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Survey of the Annual Technical Reports 1994 of the Patent Offices on Patent Information Activities
World Patent Information, Vol. 17. No. 4.
pp.
267-272, 1995
Elsevier
Science Ltd CEWIPO Printed in Great Britain 0172-2390/95 $9.50 + 0.00
Pergamon
0172-2190(95)000429
Survey of the Annual Technical Reports 1994 of the Patent Offices on Patent Information Activities V. S. Dodd, former Editor, World Patent Information
Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, distribution, and use of primary and secondary sources of patent information
Introduction The Annual Technical Reports 1994 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Industrial Property and Patent Offices to the WIPO Permanent Committee on Patent and Industrial Property Information (PCIPI) and published by WIPO in the series denoted PCIPI/ATR/PI/94/XY (where XY represents the country code of the office providing the respective report), are surveyed in the following article. Each report summarizes the activities in 1994 of the relevant office in the patent information and documentation fields and in some cases, indicates its plans for the future. They thus provide a valuable overview of the ongoing activities of the offices and give some indication of future developments in these activities. The survey concentrates on what appear from the reports to be new developments in 1994 and the progress of developing projects.
The Armenian on publication
office has finished preparatory work of its Official Gazette entitled Industrial Property and publication was expected to start in the first half of 1995 in Armenian and Russian languages. From June 1994 Austria has published three kinds of documents relating to registered utility model applications, namely Ul (examined and searched application), U2 (examined but not searched) and U3 (separately published search report). Announcements on applications for Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) and on granted SPCs are published monthly in the patent gazette. The Belarus office has, since May 1994, published a quarterly Official Bulletin.
The survey is based upon reports received by the Editor by the end of July 1994 and covers the reports of the following offices:
The EPO continued its expansion of the family of national documents on ESPACE CD-ROMs and there are now over 18 series of discs in production. New additions include ESPACE-IT, ESPACE-OAPI, and ESPACE-ASEAN. New enhanced software for ESPACE discs, PATSOFT version 3.2, was distributed to over 1200 users by the end of 1994. Further progress was also made in software and tools for mixed-mode CD-ROMs (the MIMOSA project).
Armenia (AM), ARIPO (AP), Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Brazil (BR), Belarus (BY), Canada (CA), Chile (CL), Cuba (CU), Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Egypt (EG), Estonia (EE), European Patent Office (EP), Finland (FI), Germany (DE), Hungary (HU), Israel (IL), Japan (JP), Kazakhstan (KZ), Lithuania (LT), Malaysia (MY), Moldova (MD), Mongolia (MN), The Netherlands (NL), Norway (NO), Poland (PL), Romania (RO), Slovakia (SK), Spain (ES), Sri Lanka (LK), Trinidad and Tobago (TT), Ukraine (UA), United Kingdom (GB), Uzbekistan (UZ), Yugoslavia (YU).
Finnish A-documents are only published as abstracts whilst the B- and C-documents are published in both paper and microfiche form. The office is planning to publish B-documents also on CD-ROM. The German office has produced a new CD-ROM series, DEPAROM, in place of the former ESPACE-DE series. It com@ises: DEPAROM-ACT
In the survey the items are grouped under the headings recommended for the reports by WIPO. 267
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V. S. Dodd
(A and C documents as well as claims of European and International applications in German); DEPAROM-U (utility models); and DEPAROM-T2 (German translations of European patent specifications). The series is fully compatible with the former PATSOFT software. In connection with the year 2000 the office is gradually introducing eight-digit application and publication numbers for the different industrial property publications. The first documents to bear these numbers are the German translations of European patent specifications DE-T2. In addition to the existing publication on CD-ROM of unexamined patent and utility model applications, the Japanese office has started publication of examined applications on CD-ROM. Production of paper copies of unexamined applications has been discontinued. The Kazakhstan office publishes the official bulletin in Kazak and Russian languages.
patent
In the Ukraine work on electronic publication, in the form of a e.g. of the Official G azette, database on magnetic storage means, continued. The database contains text and image files of sources of patent information. Dissemination of electronic publications is realised by TV broadcasting or distribution on diskettes. In September 1993 Uzbekistan published its first Official Gazette and publication of the Mongolian Official Gazette started in January 1994.
Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, re-classifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents Approximately 1400 abstracts of Danish patents issued after 1978 and having no foreign patent family members, are being translated into English for loading into the EPO databases. The EPO has started a new project, DOCTOOL, allowing examiners to capture knowledge gained during searching. DOCTOOL allows users to add data to all documents recorded in the EPODOC database. Eventually DOCTOOL will be used for the online classification of new incoming documents. Four kinds of data will be captured i.e. ECLA classification symbols and indexing codes, keywords in English specific to a technical search field, and free text in English. After initial testing the design was completed in early 1995 and the system is expected to be fully operational in late 1995. In the German office, use of the IPC hybrid classification is obligatory. Indexing codes are searchable in the online database PATDPA.
The Hungarian version of the sixth edition of the IPC was prepared and included on the 1PC:CLASS 6 CD-ROM. In Japan, Patent Abstracts of Japan (PAJ) have been published on mixed-mode CD-ROMs using MIMOSA software since October 1994 and these are intended to replace the paper publication. The backfile of PAJ (1976-1993) will be recorded on 99 CD-ROMs, covering 69 technical fields, over a period of two years and will be provided free of charge to 80 offices and organisations, starting in April 1995. Japanese abstracts of US and EP patent specifications were distributed to examiners as well as the sorted collections of first pages, claims and drawings of CA, AT and AU specifications. The abstracts on the first page of Malaysian documents are arranged by the examiners according to the IPC for search purposes. The bibliographic data of patent applications is stored in a database and searching on applicants or inventors is possible. Spain implements the IPC hybrid systems, with two-position classification symbols being published instead of the oblique stroke. The indexing terms appear on paper, microfiche and CD-ROM publications and are also included in databases. In the UK on 1st January 1995 certain amended parts of the UK Classification Key were republished and these, together with the unamended parts of edition M, collectively constitute edition N. The amendments affected 54 headings of the Key. EP and PCT published applications continue to be classified in five headings of the Key.
Activities in the field of computerized and other mechanized search systems A plan for the computerisation of the Armenian office, approved by WIPO, has been elaborated. At present a local network of seven workstations has been developed. Preparation for publication of the Official Gazette by computerisation has been organised. A new electronic data processing system for utility model applications and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) was established in the Austrian office and a new electronic register for the administration of EP patents with Austria as a designated state was installed. An improved accessibility to the EPO databases (EPOQUE and First Page) was tested in 1994 and became operational in early 1995. In Canada, development of the computerised document imaging system TECHSOURCE continued.
Survey of the Annual Technical Reports
The Operational Acceptance Test (OAT) commenced in March 1994 and continued until October when the system was conditionally accepted. Further development for additional functions is, however, proceeding. Image search and retrieval by examiners is expected to start in June 1995. Backfile conversion is continuing and is expected to be completed in 1995. In 1994 a systematic assessment of databases in chemical and biotechnology areas available on STN began. Twelve examiners were trained and use the SIN systems on a regular basis. The Chilean office internal database includes bibliographic data of granted patents from 1968, of applications from 1991 and abstracts of patents granted from 1990. The CD-ROM system includes CD-CIBEPAT (Spanish patents), DOPALESPRIMERAS (first pages of IBERO-American patents from 1990), ESPACE (EPO) and ESPACEWORLD, US CASSIS and the French BREF CD-ROM. In Denmark CD-ROM jukeboxes have installed to facilitate searching of CD-ROMs.
been
269
text search in the full text of German documents is planned and in the final stage the document files will be extended to up to 30 million documents in image format. A very detailed description of the system is included in the report. Reorganisation of the computerised administration system is being studied by a working group and cooperation with the EPO on the Electronic Application Project (EASY) has been intensified with the aim of integrating DE software into the EASY interface. A modern printing on demand system was established for flexible production of patent specifications from optical discs and CD-ROMs. Development of the new CD-ROM product DEPAROM to replace ESPACE-DE was completed. The German version of IPC6 and its Key and Catchword Index was prepared in 1994 and the full text is searchable online. In Hungary the trial operation of a jukebox system, involving 300 CD-ROMs including ESPACEPRECES and ESPACE-A discs, has begun. The computerised uniform record system was gradually extended to include all types of industrial property, and transfer of the patent system into the computer system began.
