The Brazilian improvements in the field of patent information

World Parent Information, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 161-165, Pergamon Printed

The Brazilian Improvements Patent Information

1994 Elsevier Science Ltd Copyright 0 1994 CEUWIPO in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0172-2190/94 $7.00+0.00

in the Field of

Ana Regina de Holanda Cavalcanti, Assistant of the Documentation and Information Center, INPIIBR, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Documentation and Technological Information Center (CEDIN) ( see Fig. 1) is part of the Brazilian patent office and was established in early 1970 with the help of a UNDP/WIPO project. Originally, the objective of CEDIN was only to support patent examiners to process the state-of-the-art search in order to comply with the requirements of absolute novelty as stated in the Brazilian industrial property law.

Summary The Documentation and Technological Information Center (CEDIN) of the Brazilian Patent Office has extended the scope of its activities beyond supporting the examiners in performing state of the art searches to providing outside users, mainly small and medium-sized industries, with patent information. A program called PROFINT (Automatic Supply of Technological Information) provides for the regular supply of copies of Brazilian and foreign patent documents in selected IPC areas to participating firms and institutions. During the last two years CEDIN has implemented a Technological Information Dissemination Program whose object is to disseminate information in patent documents in specific technical areas by reviewing the current state of the art and its evolution. Other activities of CEDIN, such as installation of a pilot database of Brazilian patent applications, setting up of information centres and the provision of search services, are described.

Besides the national patent documentation, also foreign patents, in particular from the main industrialized countries, started to be organized in files, in paper form, according to the International Patent Classification. For that purpose, bilateral agreements were signed with several patent offices and INPI started receiving patent documents from the U.S., U.K., France, Switzerland, RFA, Canada and Australia. Later, EP and WO documents as well as Japanese and English abstracts were also incorporated in the files (see Table 1). In the 1980s a new policy was established in order to assist small and medium-sized firms, research centers and universities by offering them patent information in a strategic way.

Introduction As enterprises proceed toward the twenty-first century, they face frequent changes. It is difficult to affirm that business strategies, which allowed successful firms to be built in the past, will remain valid in the near future. The great challenge from the point of view of competitiveness is found when seeking technological capability and innovation activities of enterprises. Considering the globalization of economies, competitiveness among enterprises and countries becomes strongly linked to the quality of the information system they use in relation to their competitors.

I

cmm

I

-ration Division

Conscious of the importance of the role of patent information for enterprises and having the unique patent documentation center in the country, the Brazilian Patent Office (INPI) has been supporting industries, universities and research centers in everything which concerns patent information.

Fig. 1.

161

I

A. R. de Holanda

162

Table

1. Summary

Origin

Search From

AU BR CA ES

1980 1924 1980 -

1993 lY93 1993 -

US FR

1969 1972

1993 1993

U.K. NL JP OAPI EP wo DE SU

1940 1982 1977 1980 1979 1978 1972 -

1993 1988 1982 -1993 1993 1993

CH

197s

1989

The Documentation logical Information Organization

of the collection file Till

of patent

Numerical From

documentation file Till

1Y82

1993

1911

1966 -

1983

1993

-

-

and TechnoCenter

und Staff

CEDIN is a technological information center based on both patents and non-patented literature. Nowadays, the center supports the patent examiners by furnishing copies of patent documents; it supports outside users in general, according to its demand; and also carries out specific programs for industries as mentioned before. There are 80 people in the CEDIN; 27 of them arc graduates (chemists, engineers, etc.). All staff numbers fall into two divisions, namely: Documentation Division and Technological Information Division. More details on CEDIN’s structure are shown in Fig. 1.

Documentution At present, CEDIN has a total of about 18 million patent documents in paper form from the main industrialized countries as referred before (see Table 1).

Equipment CEDIN has the following equipment: 12 microcomputers 386, PC - compatible (two of them, high resolution, L-view); 12 dot matrix printers; three laser printers HP-III; three modems; six microcomputers 286 XT, PC - compatible; seven CD-ROM lecturers. Databases have been developed by using CLIPPER 5.02 and FOX-PRO 2.0 software.

Cavalcanti

Microform&\: Till From

1924 -

1972 -

lY84 1950 1947 1988 1936 -

1093 1982 1972 1993 1955

-_

Optical From

1992

-

IYhY 1957 1990 1988

Patent

disk Till

1991 1YYl

1972 1964 1YY3 1993

I993 1993

dissemination

policy

CEDIN is aware of its responsibility not only to preserve, maintain and up-date the patent tiles but also to maximize their use for the outside users, mainly small and medium-sized industries. On the other hand, experience has shown us that in Brazil - as in developing countries in general the use of patent information by small and mcdiumsized industries, research centers and universities is very rare.

