- Email: [email protected]
Communications
World Patent kformation, Pergamon
Vol. 16, No. 4. pp. 240243, 1994 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed
in Great
Britain
0172-2190(94)00060-3
Communications The editor welcomes section
contributions
to this
UK PATENT OFFICE The UK Patent Office has scooped the award for the best business to business press advertisement in the Campaign Marketing Forum awards. The Patent Office w& the only government agency to win an award. Created for the Patent Office by agency the advertisement Leagas Shafron, features a lugubrious security guard sitting beneath a framed picture of Mr Happy, from Roger Hargreaves’ Mr Men series. The advertisement is captioned: “No wonder he’s Mr Happy. He’s worth more than a Mr Holbein”. The advertisement highlights the value of protecting intellectual property (in this case by registering trade marks) and promotes the services of the Patent Office in offering impartial advice. The advertisement ends: “So. don’t be Mr Silly, write or phone for more information”. The advertisement is one of a series created by Leagas Shafron for the Patent Office. In a letter to the agency after the award, the Patent Office’s director of marketing and information Ted Blake wrote: “Call me Mr Delighted”. The UK Patent Office has published its second annual report as a trading fund Its accounts prepared on a full commercial basis - show a surplus to 31 March 1994 of f5.6 million for the year, after transferring the f4.2 million Eurooean Patent (UK) excess to the special reserve, providing interest on debts of &OS million and declaring a dividend (also SO.5 million) on public dividend capital.
October 1993) as an incentive service levels further.
to improve
Copies of the report are available, price f12.80, from HMSO bookshops and from the sales office of the Patent Office, Concept House, Cardiff Road, Newport, Gwent NP9 1RH or from the Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London WC2A IAY. Judgement
day in Newport
Newuort was on best behaviour on Wednesday 7 September as 60 judges from around the world gathered at the Patent Office for the three day European Patent Judges Symposium. Symposia take place every two years and have been hosted in the nast bv Munich. Strasbourg, Vienna, Lausanne, Turin and The Hague. This is the first time the UK has hosted the Symposium. As well as Justice Aldous, Lord Cullen, Justice Jacob and Judge Ford from the UK, judges from 17-other European countries, the chief US patent appellate judge and representatives from the European Patent Organisation were present. In addition, representatives from China and Japan attended for the first time. In closed sessions, the judges discussed various patent topics with a view to harmonishing the application of patent law and improving litigation procedures in Europe. Topics under discussion included novelty, prior use, and opposition and revocation procedures. The Svmoosium was onened on the morning ‘of Wednesday’ 7 September by John M. Taylor MP, parliamentary at the Lord Chancellor’s secretary Department.
The Symposium was concluded with a dinner in the Banqueting Hall of Cardiff Castle, preceded by a reception given on behalf of the City of Cardiff by Deputy Lord Mayor Cllr J. R. Philips.
BRITISH LIBRARY Library launches for schools
These cards form a project entitled the Patents for Schools Project which is jointly sponsored by the British Library, the Patent Office and the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents. The 18 educational workcards on design and development are aimed at helpi;g 7-11 year olds understand how everyday objects were invented and commercially developed. They cover subjects such as; communications, food and drink, toys and games and machines in the home, and include illustrations taken from patent specifications. The idea originated two years ago when Mrs Olwyn Phillips, a teacher from Chandlers Ford in Hampshire, was setting a project for her pupils on inventions that made historv. The mother of one of the pupils was a regular reader at the Science Reference and Information Service and she sent Olwyn some copies of famous patents, from the SRIS collections, to help with her project. These proved a highly successful teaching aid and 18 months later the British Library offered Olwyn a secondment at SRIS so that the idea of teachers’ workcards could be developed.
The report highlights the patent activity in differing areas of commercial and consumer interest such as mobile telephones, the search for alternatives to CFCs. the demand for biodegradable products and vehicles which produce low toxic emissions.
A resource
card illustrates
240
some bizarre
patented
cards
A project initiated by a teacher at a Hampshire junior school for her own pupils was the starting point for the development of an imaginative new series of resource cards for schools.
In volume terms patent applications in 1993 were two per cent down on 1992. UK residents continue to account for about 70 per cent of total demand. The rate of filing for design applications has steadied. The number of trade and service mark applications fell slightly in 1993, but given the prolonged nature of the economic recession the overall level of demand is encouraging.
The Patent Office is committed to the concept of continuous improvement and sees the award of the Charter Mark (in
patent resource
inventions
241
Communications
The Patents for Schools Project was officially launched at a reception on 28 March and formed part of the British Library’s contribution to National Science Week.