In the EPO the EPOQUE 1 host service on the EPO mainframe, making available with a single command language bibliographic and full-text retrieval of internal and external databases, is now supplemented by EPOQUE 11 which gives online access in dual mode to the full text of applications in ASCII format, contained in the full-text EPOQUE databases, together with clipped images of FIRST PAGE and facsimile images of the drawing pages, thereby enabling users to eliminate documents from a result list from EPOQUE 1 and tag documents for deeper study either on paper, by a print from BNS (BACON Numerical Service) or on screen via BNS. This enhances users’ efficiency by giving added value to full text searching and browsing and permitting concentration on selected passages within a document. During 1994 technical infrastructure for automation has been expanded, 1400 workstations have been upgraded or replaced and a new version of the workstation operating system introduced. A beta-test version of the EPO EASY applicant software, permitting a user to prepare a European application for filing with the EPO, was distributed to test users in June 1994 and the corresponding receiving software is also under test. An improved version of the applicant software will be released in early 1995. During 1994 preparations were made for the elaboration of a PCT standard for sequence listing of amino acids and nucleotide sequences.
In the Ukraine the database is being updated with bibliographic data of UA patents supplemented with the text of the claims.
The setting up of the German electronic patent information system PATIS is continuing. Testing and evaluation of the pilot system are still going on; the basic operating stage is expected to be concluded in 1997 when implementation of the final stage of the system is expected to begin. In the basic stage free
The UK office’s Search and Advisory Service carried out numerous non-statutory searches on a wide range of databases. Extensive use was made of integrating online searching with patent information from CD-ROMs including ESPACE, World and US Patent Images.
The Japanese computerised F-term retrieval system for domestic documents was further developed to cover 2100 technical fields, and in 1995 all technical fields will be covered. The online optical disc image system was further extended to cover 39 million documents of most major countries. An experimental study of a full-text search of Japanese patents has begun with the aim of making searching more effective by combining the F-term and full-text search. The electronic filing system for patent applications continued to develop with online applications running at 64%) floppy disk at 32% and paper at 4%. Automation in the Malaysian office is proceeding by establishment of a LAN for a fully integrated system for application processing, search and examination administration, registration and file wrapper management. In the Moldovan office CD-ROM searches have been started for PCT, US, DE and JP patent documents.
270
Search file establishment
V. S. Dodd
and upkeep
In the light of some offices discontinuing exchange of patent documents on paper, the Austrian office has instituted a comprehensive study on a computerassisted search and information system (RISP). The project aims at a jukebox CD-ROM system with a computer network to make documents available on screen to the public and examiners, documents being retrieved by document number. The possibility of building a temporary file of documents according to an IPC group or sub-group by means of temporary storage on magnetic tape is envisaged. Tests on the performance of such a system have been carried out and a software specification produced. Installation of a pilot system is planned for 1995. In Chile, following WIPO recommendations, search files have been produced containing the first pages of both granted patents and pending applications classified and arranged according to the IPC. The files contain Chilean patents from 1987 to date and those of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay from 1987-1989. Spanish patents are available on microfiche from 1983 onwards and EPO, PCT and French applications are available on CD-ROM. The Japanese office has made F-terms available to the public through JAPIO and online via PATOLIS. The Moldovan search files comprise CD-ROMs of ESPACE-WORLD (PCT abstracts) and full text ESPACE CD-ROMs of Austria, Switzerland and Germany. The Malaysian office search files comprise Malaysian patents in paper (1988 onwards); US patents on microfilm from 1960, and CD-ROM from 1969; EP and UK patents and PCT applications on CD-ROM. In Spain work was completed on the digitisation of 232,000 Spanish documents published between 1968 and 1989 under the EPO’s BACON Extended Scan project. The collection is available on an electronic medium in facsimile format and paper copies were made available for the SPTO Technical Library. The UK office decided to adopt mobile racking in half the areas used for search file storage in order to increase the storage capacity of the building.
Administration of the Industrial Property Office Library and services available to the public In Bulgaria the information services department of the office carried out over 1600 searches of different
kinds for the public e.g. online searches in internal databases, CD-ROM searches, infringement, state of the art and legal status searches. In the Canadian office the Patent and Trademark search rooms have been combined along with Enquiries Services. In addition, the Patent Search Room has installed workstations to search US CASSIS and ACCESS (EPO and PCT documents) CD-ROMs and the Canadian Office CLASS database. The library consultation PC network
of the Cuban office provides user of the CD-ROM databases on the accessible from the reading room.
