Patent databases offer a treasure trove of information

With over 100 million patent publications, patent databases are a source of inspiration. They provide information that could be relevant for your own product development and patent strategy, but also about the developments in your field and about competitors. By viewing this information in time, you prevent reinventing the wheel or infringing on the rights of others.

Firstly, it is good to know that there are basically two types of databases: public and commercial databases. Public databases are freely accessible to everyone. They mainly consist of the patent databases and registers of official patent-granting authorities where people apply for a patent. Examples are the Dutch patent register, the European Patent Office database and register and the American Patent & Trademark Office register.

Each of the public databases have their own information and search options. One provides information on the current status of patents and patent applications, such as the national registers and the European Patent Office register. The other only provides information about the content. Do you want to see the content of the patent? Then look in the general public databases, such as Espacenet and Google patents.

Generally, the public databases are adequate when you want to search for a specific patent or gain an initial impression of patent literature in a specific technical field. But you can imagine that specialized programs are required to analyze big data and to do an infringement search, for example. For that purpose, there are (paid) programs such as Questel from Orbit, Derwent Innovation from Clarivate and PatBase from Minesoft. The strength of these commercial databases is in searching for various combinations of search criteria and the way in which you can present the results. V.O. has a team of patent information specialists who can use such specialized programs.

Every patent is published after about 18 months by the patent-granting authority, after which it is included in the public and commercial databases. As soon as the patent has been granted, the patent can also be found in the databases. Information published about the patent or the patent application concerns, for example:

1. Name of the applicant and inventor;
2. Date of filing and publication;
3. Status of the application; whether it has been granted or is still in force;
4. The countries or regions in which the patent has been applied for and granted;
5. The described innovation;
6. The scope of patent protection, such as determined by the claims.

Marijke Westra, patent attorney and manager patent search of V.O.: “Databases therefore contain a treasure trove of information about the applicants and their innovations. That is valuable input for your business strategy. Certainly if you combine information from several patent families, you will see what the most important companies or institutions are working on. Furthermore, you gain an insight in the scope of their patent portfolio and therefore their innovative strength. It’s interesting information if you have an innovation or want to further develop your product or technology.”