New Zealand Belgium South Africa Canada Sweden
To order this pack write to: Be an Inventor, FREEPOST LS3124, PO Box 10, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 6YY.
EuroDean Switzerland France UK Germany USA Japan World
DERWENT Patents Citation Index (PCI) - Derwent to launch Patents Citation database by end of year Last year’s Subscribers’ Meetings discussed the possibility of Derwent producing a citations database. Derwent has been progressing this project and has already set up and met advisory groups, produced samples and conducted tests with the participants of the advisory groups. Derwent is also currently undertaking a larger scale evaluation of the product and if, as expected, this roves positive then the database will &e launched later in the year. In summary, the Patents Citation Index, or PCI, will be an outline file containing citation data from published paten? aoolications. The file will contain both t&G citations given by the Examiner, as found in the Search Report or on the front page of the specification, and those given by the Author. As Author citations tend to remain constant across a family of applications they are only input for the basic family member. Both patent and literature citations will be given in the file. Patent citations will be processed regardless of the way they appear in the specification, so that they appear in Derwent format and will be further enhanced by additional information from WPI. However, literature citations will appear as they are presented in the document and will not be processed, at least for the initial release of this database. Relevance Indicators as given by the European Patent Office and in PCT specifications will be included. The file will encompass patents from all technologies. PCI will contain the following graphic data elements from WPI:
biblio-
Accession Number, Patent Number Patent Assignee, Derwent Title Inventor(s), Filing Information IPC, Derwent Class Designated States It will also contain a new data element. the Field of Search classification, i.e. the IPC or US Class areas searched bv the Examiner. This will appear adjaceht to the patent number. Country coverage for new database PCI Austria Netherlands Australia
Unexamined Basics All Patents Unexamined and Examined Basics
Unexamined Basics All Patents Unexamined Basics All Patents Unexamined and Examined Basics All Patents All Patents All Unexamined Patents All Unexamined Patents All Patents All Patents All Examined Patents All Patents
The selection is based on the patents for which Derwent receives the full specification and this country coverage will be increased as the database grows. The database will comprise ongoing data collected from the start of the database and backfile data collected from the tapes issued by some of the Patent Offices. It is expected that the ongoing data will represent over 150,000 records per year and that the backfile at launch will comprise over 2 million patents. As with WPI, the file will be updated ‘retrospectively’, that is, as further citations appear in new equivalents to records in the file, they will be added to the existing records.
CAS CAS introduces new academic learning materials for their chemical databases Today, at the American Chemical Society national meeting, CAS announced the introduction of new instructional materials for college and university students to use in learning how to search CAS’s chemical informat& databases. The materials, which were developed in collaboration with academic advisory groups in the United States and Europe, teach the fundamentals of using the CA file and the CAS Registry file on STN International. The seven lessons in the module teach the basics of online searching and, more specifically, text searching., author searching, and text-based chemical substance searching. The package includes student manuals and instructor’s materials, both of which are available in printed form for a nominal fee. In the future, the materials will also be available for downloading free of charge through the CAS Internet Web server that is currentlv i in development. CAS Marketing Director Suzan Brown said, “Our academic users have been asking us to develop training materials that can be used in teaching students about the CAS online databases. We are pleased that we have been able to meet this request by bringing them instructional materials that have been developed through a collaborative effort between CAS and the academic community. It’s through such collaborations that \;e can most effectively achieve our mutual goal of training future chemists.”