The Danish office makes wide use of CD-ROMs of the ESPACE type from various sources in the library reading room. There is also an online service allowing customers to browse the office databases. In Finland library users can do searches in in-house databases and on CD-ROMs utilising two terminals and two workstations. With the assistance of patent office staff, searches in the German patent database PATDPA can be carried out by the public in the public search room. Access to the European Patent Register is also available. In Japan the Comprehensive Document Database is accessed by the public as an online information service in the Industrial Property Library (30 terminals available) and the public search rooms of seven additional bureaux. The Science Reference and Information Service (SRIS) of the British Library continues to build up a comprehensive collection of CD-ROM databases for public use and also offers public access to commercial patent online databases through its Patent Online Search Service. The Search and Advisory Service of the UK Patent Office saw continuing growth in its services, particularly in the area of non-statutory trade-mark searches. The range of technical monographs prepared by examining staff grew to 11 titles to include publications on virtual reality and environmentally degradable polymers. In the Spanish office library some traditional storage units have been replaced by high-density mobile units to increase storage space. In addition two INCOM jukeboxes have been installed for the consultation notably of ESPACE-FIRST CD-ROMs. Two patent databases, the legal status database SITADEX and bibliographic database CIBEPAT are available online to the public.
Survey of the Annual Technical Reports
Matters concerning mutual exchange of patent documentation and information Many offices report using CD-ROMs for exchange purposes, either in addition to or instead of paper copies. Egypt is preparing to exchange microfiche instead of paper.
its documents
on
Finland has started mutual exchange of patent documents with Slovakia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Croatia. Macedonia and all three Baltic states. The Japanese office exchanges data on DNA sequences with the EPO and US offices and is supplying English translations of the F-terms, together with the corresponding F-term inventories, to these offices. Delivery of CD-ROMs of the Patent Abstracts of Japan (PAJ) to overseas offices started in April 1995 and CD-ROMs containing publications of examined and unexamined patent applications are being supplied to over 20 offices. Malaysia has joined with six other Asian countries in the production of a joint CD-ROM product EC-ASEAN. The joint CD-ROM ESPACE-PRECES, covering BG, CZ, HU, PL, RO, and SK, is in production and is starting to be used for exchange purposes instead of paper documents.
Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries Assistance to developing countries
Many offices report assistance to developing countries in various ways, either under schemes operated by WIPO, including performing searches and/or examinations, or under bilateral agreements. Technical assistance and training was provided to many developing countries by experts from many offices.
271
targeting small and medium enterprises, students and librarians, was intensified. In addition, training seminars were organised for members of patent offices from Central and Eastern Europe, Spain and China. Canada - brochures on industrial property have been updated and plans are being made to disseminate them through Internet. Chile - seminars on the patent system were held for the benefit of universities and research centres. Denmark - the Danish office is assisting Lithuania in establishing an industrial property system. EPO - The Regional Industrial Property Programme (RIPP), designated for Central and Eastern European countries, has been extended for a further two years (199596). A software package for the administrative and financial management of patent and trademark procedures was developed and distributed to six countries in 1994. Effort was directed towards industrial property modernisation plans for former USSR countries, ASEAN countries and India. EPO - ARIPO Roving Seminars were undertaken in June 1994 in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Tanzania and Swaziland and ARIPO, together with the Zimbabwe office, demonstrated retrieval of technical information from patents at the Harare Book Fair in August 1994. Germany - the office focused its training programme on technical cooperation with offices in Central and Eastern European countries. Japan - in concert with WIPO, a Regional Round Table was held in Jakarta on the links between the industrial property system and its users, attracting 40 participants mainly from Pacific countries. An International Symposium on the use of the patent system for technological and economic development was also held in Beijing, with 40 participants mainly from Pacific countries and India. Malaysia - under the EC-ASEAN project officials from the EPO assisted with missions relating to office modernisation regarding use of patent information and documentation.
Training
Most offices report the holding of training courses or seminars for their nationals or officials from developing countries and elaborate on their efforts to disseminate patent information. Examples of this are: Austria promotional activities, via training courses, on the importance of industrial property,
Mongolia property was also organised Innovation -
a national seminar on industrial held in May 1994 and the office an exhibition entitled “Invention and 1994”.
Slovakia - lectures, training courses and presentations were organised and assisted by the use of the 16 colour LCD projection panel for overhead projection of computer images.
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Sri Lanka - in collaboration with WIPO and the Chambers of Commerce and Industries, a workshop for the private sector on the use, management and enforcement of intellectual property rights by small and medium enterprises was held in October 1994. UK - following distribution of the laser disc Patent Training Package to universities, the UK office has
started preparation of material to assist universities in the commercial exploitation of their intellectual property rights. The Training Package was also donated to the offices of ARIPO, China, Malaysia and Romania.
pp.
