Boliven Patent Goes Commercial

Posted on May 5, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

Boliven Patents is now a “professional-grade” fee-based service, according to an e-mail sent yesterday to current members of the Boliven Network. The service was launched in January as a free beta patent search engine with integrated analytical tools, search alerts and data export functions. It now includes more than 60 million patent documents from the US, Europe, Japan, Korea and others. Recently added data includes INPADOC/DOCDB data and US patent assignments.

Current members will have complimentary access for three months, after which they must pay $60 per month on a month-to-month basis. New users will be eligible for a free two-week trial period.

This isn’t surprising news, given that Boliven is a private firm with a pretty obvious business plan. But I was hoping that the beta period would last longer or that part of the service would remain available to the public. This development underscores the danger of relying on third-party patent database providers to provide access to public patent information. They can disappear at any moment. Will FreePatentsOnline or Patent Lens be next?

Posted in Boliven, Patent databases | 2 Comments

New Website Compares Patent Search Systems

Posted on April 23, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

Landon IP, a private firm specializing in patent and trademark searches and patent analytics, has launched Intellogist, a free website that aims to help patent searchers locate sources of patent information, evaluate public and commercial patent search systems and exchange best practices in prior art searching. This service will be useful to both novice and experienced patent searchers. The site is supported in part by advertising.

Posted in Patent databases, Patent information | 5 Comments

USPC Class Order #1886

Posted on April 12, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

The USPTO has published Classification Order #1886, which affects subclasses in Class 439 – Electrical Connectors. As of April 8, there are approximately 76,000 patents and 17,000 published applications classfied in Class 439, which is the “generic class for a pair of mated conductors comprising at least two electrically conducting elements which are interconnected to permit relative motion of such conducting elements during use without a break in electrical conductivity.” The earliest patent in this class is RE200 issued in 1851 to George H. Corlis of Provdence, Rhode Island for an improvement in cut-off values in steam engines.

Posted in classification orders, USPC | Leave a comment

US Patent Counts, Q1 2009

Posted on April 5, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

The number of US patents (B docs) issued in Q1 was 49,227, a 13 percent increase over 2008. However, this may be only a temporary blip. The USPTO’s campaign to improve patent quality has increased the number of rejections to a level not seen in several decades. The USPTO’s allowance rate at the end of 2008 was about 44.2 percent, a steep decline from 2000 when the allowance rate was 72 percent. And there is a growing belief that the current worldwide recession will cause a 5-10 percent decline in the number of new applications in 2009, which may ultimately lead to fewer issued patents.

The USPTO issued patent no. 7,500,000 on March 3.

The number of published applications (A docs) dipped slightly to 83,855, an 8 percent increase over 2008. Approximately 2,042,000 million plant and utility patent applications have been published since 2001. The two millionth application was published in February.

Table 1. Quarterly Patent and PGPub Counts*

2009 ….. Patents (B) …..PGPubs (A)….. Total (A + B)
Q1 ….. 49,227 ….. 83,855 ….. 133,112

*Based on preliminary weekly data from the USPTO website. Totals may change after the fact due to withdrawn patents and published applications.

Table 2. Weekly Averages and Medians (Q1)

Patents ….. 3,516 ….. 3,756
PGPubs ….. 6,453 ….. 6,353

Table 3. Number Ranges for 2009

Utility patents ….. 7,472,428 –
Reissues ….. RE40,613 –
PGPubs ….. 2009/0000001 –
Designs ….. D584,026 –
Plants …… PP19,613 –
SIRs ….. H2,228 –

Posted in Patent statistics | 1 Comment

IPC Reforms Aim to Integrate USPTO, EPO and JPO Classifications

Posted on March 27, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

WIPO just announced a series of reforms that will simplify the IPC. One of the goals is to accelerate the building of a unified IPC system that integrates USPTO, EPO and JPO classifications.

Could a true international patent classification system be at hand?

This is a positive step and should make life easier for patent searchers of all levels of experience, from novices to experts. The need to work in four different systems is challenging even for experienced searchers.