CAS plans to bring out additional training modules, including one on structure searching, beginning in 199.5. The initial student’s manual and instructor’s package will be available for the 1994 academic year. For further information on this new academic learning package, contact CAS Customer Service at 614-447-3731 or SOO753-4227 (in North America) or via the Internet at [email protected]. CAS registers substance
13
millionth
chemical
CAS has recorded the 13 millionth chemical substance in its computerbased Chemical Registry System. The CAS Registry contains information on essentially all chemical substances reported in the scientific literature since 19.57. The 13 millionth substance to be registered was a synthetic polymer reported in a paper by H. A. Schneider, N. Steinhauser, and R. Muelhaupt of the University of Freiburg, Germany. The polymer was assigned CAS Registry Number 155827-99-9. CAS developed the Registry System in the early 1960s to provide a means for determining whether a chemical substance reported in the scientific literature had been indexed nreviouslv in Chemical Abstracts and for ;etrieving’the previously assigned CA index name if it had one. Today, more than 700,000 new substances are recorded in the Registry each year. The substance information in the Registry system is available for online searching through the STN International online information network and other vendors. Registration of a chemical substance is based on a connection table description of its molecular structure. Each u&que structure is assigned a CAS Reeistrv Number, which serves as a permineit identifying number for the substance and a link between the structure record and other information about the substance, including the various names CAS has encountered for it in the literature. The 13 million registered substances have more than 19.5 million names associated with them. While computer-based registration of chemical substances did not begin until January 1965, CAS in the 1980s added substances from Chemical Abstracts indexes published from 1957 through 1964 to the Registry. Over the past several years, CAS has expanded and enhanced the Registry through the addition of searchable and dis layable sequences for several hundred t g ousand peptides, proteins, and nucleic acids and the addition of specific atombond stereochemistry to the Registry connection tables for chiral substances to permit stereo-specific structure searching and display. While the Registry began as an internal indexing and processing aid at CAS, it has become an international resource
242
Communications
for chemical substance identification. The CAS Registry Numbers generated by the system are a standard for substance identification throughout the industrial world, appearing in both public and private computer databases and in many handbooks and reference works. The Registry provided substance identification support in compiling the Toxic Substance Control Act inventory in the U.S., the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substances, and the Canadian Domestic and Non-Domestic Substances lists. For further information about the chemical substance identification services that are available through the CAS Registry, contact CAS Cusiomer Service at 614-447-3731 or 800-753-4227 (in North America) or via the Internet ‘at [email protected].
agree to publish
Center
of
Science
and
Dialog Information Services. Inc.. a Knigh?-Ridder company, is the acknbwledzed world leader in electronic infor‘J. mation access and delivery. The DIALOG* service contains more than 450 databases, primarily in the business, news, scientific and technical areas, used by over 155,000 customers in 100 countries. The DIALOG OnDisc collection of databases on CD-ROM consists of more than 60 titles offered in six subiect families: Business Information, Education & Humanities, Health & Biomedicine, Law & Government, Newspapers, and Science & Technology.
EPO European patents will shortly have effect in Romania too, although the country is not yet a member of the European Patent Organisation.
CAS AND DIALOG CAS and Dialog standard
Information Technology.
new
To help standardize the procedures used to search and retrieve scientific and technical information from electronic databases, CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service) and Dialog Information Services, Inc.? have announced their agreement to jom other information providers in co-sponsoring publication of the Scientific and Technical Attribute Set (STAS). STAS is a list of standard data elements, their names and abbreviations, and a unique data element ID number. It is designed to improve interoperability consumers and providers of among scientific and technical information using the 239.50 protocol. Prior to its development, there was no standard way to refer to a large number of searchable and retrievable fields within scientific and technical databases. In making the announcement, CAS director Robert J. Massie and Dialog president Patrick Tierney acknowledged that STAS’ develoument and nublication represents the first’ time the world’s two largest scientific and technical database providers have worked together to develop an industry standard. CAS and Dialog are joined by The Clearinghouse for Networked Information Discovery and Retrieval (CNIDR), and FIZ Karlsruhe as co-sponsors in publishing STAS. Founded in 1907, CAS is the world’s leading provider of chemical information. A division of the American Chemical Society, CAS publishes Chemical Abstracts (CA) and related publications and CD-ROM services, operates the CAS Chemical Registry System of more than 13 million substance records, and produces a family of online databases, including the CA and CAS REGISTRY files. CAS operates STN International, a network of scientific and technical in association with FIZ databases, Karlsruhe in Germany and the Japan
The agreement was signed in Bucharest by D; Paul Braendli,-President of the Euronean Patent Office (EPO). and Dr Florin Georgescu,, the Romanian State and Finance Minister. It provides applicants for European patents with a simple and low-cost means of extending protection for their inventions, beyond the territorv of the Oreanisation’s member staies (EU states, Austria, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Sweden, Switzerland). to Romania. The agreement is due to enter into force in lg95 after being ratified by the Romanian parliament. Similar agreements, in which other states have expressed interest, have already been concluded with Slovenia, Latvia and Lithuania. They not only meet industry’s need for protection, but also the interests of central and eastern European countries, which are thereby given the nossibilitv of narticipating zffectively in the -European paten system. The essential conditions are thus established for economic co-operation and urgently needed direct investment. The EPO and Romania have also agreed to co-operate closely in modernising the Romanian patent system. In particular, the EPO will help train patent office staff and set up a Romanian patent information system. Complete EP and PCT bibliographic information on the ESPACE ACCESS CD-ROM As of the September 94 issue, the ESPACE ACCESS CD-ROM published bv the Euronean Patent Office contains complete bibliographic information on European and PCT patent applications, from 1978 to date on just two CD-ROMs. ESPACE ACCESS is updated monthly. More than 780,000 notices are searchable through 14 different search fields, including IPC, titles in English, French and German, inventors, applicants, etc. Abstracts in English are available for searching both European and PCT patent applications. Abstracts in French
are also displayed on screen with PCT bibliographic information. Cross references to other ESPACE CD-ROM series containing the corresponding complete facsimile images are provided. Annual subscription for ESPACE ACCESS remains 950. - DM + P&P. For further information: Tel +43 1521262411; fax: +43 152126 2492; e-mail NlEPOGZP @ibmmail.com.