267-272, 1995
Elsevier
Science Ltd CEWIPO Printed in Great Britain 0172-2390/95 $9.50 + 0.00
Pergamon
0172-2190(95)000429
Survey of the Annual Technical Reports 1994 of the Patent Offices on Patent Information Activities V. S. Dodd, former Editor, World Patent Information
Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, distribution, and use of primary and secondary sources of patent information
Introduction The Annual Technical Reports 1994 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Industrial Property and Patent Offices to the WIPO Permanent Committee on Patent and Industrial Property Information (PCIPI) and published by WIPO in the series denoted PCIPI/ATR/PI/94/XY (where XY represents the country code of the office providing the respective report), are surveyed in the following article. Each report summarizes the activities in 1994 of the relevant office in the patent information and documentation fields and in some cases, indicates its plans for the future. They thus provide a valuable overview of the ongoing activities of the offices and give some indication of future developments in these activities. The survey concentrates on what appear from the reports to be new developments in 1994 and the progress of developing projects.
The Armenian on publication
office has finished preparatory work of its Official Gazette entitled Industrial Property and publication was expected to start in the first half of 1995 in Armenian and Russian languages. From June 1994 Austria has published three kinds of documents relating to registered utility model applications, namely Ul (examined and searched application), U2 (examined but not searched) and U3 (separately published search report). Announcements on applications for Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) and on granted SPCs are published monthly in the patent gazette. The Belarus office has, since May 1994, published a quarterly Official Bulletin.
The survey is based upon reports received by the Editor by the end of July 1994 and covers the reports of the following offices:
The EPO continued its expansion of the family of national documents on ESPACE CD-ROMs and there are now over 18 series of discs in production. New additions include ESPACE-IT, ESPACE-OAPI, and ESPACE-ASEAN. New enhanced software for ESPACE discs, PATSOFT version 3.2, was distributed to over 1200 users by the end of 1994. Further progress was also made in software and tools for mixed-mode CD-ROMs (the MIMOSA project).
Armenia (AM), ARIPO (AP), Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Brazil (BR), Belarus (BY), Canada (CA), Chile (CL), Cuba (CU), Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Egypt (EG), Estonia (EE), European Patent Office (EP), Finland (FI), Germany (DE), Hungary (HU), Israel (IL), Japan (JP), Kazakhstan (KZ), Lithuania (LT), Malaysia (MY), Moldova (MD), Mongolia (MN), The Netherlands (NL), Norway (NO), Poland (PL), Romania (RO), Slovakia (SK), Spain (ES), Sri Lanka (LK), Trinidad and Tobago (TT), Ukraine (UA), United Kingdom (GB), Uzbekistan (UZ), Yugoslavia (YU).
Finnish A-documents are only published as abstracts whilst the B- and C-documents are published in both paper and microfiche form. The office is planning to publish B-documents also on CD-ROM. The German office has produced a new CD-ROM series, DEPAROM, in place of the former ESPACE-DE series. It com@ises: DEPAROM-ACT
In the survey the items are grouped under the headings recommended for the reports by WIPO. 267
268
V. S. Dodd
(A and C documents as well as claims of European and International applications in German); DEPAROM-U (utility models); and DEPAROM-T2 (German translations of European patent specifications). The series is fully compatible with the former PATSOFT software. In connection with the year 2000 the office is gradually introducing eight-digit application and publication numbers for the different industrial property publications. The first documents to bear these numbers are the German translations of European patent specifications DE-T2. In addition to the existing publication on CD-ROM of unexamined patent and utility model applications, the Japanese office has started publication of examined applications on CD-ROM. Production of paper copies of unexamined applications has been discontinued. The Kazakhstan office publishes the official bulletin in Kazak and Russian languages.
patent
In the Ukraine work on electronic publication, in the form of a e.g. of the Official G azette, database on magnetic storage means, continued. The database contains text and image files of sources of patent information. Dissemination of electronic publications is realised by TV broadcasting or distribution on diskettes. In September 1993 Uzbekistan published its first Official Gazette and publication of the Mongolian Official Gazette started in January 1994.
Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, re-classifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents Approximately 1400 abstracts of Danish patents issued after 1978 and having no foreign patent family members, are being translated into English for loading into the EPO databases. The EPO has started a new project, DOCTOOL, allowing examiners to capture knowledge gained during searching. DOCTOOL allows users to add data to all documents recorded in the EPODOC database. Eventually DOCTOOL will be used for the online classification of new incoming documents. Four kinds of data will be captured i.e. ECLA classification symbols and indexing codes, keywords in English specific to a technical search field, and free text in English. After initial testing the design was completed in early 1995 and the system is expected to be fully operational in late 1995. In the German office, use of the IPC hybrid classification is obligatory. Indexing codes are searchable in the online database PATDPA.
The Hungarian version of the sixth edition of the IPC was prepared and included on the 1PC:CLASS 6 CD-ROM. In Japan, Patent Abstracts of Japan (PAJ) have been published on mixed-mode CD-ROMs using MIMOSA software since October 1994 and these are intended to replace the paper publication. The backfile of PAJ (1976-1993) will be recorded on 99 CD-ROMs, covering 69 technical fields, over a period of two years and will be provided free of charge to 80 offices and organisations, starting in April 1995. Japanese abstracts of US and EP patent specifications were distributed to examiners as well as the sorted collections of first pages, claims and drawings of CA, AT and AU specifications. The abstracts on the first page of Malaysian documents are arranged by the examiners according to the IPC for search purposes. The bibliographic data of patent applications is stored in a database and searching on applicants or inventors is possible. Spain implements the IPC hybrid systems, with two-position classification symbols being published instead of the oblique stroke. The indexing terms appear on paper, microfiche and CD-ROM publications and are also included in databases. In the UK on 1st January 1995 certain amended parts of the UK Classification Key were republished and these, together with the unamended parts of edition M, collectively constitute edition N. The amendments affected 54 headings of the Key. EP and PCT published applications continue to be classified in five headings of the Key.
Activities in the field of computerized and other mechanized search systems A plan for the computerisation of the Armenian office, approved by WIPO, has been elaborated. At present a local network of seven workstations has been developed. Preparation for publication of the Official Gazette by computerisation has been organised. A new electronic data processing system for utility model applications and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) was established in the Austrian office and a new electronic register for the administration of EP patents with Austria as a designated state was installed. An improved accessibility to the EPO databases (EPOQUE and First Page) was tested in 1994 and became operational in early 1995. In Canada, development of the computerised document imaging system TECHSOURCE continued.
Survey of the Annual Technical Reports
The Operational Acceptance Test (OAT) commenced in March 1994 and continued until October when the system was conditionally accepted. Further development for additional functions is, however, proceeding. Image search and retrieval by examiners is expected to start in June 1995. Backfile conversion is continuing and is expected to be completed in 1995. In 1994 a systematic assessment of databases in chemical and biotechnology areas available on STN began. Twelve examiners were trained and use the SIN systems on a regular basis. The Chilean office internal database includes bibliographic data of granted patents from 1968, of applications from 1991 and abstracts of patents granted from 1990. The CD-ROM system includes CD-CIBEPAT (Spanish patents), DOPALESPRIMERAS (first pages of IBERO-American patents from 1990), ESPACE (EPO) and ESPACEWORLD, US CASSIS and the French BREF CD-ROM. In Denmark CD-ROM jukeboxes have installed to facilitate searching of CD-ROMs.
been
269
text search in the full text of German documents is planned and in the final stage the document files will be extended to up to 30 million documents in image format. A very detailed description of the system is included in the report. Reorganisation of the computerised administration system is being studied by a working group and cooperation with the EPO on the Electronic Application Project (EASY) has been intensified with the aim of integrating DE software into the EASY interface. A modern printing on demand system was established for flexible production of patent specifications from optical discs and CD-ROMs. Development of the new CD-ROM product DEPAROM to replace ESPACE-DE was completed. The German version of IPC6 and its Key and Catchword Index was prepared in 1994 and the full text is searchable online. In Hungary the trial operation of a jukebox system, involving 300 CD-ROMs including ESPACEPRECES and ESPACE-A discs, has begun. The computerised uniform record system was gradually extended to include all types of industrial property, and transfer of the patent system into the computer system began.
