Intellectual Property PDF

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY This module aims to provide an overview of the intellectual property of inventions, and its role in the modern bioeconomy. 3 modern topics in current databases around bioeconomy innovation systems: 1) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND PATENTS 2) The REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR IP...

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY This module aims to provide an overview of the intellectual property of inventions, and its role in the modern bioeconomy. 3 modern topics in current databases around bioeconomy innovation systems: 1) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND PATENTS 2) The REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR IP RIGHTS IN THE EU 3) The use of PATENT DATA AS INDICATORS OF INNOVATION Some practical guidelines on patent search and paten analysis will be provided. Main topics: - Introduction to IP - Patents - Legal framework - Plant Variety protection - Patent as Indicator - Patent Search - Case studies – patent search Written exam with 12 multiple choice question + 1 open question INTRODUCTION TO IP Protein field on extraction of cholesterol from milk fat à they find a new technique à PATENT RNAgri Patent Estate à RNAgri has been used as pesticides and since it’s not GM, it’s well-seen by people Who owns CRISPR in 2021? It’s even more complicated than you think! Artic apples à new apple variety developed with biotech. It doesn’t become brown when you make slices (they inhibit an enzyme involved in its oxidation). This trait is very important in industry, it prevents food waste. This patent is commercialized in US and Canada. IT IS A GM!! You use IP when you have something NEW. è IP when we are talking abt INNAVATIONS à protection of ideas that turn in process and eventually in products. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (IP) IP is any product of human intellect that the law protects from unauthorized use by others: Inventions à the IP instrument is the patent Literary and artistic works Symbols, names and images used in commerce IP rights are specific legal rights which protect the owner of the IP. Different types of IPs: 1. PATENT à for new inventors. How? Application and examination 2. UTILITY MODELS à for new inventors. How? Application and examination 3. COPYRIGHT à for original and creative or artistic forms. How? It exists automatically, you don’t have to ask for it 4. TRADEMARKS à for distinctive identification of products or services (es. Google). How? Use and/or registration 5. REGISTERED DESIGNS à for external appearance. You don’t register the product, for example the shape of Coca cola bottle. It is so particular that is a registered design. How? Simple registration. 6. TRADE SECRETE à for valuable information not known to the public es NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement = accordo di riservatezza). How? Reasonable efforts to keep it secret. Considering that there is always an alternative to protect smth to a legal property right Es telephone Trademarks: NOKIA, Product “208” Copyrights: software, user manual, ringtones, start-up tone, images. Patents and utility models: data-processing methods, operating system, operation of user interface. Design: form of overall phone, arrangement and shape of buttons, position and shape of the screen. Trade secrets: some technical know-how kept “in-house” and not published, es coca cola receipt What are geographical indicators? Geographical indications identify a good as originating in the territory of a country or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin: PGI (IGP in Ita) and PDO (DOP in Ita). PDO product that is produced, processed and prepared in a defined geographical area using recognized knowhow. Products owe their characteristics exclusively or essentially to their place of production and the skills of local producers. PGI is a product whose reputation of characteristics are closely linked to production on the geographical area. For PGI at least one of the stages of production, processing or preparation takes place in the area. They are a kind of protection bc if the product does not come from that specifical area it is not original. Es “Italia sounding” à abroad products “spacciati per essere italiani” es la Zottarella instead of Mozzarella or calzini instead of calzoni, or Parmesan instead of Parmigiano. The importance of IP It is an essential business bc if I discover smth new, with IP the only person who can decide how to use it is ME. IP encourage innovation and creativity, in all its various forms. Most technical inventions require substantial investments bf they can be produced and used. In order to attract funding, inventions must offer the POTENTIAL TO GENERATE INCOME. This perspective is greatly enhanced if IP protection is available. If no IP = competitors could offer the same products or services at a lower price bc they didn’t invest in research and development themselves à many innovative projects would not be profitable bc anyone who wanted to, could simply copy the results. Without PI there’s no innovation à only if an inventor can have a return for the investment made, he can develop smth new IP systems: Innovators à make significant