FIZ KARLSRUHE Medium-sized companies constitute an important resource for FIZ Karlsruhe. They are increasingly taking advantage of the Online Service and the search and SD1 services provided by FIZ staff. In the wake of the opening up of the East European market, STN offices in Moscow, Kiev, Sofia, Prague, and Vilnius were established. 1993 was marked by a significant increase in patent searches. Operated cooperativelyby FIZ Karlsruhe, Chemical Abstracts Service (CA% in Columbus. OH, and the Japan Information Center of Science and Technology (JICST) in Tokyo, STN International is approaching its goal to become a leader in patent information, as is already the case with chemical information. Eleven new databases were loaded at the European STN Service Center. FIZ Karlsruhe. in 1993; the most’ important ones being World Patents Index (WPI) and Biotechnology Abstracts (BIOTECHABS) of Derwent Information Ltd in London, the worldwide leading publisher of patent information. Implementation of the Japanese patents database JAPIO is scheduled for end of 1994. At the end of 1993, the three STN Service Centers together provided access to 180 (at present 188, in 1992: 151) databases containing more than 133 million records. Containing approximately 68 million records, 84 of these databases (in 1992: 75) are loaded at the European STN Service Center Karlsruhe. In the same year, connect hours with STN Karlsruhe increased by 8 per cent to 75,153, provision of passwords increased by 19 per cent to 16,896. In 1993, FIZ Karlsruhe processed 264,796 records for its own databases as well as for databases nroduced in cooperation with national and international partners (17 in total). FIZ Karlsruhe staff totals 354 employees, 308 of them are located in Karlsruhe, 33 in Berlin, and 13 in Bonn. Orientation towards customers’ needs has prime priority not only with regard to development of user software and learning systems, e.g. on CD-ROMs. On the occasion of the INFOBASE Fair in May 1993, the STN Personal File database management system was awarded the COGlTO journal’s Newcomer Prize for outstanding user-friendly development. Amongst others, this software is designed to edit search results obtained from STN databases, on your own PC.
243
Communications
IMAGES ONLINE Images are now DIALOG, ORBIT
available on STN, and QUESTEL.
The images are taken from DERWENT Alerting Abstract Bulletins. Images from electrical and engineering sector are available from week 8801, for chemical formulae from week 9201. The user can three ways:
access
these
images
in
via an image handling communications software which allows the user to display the image on the screen; deliverv of the images via the host’s ‘e-mail system as offline prints; direct mailing of the records to the user without the need of an image handling software. The Image file will be updated on a weekly basis (6000 new images a week including 500 chemical formulae). The most representative selected from the Basic
drawings document
are and,
from 9409, all Basics with drawings from Spain, Korea, Hungary, Israel and the Czech Republic will also be covered.
AUSTRIA From June 1994 onwards the AT patent office has started to grant a utility model. The maximum lifetime will be 10 years from the filing date. Utilitv model numbers start with number 1, the hling numbers are of the structure 2nnnnn,, e.g. 200014 for the 14th filing of a utility model. Printed specifications will be available from 940725 onwards. i.e. a similar situation as for AT patents: the grant takes place approx. 1 month before publication.
BULGARIA From December 1993 onwards the BG patent office has published patent specifications in two publication steps: the laid open applications; the granted patents.
have kind-ofLaid open applications document code A. The filing number too. is- used as publication . .number ^. tiranted patents have kind-ot-document code B2. This code replaces the former code A3. The new BG document types were contained in EPIDOS bibliographic services of week 94/17 for the first time.
SWITZERLAND In the Swiss patent office a CD-ROM jukebox system has been integrated into the existing data processing infrastructure. PeriTEC AG utilised its CD-ROM jukebox PeriLIB-777 holding 777 CDs and an MS-DOS network provides access for up to 50 users simultaneously. The system has been expanded in October 1994 to utihse four PeriLIB units holding a total of 3108 CDs. Access to the EPO EPOQUE database in The Hague to obtain selection from a wide variety of search terms is provided through an X.25 Telepac link which, with an appropriate interface, provides simultaneous access for up to 12 users.
