Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
• select the most appropriate database, taking into account the coverage of the
data (i.e. the number of documents included and searchable).
Mainly before filing a patent application, it is appropriate to consider the patent
information in addition to scientific literature to determine if a technology (or a
device or a process) is already known in the state of the art (and therefore avoid
reinventing what is already potentially available as knowledge, wasting resources
in terms of time and money) or if it has already been patented: if a technology is
protected by a valid patent, it cannot be implemented or reproduced without the
owner's consent, nor can it patented by others (since novelty is missing).
Other cases in which it is necessary to make a search in patent databases are the
following ones:
• before marketing a product (a device or an equipment);
• to monitor competitor activity or a speciic technology;
• to establish the guidelines for the research and development activities;
• in oppositions against the grant of a patent.
This information can only be retrieved with a search in patent databases [
9
].
Sometimes patents are not taken into account because, rather than useful infor-
mation resource, they are seen only as tools for business or considered too difficult
to understand or because access to information is considered too expensive.
However, patents describe details that are not usually found elsewhere.
While scientific papers are widely cited in patents, the opposite is very rare: a
recent study showed that only 0.25 % of articles in the life-science industry quote
patents [
30
].
In addition, patent texts are easily accessible (since free databases offer more
possibilities to search for information and an increasingly higher number of docu-
ments on file) [
21
].
However, the usefulness of patents as a source of information decreases due to
several factors, such as [
6
]:
• the availability (and thus the completeness) of data;
• the constant increase in the amount of data uploaded in databases (mainly from
China, Japan and Korea);
• as a result of globalization, patents iled in all states are important;
• the complexity of the technology.
3.4.1 Tools to Find Patent Information
Different search systems are usable, both free of charge, provided by national or
international (EPO) patent offices and by independent producers (Google Patents)]
and professional (Derwent, Micropatent, Questel-Orbit, etc…).
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