In the EPO the EPOQUE 1 host service on the EPO mainframe, making available with a single command language bibliographic and full-text retrieval of internal and external databases, is now supplemented by EPOQUE 11 which gives online access in dual mode to the full text of applications in ASCII format, contained in the full-text EPOQUE databases, together with clipped images of FIRST PAGE and facsimile images of the drawing pages, thereby enabling users to eliminate documents from a result list from EPOQUE 1 and tag documents for deeper study either on paper, by a print from BNS (BACON Numerical Service) or on screen via BNS. This enhances users’ efficiency by giving added value to full text searching and browsing and permitting concentration on selected passages within a document. During 1994 technical infrastructure for automation has been expanded, 1400 workstations have been upgraded or replaced and a new version of the workstation operating system introduced. A beta-test version of the EPO EASY applicant software, permitting a user to prepare a European application for filing with the EPO, was distributed to test users in June 1994 and the corresponding receiving software is also under test. An improved version of the applicant software will be released in early 1995. During 1994 preparations were made for the elaboration of a PCT standard for sequence listing of amino acids and nucleotide sequences.
In the Ukraine the database is being updated with bibliographic data of UA patents supplemented with the text of the claims.
The setting up of the German electronic patent information system PATIS is continuing. Testing and evaluation of the pilot system are still going on; the basic operating stage is expected to be concluded in 1997 when implementation of the final stage of the system is expected to begin. In the basic stage free
The UK office’s Search and Advisory Service carried out numerous non-statutory searches on a wide range of databases. Extensive use was made of integrating online searching with patent information from CD-ROMs including ESPACE, World and US Patent Images.
The Japanese computerised F-term retrieval system for domestic documents was further developed to cover 2100 technical fields, and in 1995 all technical fields will be covered. The online optical disc image system was further extended to cover 39 million documents of most major countries. An experimental study of a full-text search of Japanese patents has begun with the aim of making searching more effective by combining the F-term and full-text search. The electronic filing system for patent applications continued to develop with online applications running at 64%) floppy disk at 32% and paper at 4%. Automation in the Malaysian office is proceeding by establishment of a LAN for a fully integrated system for application processing, search and examination administration, registration and file wrapper management. In the Moldovan office CD-ROM searches have been started for PCT, US, DE and JP patent documents.
270
Search file establishment
V. S. Dodd
and upkeep
In the light of some offices discontinuing exchange of patent documents on paper, the Austrian office has instituted a comprehensive study on a computerassisted search and information system (RISP). The project aims at a jukebox CD-ROM system with a computer network to make documents available on screen to the public and examiners, documents being retrieved by document number. The possibility of building a temporary file of documents according to an IPC group or sub-group by means of temporary storage on magnetic tape is envisaged. Tests on the performance of such a system have been carried out and a software specification produced. Installation of a pilot system is planned for 1995. In Chile, following WIPO recommendations, search files have been produced containing the first pages of both granted patents and pending applications classified and arranged according to the IPC. The files contain Chilean patents from 1987 to date and those of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay from 1987-1989. Spanish patents are available on microfiche from 1983 onwards and EPO, PCT and French applications are available on CD-ROM. The Japanese office has made F-terms available to the public through JAPIO and online via PATOLIS. The Moldovan search files comprise CD-ROMs of ESPACE-WORLD (PCT abstracts) and full text ESPACE CD-ROMs of Austria, Switzerland and Germany. The Malaysian office search files comprise Malaysian patents in paper (1988 onwards); US patents on microfilm from 1960, and CD-ROM from 1969; EP and UK patents and PCT applications on CD-ROM. In Spain work was completed on the digitisation of 232,000 Spanish documents published between 1968 and 1989 under the EPO’s BACON Extended Scan project. The collection is available on an electronic medium in facsimile format and paper copies were made available for the SPTO Technical Library. The UK office decided to adopt mobile racking in half the areas used for search file storage in order to increase the storage capacity of the building.
Administration of the Industrial Property Office Library and services available to the public In Bulgaria the information services department of the office carried out over 1600 searches of different
kinds for the public e.g. online searches in internal databases, CD-ROM searches, infringement, state of the art and legal status searches. In the Canadian office the Patent and Trademark search rooms have been combined along with Enquiries Services. In addition, the Patent Search Room has installed workstations to search US CASSIS and ACCESS (EPO and PCT documents) CD-ROMs and the Canadian Office CLASS database. The library consultation PC network
of the Cuban office provides user of the CD-ROM databases on the accessible from the reading room.