Vol. 16, No. 4. pp. 240243, 1994 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed
in Great
Britain
0172-2190(94)00060-3
Communications The editor welcomes section
contributions
to this
UK PATENT OFFICE The UK Patent Office has scooped the award for the best business to business press advertisement in the Campaign Marketing Forum awards. The Patent Office w& the only government agency to win an award. Created for the Patent Office by agency the advertisement Leagas Shafron, features a lugubrious security guard sitting beneath a framed picture of Mr Happy, from Roger Hargreaves’ Mr Men series. The advertisement is captioned: “No wonder he’s Mr Happy. He’s worth more than a Mr Holbein”. The advertisement highlights the value of protecting intellectual property (in this case by registering trade marks) and promotes the services of the Patent Office in offering impartial advice. The advertisement ends: “So. don’t be Mr Silly, write or phone for more information”. The advertisement is one of a series created by Leagas Shafron for the Patent Office. In a letter to the agency after the award, the Patent Office’s director of marketing and information Ted Blake wrote: “Call me Mr Delighted”. The UK Patent Office has published its second annual report as a trading fund Its accounts prepared on a full commercial basis - show a surplus to 31 March 1994 of f5.6 million for the year, after transferring the f4.2 million Eurooean Patent (UK) excess to the special reserve, providing interest on debts of &OS million and declaring a dividend (also SO.5 million) on public dividend capital.
October 1993) as an incentive service levels further.
to improve
Copies of the report are available, price f12.80, from HMSO bookshops and from the sales office of the Patent Office, Concept House, Cardiff Road, Newport, Gwent NP9 1RH or from the Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London WC2A IAY. Judgement
day in Newport
Newuort was on best behaviour on Wednesday 7 September as 60 judges from around the world gathered at the Patent Office for the three day European Patent Judges Symposium. Symposia take place every two years and have been hosted in the nast bv Munich. Strasbourg, Vienna, Lausanne, Turin and The Hague. This is the first time the UK has hosted the Symposium. As well as Justice Aldous, Lord Cullen, Justice Jacob and Judge Ford from the UK, judges from 17-other European countries, the chief US patent appellate judge and representatives from the European Patent Organisation were present. In addition, representatives from China and Japan attended for the first time. In closed sessions, the judges discussed various patent topics with a view to harmonishing the application of patent law and improving litigation procedures in Europe. Topics under discussion included novelty, prior use, and opposition and revocation procedures. The Svmoosium was onened on the morning ‘of Wednesday’ 7 September by John M. Taylor MP, parliamentary at the Lord Chancellor’s secretary Department.
The Symposium was concluded with a dinner in the Banqueting Hall of Cardiff Castle, preceded by a reception given on behalf of the City of Cardiff by Deputy Lord Mayor Cllr J. R. Philips.
BRITISH LIBRARY Library launches for schools
These cards form a project entitled the Patents for Schools Project which is jointly sponsored by the British Library, the Patent Office and the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents. The 18 educational workcards on design and development are aimed at helpi;g 7-11 year olds understand how everyday objects were invented and commercially developed. They cover subjects such as; communications, food and drink, toys and games and machines in the home, and include illustrations taken from patent specifications. The idea originated two years ago when Mrs Olwyn Phillips, a teacher from Chandlers Ford in Hampshire, was setting a project for her pupils on inventions that made historv. The mother of one of the pupils was a regular reader at the Science Reference and Information Service and she sent Olwyn some copies of famous patents, from the SRIS collections, to help with her project. These proved a highly successful teaching aid and 18 months later the British Library offered Olwyn a secondment at SRIS so that the idea of teachers’ workcards could be developed.
The report highlights the patent activity in differing areas of commercial and consumer interest such as mobile telephones, the search for alternatives to CFCs. the demand for biodegradable products and vehicles which produce low toxic emissions.
A resource
card illustrates
240
some bizarre
patented
cards
A project initiated by a teacher at a Hampshire junior school for her own pupils was the starting point for the development of an imaginative new series of resource cards for schools.
In volume terms patent applications in 1993 were two per cent down on 1992. UK residents continue to account for about 70 per cent of total demand. The rate of filing for design applications has steadied. The number of trade and service mark applications fell slightly in 1993, but given the prolonged nature of the economic recession the overall level of demand is encouraging.
The Patent Office is committed to the concept of continuous improvement and sees the award of the Charter Mark (in
patent resource
inventions
241
Communications
The Patents for Schools Project was officially launched at a reception on 28 March and formed part of the British Library’s contribution to National Science Week.