Automatic

supply

of technological

infbrmution

An aggressive policy was implemented during the 1980s through a program known as PROFINT (Automatic Supply of Technological Information) which aims at regularly and automatically supplying copies of the Brazlian and foreign patent documents to the associated entities. The selection of technological areas is made by using the IPC. Table 2 presents the demand on patent information accord ing to its technological area. The problem of geographic distance between INPI headquarters (located in Rio de Janeiro) and firms located in distant Brazilian states is then eliminated.

Table areas

2.

Demand

on

documents

according

Chemical industry Electric industry and telecommunications Mechanical engineering Metal industry Transport Others

to

technological

-7Y Y7”/,, . 15..33’)’ ,%) 13.hO’C> 12.76% X.76”;, 18.62” 0

Brazilian

Automation efforts in PROFINT operations were initiated in 1990 in an attempt to improve productivity and to provide automated working routine controls over the large amount of patent document inputs vs enterprises demand. CLIPPER software, network version (5.2 version) is used for controlling working routines such as fees control, patent document inputs, selected IPC areas, etc. By the end of 1993, PROFINT had 130 associated entities from different regions of the country.

Technological information dissemination program During the last two years CEDIN has implemented the Technological Information Dissemination Program, whose objective is to disseminate information contained in patent documents according to specific and pre-selected technological areas, reviewing the developing and current state-of-the-art. This generates publications, which can be included in three groups: Technological Dissemination, Technological Monitoring and Technological Prospecting. Technological Dissemination comprises a publication which shows, according to a previous selection of patent documents, the state-of-the-art of a certain technical subject of national interest. It reports on the technological evolution based on patent information as well as technical data obtained from international data banks. The Technological Monitoring publication studies the technological trends in industrial areas regarding patent documents as well as market and economic based information. The objective of such publications is to increase the awareness and use of patent information by industries in general, research centers and universities. One of the series of publications, Technological Dissemination, has included a survey on the stateof-the-art of a technological area having high interest for our country. The following monograph titles concerning this series have been issued: Eolic Energy, Sound Pollution, Biological Fixation of Nitrogen and Pre-fabricated Houses. Technological Trend Analysis is a publication that analyses the technological trends in industrial areas considering both patent document data as well as market and economic-based information. A deep analysis on a certain technology and its evolution based on patent data and material from international databases is carried out by the Technological Monitoring publications. It considers: l

a specific preparation IPC;

technical subject matter, and of a search strategy by using

the the

163

Improvements

l

analysis of the patent collection concerning that subject (which comprises selected patent document analysis);

l

patent data analysis, considering statistical obtained from documents retrieved;

l

industrial patent activity in Brazil (list of patent documents which were filed in Brazil).

data,

In order to optimize the performance and analysis of the collected data from patent documents, a data analysis system (called AD-System) was developed. All patent data are included in the AD-System which, after processing them, generates several technical reports (e.g. lists, tables, graphs, etc.). The relevant documents identified by the AD reports are then carefully examined and a working text is produced. Nowadays the monographs are sent free-of-charge to the federations of industries, associations, universities and research centers, etc. The success of these monographs has been stressed by the interest of many entities which desire to become partners in producing them in particular technological fields. Two of them, Tropical Diseases and Essential Agrochemicals were produced on a joint cooperation basis with the Oswald0 Cruz Foundation (Research center bound to the Ministry of Health) and the Rio de Janeiro Federal University. respectively. The plan for the near future is to make all these surveys also available online. A complete list of publications which have been issued, up to this moment, is presented in Table 3.