The Danish office makes wide use of CD-ROMs of the ESPACE type from various sources in the library reading room. There is also an online service allowing customers to browse the office databases. In Finland library users can do searches in in-house databases and on CD-ROMs utilising two terminals and two workstations. With the assistance of patent office staff, searches in the German patent database PATDPA can be carried out by the public in the public search room. Access to the European Patent Register is also available. In Japan the Comprehensive Document Database is accessed by the public as an online information service in the Industrial Property Library (30 terminals available) and the public search rooms of seven additional bureaux. The Science Reference and Information Service (SRIS) of the British Library continues to build up a comprehensive collection of CD-ROM databases for public use and also offers public access to commercial patent online databases through its Patent Online Search Service. The Search and Advisory Service of the UK Patent Office saw continuing growth in its services, particularly in the area of non-statutory trade-mark searches. The range of technical monographs prepared by examining staff grew to 11 titles to include publications on virtual reality and environmentally degradable polymers. In the Spanish office library some traditional storage units have been replaced by high-density mobile units to increase storage space. In addition two INCOM jukeboxes have been installed for the consultation notably of ESPACE-FIRST CD-ROMs. Two patent databases, the legal status database SITADEX and bibliographic database CIBEPAT are available online to the public.
Survey of the Annual Technical Reports
Matters concerning mutual exchange of patent documentation and information Many offices report using CD-ROMs for exchange purposes, either in addition to or instead of paper copies. Egypt is preparing to exchange microfiche instead of paper.
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Finland has started mutual exchange of patent documents with Slovakia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Croatia. Macedonia and all three Baltic states. The Japanese office exchanges data on DNA sequences with the EPO and US offices and is supplying English translations of the F-terms, together with the corresponding F-term inventories, to these offices. Delivery of CD-ROMs of the Patent Abstracts of Japan (PAJ) to overseas offices started in April 1995 and CD-ROMs containing publications of examined and unexamined patent applications are being supplied to over 20 offices. Malaysia has joined with six other Asian countries in the production of a joint CD-ROM product EC-ASEAN. The joint CD-ROM ESPACE-PRECES, covering BG, CZ, HU, PL, RO, and SK, is in production and is starting to be used for exchange purposes instead of paper documents.
Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries Assistance to developing countries
Many offices report assistance to developing countries in various ways, either under schemes operated by WIPO, including performing searches and/or examinations, or under bilateral agreements. Technical assistance and training was provided to many developing countries by experts from many offices.
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targeting small and medium enterprises, students and librarians, was intensified. In addition, training seminars were organised for members of patent offices from Central and Eastern Europe, Spain and China. Canada - brochures on industrial property have been updated and plans are being made to disseminate them through Internet. Chile - seminars on the patent system were held for the benefit of universities and research centres. Denmark - the Danish office is assisting Lithuania in establishing an industrial property system. EPO - The Regional Industrial Property Programme (RIPP), designated for Central and Eastern European countries, has been extended for a further two years (199596). A software package for the administrative and financial management of patent and trademark procedures was developed and distributed to six countries in 1994. Effort was directed towards industrial property modernisation plans for former USSR countries, ASEAN countries and India. EPO - ARIPO Roving Seminars were undertaken in June 1994 in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Tanzania and Swaziland and ARIPO, together with the Zimbabwe office, demonstrated retrieval of technical information from patents at the Harare Book Fair in August 1994. Germany - the office focused its training programme on technical cooperation with offices in Central and Eastern European countries. Japan - in concert with WIPO, a Regional Round Table was held in Jakarta on the links between the industrial property system and its users, attracting 40 participants mainly from Pacific countries. An International Symposium on the use of the patent system for technological and economic development was also held in Beijing, with 40 participants mainly from Pacific countries and India. Malaysia - under the EC-ASEAN project officials from the EPO assisted with missions relating to office modernisation regarding use of patent information and documentation.
Training
Most offices report the holding of training courses or seminars for their nationals or officials from developing countries and elaborate on their efforts to disseminate patent information. Examples of this are: Austria promotional activities, via training courses, on the importance of industrial property,
Mongolia property was also organised Innovation -
a national seminar on industrial held in May 1994 and the office an exhibition entitled “Invention and 1994”.
Slovakia - lectures, training courses and presentations were organised and assisted by the use of the 16 colour LCD projection panel for overhead projection of computer images.
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Sri Lanka - in collaboration with WIPO and the Chambers of Commerce and Industries, a workshop for the private sector on the use, management and enforcement of intellectual property rights by small and medium enterprises was held in October 1994. UK - following distribution of the laser disc Patent Training Package to universities, the UK office has
started preparation of material to assist universities in the commercial exploitation of their intellectual property rights. The Training Package was also donated to the offices of ARIPO, China, Malaysia and Romania.