However, there is a potential risk that some of the information currently embedded in local classification systems might be lost.

Posted in classification, ECLA, IPC, USPC | 1 Comment

Trademarks Go Green

Posted on March 20, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

World Intellectual Property Day is April 26, just over a month away. This year’s theme is green innovation. The environment and climate change have become major political and public opinion issues in the over last few years. Companies and advertisers have certainly noticed this trend and are keen to link their products and services with environmentally friendly values. More and more products are being branded as “green”. You can see this trend in trademark filings. As the chart below shows, the number of US and Canadian trademark applications filed for marks containing the word GREEN increased dramatically in the last few years. In 2007 alone, the number of filings increased in the US 131 percent and in Canada 88 percent.

Data source: USPTO and CIPO trademark databases, March 20, 2009.

Posted in environment, trademarks, WIPO, World IP Day | 1 Comment

Canadian Patents Reach 18,554 in 2007-2008

Posted on March 5, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office released its annual report for 2007-2008 earlier this year. The number of patents granted in 2007-2008 was 18,554, up from 16,100 in 2006-2007. The United States ranked first with 8,534 patents, or 46 percent of the total. Japan was second with 1,814 followed by Canada with 1,813. Almost 90 percent of Canadian patents were granted to foreign inventors.

Canadian Patents: Top Ten Countries

United States….. 8534….. 46%
Japan….. 1814….. 9.78%
Canada….. 1813….. 9.77%
Germany….. 1384….. 7.46%
France….. 957….. 5.16%
UK….. 749….. 4.04%
Switzerland….. 583….. 3.14%
Sweden….. 408….. 2.20%
Netherlands….. 312….. 1.68%
Finland….. 290….. 1.56%

Posted in Canada, CIPO, Patent statistics | 2 Comments

USPC Class Order #1886 – Class 439

Posted on March 5, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

The USPTO has published classification order #1886, affecting Class 439 – Electrical Connectors. This order replaces subclasses 607-610 with subclasses 607.01-607.59. Approximately 1,650 patents were classified as original references in the reorganized subclasses. There are approximately 76,000 patents currently classified in Class 439.

Posted in classification orders, USPC | Leave a comment

US Issues Patent 7,500,000

Posted on March 3, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

The USPTO issued patent no. 7,500,000 on March 3, marking a new milestone in US patent documents. The subject of the patent is a “Method or System for Assigning or Creating a Resource” in a computer storage device, such as a hard disk drive, non-volatile RAM, or optic disc. The patent was issued to four inventors, led by David W. Groves, and assigned to IBM.

Patent no. 7,000,000 was issued three years ago on Feb. 14, 2006 to John P. O’Brien of Dupont for a new type of polysaccharide fibers and their production.

Posted in Dupont, IBM, patent documents | 1 Comment

USPTO Publishes 2,000,000th Application

Posted on March 1, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

On February 5, the USPTO reached an important patent document milestone: the two millionth published application. The first US application (2001/0000001) was published almost eight years ago on March 15, 2001. The USPTO published 6,581 applications on Feb. 5. Depending on how you count (including or not including withdrawn published applications), the two millionth published application could be 2009/0035278, Reoviruses Having Modified Sequences, or 2009/0033321, Rotational Angle Detection Device.

The inventor listed on the first application is Matthew Coffey of Calgary, Alberta. The assignee is Oncolytics Biotech, Inc., also located in Calgary. Reoviruses are used to treat disorders where cells proliferate more rapidly than normal tissue growth, ie. cancerous tumors, in mammals. The inventor on the second application is Takeo Kurihara of Tokyo; the assignee is Tokyo-based Tomen Electronics Corporation. Kurihara’s invention is related to devices used in magnetic sensors. Tomen has filed PCT and national applications on this technology in the US, Japan, China and Europe.

As of March 1, 2009, according to the USPTO website, the AppFT database now contains records for 2,021,756 published utility and plant patent applications.

Posted in patent documents | 1 Comment