investments in developing new products Competitors à benefit from their efforts à can offer similar or identical products at a cheaper price à heavy pressure may drive the innovator out of business Get a free ride on the back of the innovator’s creativity investments. IP SYSTEM Rights over the use of inventions, designs, brands, literary and artistic works. The IP system is there to help innovators protect their inventions, designs, brands, artistic works, and so on. It provides them with ownership over their work and the rights to exclude competitors from the production, import or sale of infringing goods. Examples of valuable intellectual property = coca cola, apple iPod touch, Harry Potter, polaroid instant camera or DNA copying process. PATENTS IT IS A COTRACT. It’s a form of IP (legal document) where you describe everything you discovered. It provides you an exclusive right. Since it is a contract, it is made by two or more parts, such as the inventor and the country on the other side. Patents are granted in nearly every country in the world. It provides the owner a set of rights: - The exclusivity à right to prevent other from making, using or offering for sale, selling or importing a product that infringes his patent without his authorization in countries which the patent was granted for a limited time (up to 20 years). - In return for this protection, the holder has to disclose the invention to the public. Patent are granted in nearly every country in the world! I decide to stipulate the patent contract depending on the potential market of my product à previous market analysis is required. You have one year to extend the protection. The inventor has his protection, and the gain for the state is that it receives the disclosure of the invention, which cannot then be kept secret and for example starting from this invention they can develop smth new. What can be patented? Patents protect INNOVATIONS which solve technical problems (we cannot patent an idea, only inventions). What is an invention? Developing of smth feasible that can be developed. Es in EU software are not patented since they are considered ana idea (you cannot touch them. Other countries consider them a process, so that they can be patented). Es. chemical substances, pharmaceuticals, processes, methods, uses or products, devices, system. For an invention to be patented, it must usually fulfill the Patentability requirements (PR) à only certain types of inventions, not all of them. YOU CANNOT PATENT DISCOVERIES! Invention vs discovery Discovery is the founding of smth that already exist in nature but was never really recognized bf. Invention is the creation/design of smth or the process of creating or design smth that never existed bf, by using someone’s intellect or knowledge, skills. For a gene we are talking abt discover or invention? à genes are invention only if I engineer them. You can patent the process of invention/discover, but you cannot patent the product itself (so the gene). Occurrence of discoveries is natural; inventions are human-made occurrences of things or objects A discovery is not patentable, an invention is. Infections occur everywhere: es bicycle, electric toothbrushes and superconductors. Patents that are used can tell smth abt specific innovation sectors (es superconductors picked with the come of computer, then they probably have been substitute by innovative technologies). The concept of patents is not new! In 1474 the senate of Venice stated for the first time what a patent is, and this definition is exactly the same used nowadays: - It is smth new to the world - It garantuees up to 20 years of protection - It is published - It represents an incentive to innovate and to share knowledge Roles of patent: Ø To encourage technological innovation Ø To promote competition and investment Ø To provide information on the latest technical developments Ø To promote technology transfer Rights conferred by patents which belong to the patent holder: Ø Right to prevent other from making, using, offering for sale, selling or import infringing products in the country where the patent was granted Exceptions: non-commercial purposes (private use, academic research: researchers should not pay to keep going making discoveries/inventions) Ø Right to assign, sell or license these rights Holder diverso da applicant = holder la persona che inventa, l’applicant la company che paga (es. ricercatore è holder, università è applicant). A patent does not give you the right to exploit an invention! A patent is a negative right à it gives you the right to prevent others from exploiting the invention. It is not an enabling right. Patents owned by others may overlap or encompass your own patent à seek a license bf commercializing WHAT DO PATENT DOCUMENTS LOOK LIKE? Most info is gathered in the first page: - Logo of European system (“European patent application”) - Application number à technical codes to identify single patents. It can start with “EP” = European Patent - Date of publication à date in which the patent has been published. Steps are: application, publication, acceptance and grant. Not every patent becomes granted (they can be also rejected) - Information abt developers/owner: Inventor à names of inventors and location of the invention Applicant à names of the owner (AKA