New Zealand Belgium South Africa Canada Sweden
To order this pack write to: Be an Inventor, FREEPOST LS3124, PO Box 10, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 6YY.
EuroDean Switzerland France UK Germany USA Japan World
DERWENT Patents Citation Index (PCI) - Derwent to launch Patents Citation database by end of year Last year’s Subscribers’ Meetings discussed the possibility of Derwent producing a citations database. Derwent has been progressing this project and has already set up and met advisory groups, produced samples and conducted tests with the participants of the advisory groups. Derwent is also currently undertaking a larger scale evaluation of the product and if, as expected, this roves positive then the database will &e launched later in the year. In summary, the Patents Citation Index, or PCI, will be an outline file containing citation data from published paten? aoolications. The file will contain both t&G citations given by the Examiner, as found in the Search Report or on the front page of the specification, and those given by the Author. As Author citations tend to remain constant across a family of applications they are only input for the basic family member. Both patent and literature citations will be given in the file. Patent citations will be processed regardless of the way they appear in the specification, so that they appear in Derwent format and will be further enhanced by additional information from WPI. However, literature citations will appear as they are presented in the document and will not be processed, at least for the initial release of this database. Relevance Indicators as given by the European Patent Office and in PCT specifications will be included. The file will encompass patents from all technologies. PCI will contain the following graphic data elements from WPI:
biblio-
Accession Number, Patent Number Patent Assignee, Derwent Title Inventor(s), Filing Information IPC, Derwent Class Designated States It will also contain a new data element. the Field of Search classification, i.e. the IPC or US Class areas searched bv the Examiner. This will appear adjaceht to the patent number. Country coverage for new database PCI Austria Netherlands Australia
Unexamined Basics All Patents Unexamined and Examined Basics
Unexamined Basics All Patents Unexamined Basics All Patents Unexamined and Examined Basics All Patents All Patents All Unexamined Patents All Unexamined Patents All Patents All Patents All Examined Patents All Patents
The selection is based on the patents for which Derwent receives the full specification and this country coverage will be increased as the database grows. The database will comprise ongoing data collected from the start of the database and backfile data collected from the tapes issued by some of the Patent Offices. It is expected that the ongoing data will represent over 150,000 records per year and that the backfile at launch will comprise over 2 million patents. As with WPI, the file will be updated ‘retrospectively’, that is, as further citations appear in new equivalents to records in the file, they will be added to the existing records.
CAS CAS introduces new academic learning materials for their chemical databases Today, at the American Chemical Society national meeting, CAS announced the introduction of new instructional materials for college and university students to use in learning how to search CAS’s chemical informat& databases. The materials, which were developed in collaboration with academic advisory groups in the United States and Europe, teach the fundamentals of using the CA file and the CAS Registry file on STN International. The seven lessons in the module teach the basics of online searching and, more specifically, text searching., author searching, and text-based chemical substance searching. The package includes student manuals and instructor’s materials, both of which are available in printed form for a nominal fee. In the future, the materials will also be available for downloading free of charge through the CAS Internet Web server that is currentlv i in development. CAS Marketing Director Suzan Brown said, “Our academic users have been asking us to develop training materials that can be used in teaching students about the CAS online databases. We are pleased that we have been able to meet this request by bringing them instructional materials that have been developed through a collaborative effort between CAS and the academic community. It’s through such collaborations that \;e can most effectively achieve our mutual goal of training future chemists.”
