How to find the right information in EPO databases

Abstract

The seminar was divided into two session. Session 1 “Espacenet: Inventions and Technology. The European Patent Register: Legal and Procedural Status”. In this session we concentrated on two different kinds of data. The first is concerned with the technologies described in patent applications; the second is concerned with the legal status of those patent applications. We learned how to find inventions in specific technological fields, and how those inventions impact on your own activities, research and business plans. Session 2 “Competitive Intelligence from Patent Information. Search Reports, Citations and Patent Familes”. Patent information is dynamic. In retrospect you can extract intelligence on what happened and why. By extrapolation into the future, patent information can help you to predict what might happen with a fair degree of accuracy. In this session we looked at search reports arising out of patent search and examination procedures and using them to give an idea of what the outcome of later filed applications may be.