Patent Searching for the Coatings and Allied Industries

Background

The patent domain is a crucial source of technical information - it has been claimed that 80% of the world's technical information can be found here. Patents also provide links to other relevant published information.

Patents are often the first publication of technical innovation - most companies would not risk disclosure until a patent application has been granted or is well underway. Patents therefore provide a valuable indicator of competitive activity.

The granting of a patent gives the Applicant/Inventor important monopoly rights and the preparation of a patent requires detailed knowledge of the prior art. It is important when introducing new products to avoid unexpected patent infringements.

Several thousand patents are published each week, and for retrospective searching the EPO (European Patent Office) alone provides links to 30 million patents. Searching for patent information can be a daunting task particularly for a general search where the outcome can never be guaranteed as complete. It is necessary to set the investment of time and resources in searching against the risks of failing to identify prior art.

Course Description

The purpose of this short course is to provide a guide to the main public databases emphasising both similarities and differences. It shows how an understanding of 'Patent Classification Systems' can greatly enhance searching. It is also necessary to be aware of the contents of different databases and the defaults that may operate on first entering the site. Patent searching is supported by many specialised commercial databases and fee based services for advanced searching. However, the user's own technical knowledge can provide shortcuts to information using text retrieval techniques.

Course participants will be provided with a workbook and quick links to useful web pages. In addition to some set examples, participants will be able to carry out searches on their chosen topics. The one day course will be equally divided between lectures and parctical searching. A brief overview of other knowledge sources, including PRA's WSCA database will also be given.

Who should attend

Although the course is illustrated with examples from the coatings domain, it would be equally applicable to similar chemical industries such as adhesives, printing inks etc.

Tutor

Mr Jon Graystone - Principal Research Scientist PRA

Venue

PRA, Hampton, Middlesex, UK

Dates and Prices