CAS plans to bring out additional training modules, including one on structure searching, beginning in 199.5. The initial student’s manual and instructor’s package will be available for the 1994 academic year. For further information on this new academic learning package, contact CAS Customer Service at 614-447-3731 or SOO753-4227 (in North America) or via the Internet at [email protected]. CAS registers substance
13
millionth
chemical
CAS has recorded the 13 millionth chemical substance in its computerbased Chemical Registry System. The CAS Registry contains information on essentially all chemical substances reported in the scientific literature since 19.57. The 13 millionth substance to be registered was a synthetic polymer reported in a paper by H. A. Schneider, N. Steinhauser, and R. Muelhaupt of the University of Freiburg, Germany. The polymer was assigned CAS Registry Number 155827-99-9. CAS developed the Registry System in the early 1960s to provide a means for determining whether a chemical substance reported in the scientific literature had been indexed nreviouslv in Chemical Abstracts and for ;etrieving’the previously assigned CA index name if it had one. Today, more than 700,000 new substances are recorded in the Registry each year. The substance information in the Registry system is available for online searching through the STN International online information network and other vendors. Registration of a chemical substance is based on a connection table description of its molecular structure. Each u&que structure is assigned a CAS Reeistrv Number, which serves as a permineit identifying number for the substance and a link between the structure record and other information about the substance, including the various names CAS has encountered for it in the literature. The 13 million registered substances have more than 19.5 million names associated with them. While computer-based registration of chemical substances did not begin until January 1965, CAS in the 1980s added substances from Chemical Abstracts indexes published from 1957 through 1964 to the Registry. Over the past several years, CAS has expanded and enhanced the Registry through the addition of searchable and dis layable sequences for several hundred t g ousand peptides, proteins, and nucleic acids and the addition of specific atombond stereochemistry to the Registry connection tables for chiral substances to permit stereo-specific structure searching and display. While the Registry began as an internal indexing and processing aid at CAS, it has become an international resource
242
Communications
for chemical substance identification. The CAS Registry Numbers generated by the system are a standard for substance identification throughout the industrial world, appearing in both public and private computer databases and in many handbooks and reference works. The Registry provided substance identification support in compiling the Toxic Substance Control Act inventory in the U.S., the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substances, and the Canadian Domestic and Non-Domestic Substances lists. For further information about the chemical substance identification services that are available through the CAS Registry, contact CAS Cusiomer Service at 614-447-3731 or 800-753-4227 (in North America) or via the Internet ‘at [email protected].
agree to publish
Center
of
Science
and
Dialog Information Services. Inc.. a Knigh?-Ridder company, is the acknbwledzed world leader in electronic infor‘J. mation access and delivery. The DIALOG* service contains more than 450 databases, primarily in the business, news, scientific and technical areas, used by over 155,000 customers in 100 countries. The DIALOG OnDisc collection of databases on CD-ROM consists of more than 60 titles offered in six subiect families: Business Information, Education & Humanities, Health & Biomedicine, Law & Government, Newspapers, and Science & Technology.
EPO European patents will shortly have effect in Romania too, although the country is not yet a member of the European Patent Organisation.
CAS AND DIALOG CAS and Dialog standard
Information Technology.
new
To help standardize the procedures used to search and retrieve scientific and technical information from electronic databases, CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service) and Dialog Information Services, Inc.? have announced their agreement to jom other information providers in co-sponsoring publication of the Scientific and Technical Attribute Set (STAS). STAS is a list of standard data elements, their names and abbreviations, and a unique data element ID number. It is designed to improve interoperability consumers and providers of among scientific and technical information using the 239.50 protocol. Prior to its development, there was no standard way to refer to a large number of searchable and retrievable fields within scientific and technical databases. In making the announcement, CAS director Robert J. Massie and Dialog president Patrick Tierney acknowledged that STAS’ develoument and nublication represents the first’ time the world’s two largest scientific and technical database providers have worked together to develop an industry standard. CAS and Dialog are joined by The Clearinghouse for Networked Information Discovery and Retrieval (CNIDR), and FIZ Karlsruhe as co-sponsors in publishing STAS. Founded in 1907, CAS is the world’s leading provider of chemical information. A division of the American Chemical Society, CAS publishes Chemical Abstracts (CA) and related publications and CD-ROM services, operates the CAS Chemical Registry System of more than 13 million substance records, and produces a family of online databases, including the CA and CAS REGISTRY files. CAS operates STN International, a network of scientific and technical in association with FIZ databases, Karlsruhe in Germany and the Japan
The agreement was signed in Bucharest by D; Paul Braendli,-President of the Euronean Patent Office (EPO). and Dr Florin Georgescu,, the Romanian State and Finance Minister. It provides applicants for European patents with a simple and low-cost means of extending protection for their inventions, beyond the territorv of the Oreanisation’s member staies (EU states, Austria, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Sweden, Switzerland). to Romania. The agreement is due to enter into force in lg95 after being ratified by the Romanian parliament. Similar agreements, in which other states have expressed interest, have already been concluded with Slovenia, Latvia and Lithuania. They not only meet industry’s need for protection, but also the interests of central and eastern European countries, which are thereby given the nossibilitv of narticipating zffectively in the -European paten system. The essential conditions are thus established for economic co-operation and urgently needed direct investment. The EPO and Romania have also agreed to co-operate closely in modernising the Romanian patent system. In particular, the EPO will help train patent office staff and set up a Romanian patent information system. Complete EP and PCT bibliographic information on the ESPACE ACCESS CD-ROM As of the September 94 issue, the ESPACE ACCESS CD-ROM published bv the Euronean Patent Office contains complete bibliographic information on European and PCT patent applications, from 1978 to date on just two CD-ROMs. ESPACE ACCESS is updated monthly. More than 780,000 notices are searchable through 14 different search fields, including IPC, titles in English, French and German, inventors, applicants, etc. Abstracts in English are available for searching both European and PCT patent applications. Abstracts in French
are also displayed on screen with PCT bibliographic information. Cross references to other ESPACE CD-ROM series containing the corresponding complete facsimile images are provided. Annual subscription for ESPACE ACCESS remains 950. - DM + P&P. For further information: Tel +43 1521262411; fax: +43 152126 2492; e-mail NlEPOGZP @ibmmail.com.