Brazilian patent application database CEDIN database,

has recently installed a pilot system BRASPAT (Brazilian Patent Application

Table 3. Monographs Technological prospecting . Essential agrochemicals . Tropical diseases Technological monitoring . Automotive catalysts 0 Wastewater treatment . Wasteplastic recycling 0 PET packing 0 Aerosol . Systems of housing construction Technological dissemination l Eolic energy . Sound pollution . Biological fixation of nitrogen . Prefabricated houses . Wastepaper recycling . Preservation of potatoes

A. R. de Holanda

164

Database). This database, established in FOX PRO software, contains all the bibliographic data published in the Brazilian Patent Gazette regarding patent applications and utility models applications, from the year 1992 onwards. Selective patent banks This project aims to establish specific information according to previous selected areas, centers, considering the interest of each associated institution. The project comprises three main steps. Following a bilateral agreement between INPI and the institution (industry associations, research centers, etc.) a study and planning phase is carried out in order to identify the relevant technical fields according to the IPC, the period of time of the documentation to be covered, limitations concerning the document languages, costs, etc. Copies of national and foreign patent documents in paper form are then provided as well as assistance, supported by INPI experts, on the use of the IPC. The third phase is the up-dating of patent literature each month. The purpose in establishing selected information subcenters in various regions of the country is to decentralize INPI’s documentation, providing and improving facilities for accessing information by the potential users. For the time being. three Selective Patent Banks have been established (see Table 4).

Other

activities

and publications

State-of-the-art-search services are offered by using online and optical disk supports. Online search services access about 600 databases, through Dialog, Orbit and Questel databanks. Processing in-house CD-ROM collections allows CEDIN to execute orders for copies from patent documents and carry out searches. Up to this moment these services are only offered on EP, WO and U.S. patent collections. The Center is also in charge of the following traditional services: (a) individual searches of patent documentation for external users (searches are performed by interested parties themselves); (b) state-of-the-art-searches for external users (indepth searches carried out by CEDINs staff at the

Table 4. Selective

patent

(c) bibliographical references on a worldwide scale in relation to non-patented technologies for outside users; (d) copies of patent documents and technical on a worldwide scale. to external users.

and shoe making equipment

article,

The Technical Library is the only specialized one on intellectual property literature in the country. The library keeps a collection of about 211 titles of technical periodicals subscribed worldwide and books, monographs, etc. It also keeps industrial property gazettes from 22 countries on an exchange basis with the Brazilian Industrial Property Gazette. The librarian collection is disseminated by the BIB-Informative Bulletin, and the TEC-Informe Bulletin (which contains abstracts of the selected technical periodicals and publications regarding industrial property).

Educational activities national cooperation

and inter-

A WIPO/INPI course, also supported by the UNDP, is a two-week training course for developing countries which takes place every year. The course is in Portuguese/Spanish languages and a special emphasis is given on patent information. CEDIN carries out novelty searches for Paraguay, according to a bilateral agreement established between INPI and the Paraguaian Patent Offices. In 1993, 73 state-of-the-art-searches were carried out. The Center also sends copies of the Brazilian patent documents to several patent offices on an international exchange basis. For the future. according to a bilateral agreement between INPI and the European Patent Office, a CD-ROM prototype containing the Brazilian patent documents will be produced by the EPO.

Conclusion Information is necessary for technological and economic growth and for the efficient management of enterprises and the role of patent literature cannot be ignored. Permanent technological up-dating

Institution

Electrical/electronic Foundry

request of users. to determine the state-of-the-art, to study a particular technology, to be informed about technological alternatives, etc.;

banks

Technical Leather

Cavalcanti

SENAI (National Service for Supporting Industrv) FUCAPE (Technological Innovation Research Industry) ABIFA (Brazilian Foundry Association)

Federal

State

Rio Grande

do Sul (South Region)

AmaLonas

(North

S?to Paula

(South

Region) West Region)

Brazilian

is an essential condition at present for maintaining competitiveness in the markets. If the technological info;mation contained in patent literature is efficiently used it will certainly contribute as an important support for competitiveness in industries. Depending on the performance of these new activities, the concrete products and services, offered by CEDIN will produce, it is believed, different behavior and a new culture in the use of patent information in Brazilian enterprises, as well as research centers and universities. This will encourage us to improve and develop more applied programs on patent information.

Improvements

165

References (11 G.

(2)

(3) (4) (-5)

R. Coaracy, Guidelines for the Planning and Organization of a Patent Documentation and Information Center, II. Industrial Property Course for Developing Countries. Rio de Janeiro (1981). H. Marchat, The role of patent information in technology transfer, WIPO Training course in the use of patent documentation as a source of information. Vienna (1978). A. R. H. Cavalcanti, Como acompanhar a evolu@o tecnoldgica e aspectos estrategicos: a patente corn0 fonte de informapao. Rio de Janeiro (1991). C. Treiguer. Technological information diffusion: recent World Porenl Information, 10 experience in Brazil, (I) (IYXX). Ant7uul Technical Report 1992. Brazil, PCIPIIATR. WIPO (August 1993).