and Michael Blackman Results from the international workshop 'IPR in nanotechnology - lessons from experiences worldwide' The role of patents in establishing global telecommunications Angela Hullmann and Rudolf Frycek Matthew Trainer Literature listing and selective diary
Centenary of the enactment of the United Kingdom's Patents Literature listing and Designs Act 1907 David Newton Stephen Adams Selective diary of conferences, exhibitions, and courses Michael Blackman EPO online services: online filing and online fee paymentupdate Volume contents, subject index and author index for
Véronique Rogier Volume 29 (2007)
Other short communicationsMichael Blackman PIUG 2008
Save the date!
The 2008 PIUG Annual Conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City
(Virginia) on May 17-22, 2008.
Next year's conference will mark PIUG's 20th year and the 10th anniversary of the first independent, multi-day meeting, also held in Crystal City Page 20 - Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 Patent and Trade Mark Group
If you are reading this you should be a member! "Searcher" gets widely circulated by our members to their colleagues, but if youare reading this and are not a member, why not join us, receive your own copy of "Searcher" and the other benefits of membership? PATMG offers you the opportunity to participate in a professional networking group, meet new people working with patent and trade mark information and become involved in the Chartered Institute. Who are we?
The Patent and Trade Mark Group was formed in 1978 and is a Special Interest Group of the Chartered of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). Our members are drawn from industry, patent agencies, freelance searching firms, database producers and patent/trade mark information suppliers, academic institu- patent and trade mark offices and libraries. No qualifications are needed and currently there are around 500 members.The Group is based in the UK but membership is open to any interested individuals from anywhere Why join us?
Membership is a useful way of integrating with others to exchange ideas, information and techniques. The also functions as a collective voice for members in dealing with national and international bodies. We hold lectures and discussions on various aspects of patent and trade mark searching. These are normally free or discounted to members. "Searcher" keeps you up to date with what is happening and contains articles and comment on a range of topics.
How to join?
You do not have to be a member of CILIP to join. If you are a member of CILIP, you can choose PATMG as one of your two free Special Interest Groups for no additional payment. You can add PATMG as an additional Special Interest Group to your CILIP subscription for £3.50 per annum. If you do not wish to join CILIP, you join PATMG alone by paying the subscription fee of £25.00 for the current year. For subscribers in the
Euro Zone, annual membership is EUR45.00 and may be paid by Eurocheque. Send the completed form
below plus a cheque made payable to 'CILIP Patent and Trade Mark Group,' to PATMG Honorary Treasurer, 7 Ridgmount Street, London, WC1E 7AE OR pay your membership via PayPal.
I wish to apply for membership of the Patent and
To pay PATMG membership fees via
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Page 22 - Searcher Issue 115, Sept 07 / Oct 07 International Patent Information Conference & Exposition 2 - 6 March, 2008 • spain No other conference in Europe fulfils so precisely the
need for the professional development and continuing
education of Patent Information Professionals.
• Learn best practice methods for implementing patent searching & management solutions • Network with other Patent Information Professionals from leading corporations • Keep patent searching skills updated through presentations and vendor workshops • Gain insight from the in-depth IPI-MasterClass™ sessions focusing on key patent information topics • Hear patent office future plans and other industry news • Meet established and new patent information product and service vendors • Gain understanding regarding legal aspects of reviewing patent information an InfoGlobal™ Organisation THOMSON SCIENTIFIC Intellectual property insight from THOMSON Pharma®
Thomson Pharma gives you the content, analysis and tools you need to manage your patent portfolio, find opportunities to grow and generate revenue, and defend your IP rights from threats — both known and unknown.
Using Thomson Pharma, you can: • access full text patents and specially written abstracts • discover new markets and new licensing opportunities • stay informed on the latest drugs, trials, news stories and patents • gain invaluable insight on your competitors All over the world, professionals working at all stages of the drug lifecycle rely on Thomson Pharma for the essential data that can justify and speed their decision-making, meet their critical business challenges, and keep them abreast of the market.

Source: http://www.cilip.info/sites/default/files/documents/Searcher115.pdf