FIZ KARLSRUHE Medium-sized companies constitute an important resource for FIZ Karlsruhe. They are increasingly taking advantage of the Online Service and the search and SD1 services provided by FIZ staff. In the wake of the opening up of the East European market, STN offices in Moscow, Kiev, Sofia, Prague, and Vilnius were established. 1993 was marked by a significant increase in patent searches. Operated cooperativelyby FIZ Karlsruhe, Chemical Abstracts Service (CA% in Columbus. OH, and the Japan Information Center of Science and Technology (JICST) in Tokyo, STN International is approaching its goal to become a leader in patent information, as is already the case with chemical information. Eleven new databases were loaded at the European STN Service Center. FIZ Karlsruhe. in 1993; the most’ important ones being World Patents Index (WPI) and Biotechnology Abstracts (BIOTECHABS) of Derwent Information Ltd in London, the worldwide leading publisher of patent information. Implementation of the Japanese patents database JAPIO is scheduled for end of 1994. At the end of 1993, the three STN Service Centers together provided access to 180 (at present 188, in 1992: 151) databases containing more than 133 million records. Containing approximately 68 million records, 84 of these databases (in 1992: 75) are loaded at the European STN Service Center Karlsruhe. In the same year, connect hours with STN Karlsruhe increased by 8 per cent to 75,153, provision of passwords increased by 19 per cent to 16,896. In 1993, FIZ Karlsruhe processed 264,796 records for its own databases as well as for databases nroduced in cooperation with national and international partners (17 in total). FIZ Karlsruhe staff totals 354 employees, 308 of them are located in Karlsruhe, 33 in Berlin, and 13 in Bonn. Orientation towards customers’ needs has prime priority not only with regard to development of user software and learning systems, e.g. on CD-ROMs. On the occasion of the INFOBASE Fair in May 1993, the STN Personal File database management system was awarded the COGlTO journal’s Newcomer Prize for outstanding user-friendly development. Amongst others, this software is designed to edit search results obtained from STN databases, on your own PC.
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Communications
IMAGES ONLINE Images are now DIALOG, ORBIT
available on STN, and QUESTEL.
The images are taken from DERWENT Alerting Abstract Bulletins. Images from electrical and engineering sector are available from week 8801, for chemical formulae from week 9201. The user can three ways:
access
these
images
in
via an image handling communications software which allows the user to display the image on the screen; deliverv of the images via the host’s ‘e-mail system as offline prints; direct mailing of the records to the user without the need of an image handling software. The Image file will be updated on a weekly basis (6000 new images a week including 500 chemical formulae). The most representative selected from the Basic
drawings document
are and,
from 9409, all Basics with drawings from Spain, Korea, Hungary, Israel and the Czech Republic will also be covered.
AUSTRIA From June 1994 onwards the AT patent office has started to grant a utility model. The maximum lifetime will be 10 years from the filing date. Utilitv model numbers start with number 1, the hling numbers are of the structure 2nnnnn,, e.g. 200014 for the 14th filing of a utility model. Printed specifications will be available from 940725 onwards. i.e. a similar situation as for AT patents: the grant takes place approx. 1 month before publication.
BULGARIA From December 1993 onwards the BG patent office has published patent specifications in two publication steps: the laid open applications; the granted patents.
have kind-ofLaid open applications document code A. The filing number too. is- used as publication . .number ^. tiranted patents have kind-ot-document code B2. This code replaces the former code A3. The new BG document types were contained in EPIDOS bibliographic services of week 94/17 for the first time.
SWITZERLAND In the Swiss patent office a CD-ROM jukebox system has been integrated into the existing data processing infrastructure. PeriTEC AG utilised its CD-ROM jukebox PeriLIB-777 holding 777 CDs and an MS-DOS network provides access for up to 50 users simultaneously. The system has been expanded in October 1994 to utihse four PeriLIB units holding a total of 3108 CDs. Access to the EPO EPOQUE database in The Hague to obtain selection from a wide variety of search terms is provided through an X.25 Telepac link which, with an appropriate interface, provides simultaneous access for up to 12 users.