assignee) - Abstract à short description of the patent - Claims à a long description of the patent that provides the scope of the invention. What does the description contain? Es. teapot with 2 spots Ø Prior art (es teapot with one spot) à description of the existence of everything design bf the invention Ø Drawback of prior art à time consuming Ø Problem to be solved à reduce filling time for multiple cups Ø Solution à provide a second spout Ø Advantage of the invention à filling time is reduced Which can/cannot be patented? For an invention to be patentable, it must usually be: à NEW (not available to the public anywhere in the world) à INVENTIVE (not “obvious” solution) à it must have an INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION In most countries, patents are not granted for mere business methods or rules of games, or for methods of treatment, diagnostics and surgery of the human or animal body, or for inventions that are contrary to order public or morality, or for plant and animal varieties. WHEN IS AN INVENTION “NEW”? When it is not part of the state of the art = everything made available to public bf the date of filling (keep your invention confidential until you have filed your application). First of all, the inventors search report in which they collect info about similar invention made public before that date. Se patento qualcosa in Italy, someone else in Spain cannot patent the same thing since IT IS NOT SMTH NEW! To not revel your invention: - Do not publish any articles, press releases, conference presentations/ posters/ proceedings, lectures or blog posts, etc. before you file - Do not sell any products incorporating the invention bf you file - Sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) - Seek professional advice at an early stage - File bf anyone else does WHEN IS AN INVENTION “INVENTIVE”? When it is not obvious to the person skilled in the art in view of the state of the art à it is more difficult to evaluate bf an invention. The person skilled in the art: - Is a skilled practitioner in the relevant technical field - Has access to the entire state of the art - Is aware of general technical knowledge - Is capable of routine work - HE KNOWS EVERYTHING, BUT HAS ZERO IMAGINATION ASSESSING INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION An invention shall be considered as susceptible of industrial application “if it can be made or used in any kind of industry, including agriculture”. The patent laws of another group of countries do not provide any “industrial applicability” requirement but require “utility”. How to obtain patent protection in Europe? Case 1: THE NATIONAL ROUTE - Separate procedures for each state - Procedures differ according to national law Case 2: EUROPEAN PATENT CONVENTION - One application filed at once office for up to 42 states - One procedure - Applicant selects the desired states - One European patent for up to 42 states - Results in a bundle of national patents Case 3: THE INTERNATIONAL ROUTE à PATENT COOPERATION TRATEY (PCT) - It is a procedure to send one single application for up to 148 countries - The first step that provides you an opinion of the invention à you understand if it worth the effort - Harmonization of formal standards à you get an evaluation an international level - When a patent starts with “WO” it does not means it’s not an international patent, but it states that it simply follows the international rules for patent application - Search report and opinion on patentability - After 30-31 months, decision by applicant on which countries proceed in What can happen after a Europena patent has been granted? o Opposition o Limitation/revocation o Renewal fees o Invalidity proceedings (bf a court) o Infringement proceedings (bf a court) What is infringement? Making use of a patented product or process without the consent of the patent owner Making, offering, putting on the market, importing or stocking the product Making, offering, putting on the market, importing or stocking a product directly obtained from a protected process Using a process or offering the process for use Infringement is determined by the national courts or by the Unified Patent Court (once it enters into force) What constitutes infringement in one country may differ from other countries Patent proprietors can claim damages and other remedies from alleged infringers ADVANTAGES: a) Exclusivity enables investment and higher returns on investment b) Strong, enforceable legal right c) Makes invention tradable (license, sale) DISADVANTAGES: a) Reveals invention to competitors (after 18 months) b) Can be expensive c) Grant may take 3-5 years d) Patent enforceable only after grant; proceedings can be costly ALTERNATIVES TO PATENTING 1. Disclose (publish) the information à prevents others from patenting the same invention but reveals the invention to competitors 2. Keep it secret à does not reveal the invention but secrets often leak quite fast 3. Do nothing à does not offer exclusivity and competitors will often learn details What might happen if I decide NOT to patent my invention? a) Somebody else might patent it b) Competitors might take advantage of it c) Potential for licensing, selling or transferring the technology would be severally curtailed PATENTABILITY OF INVENTIONS IN THE FIELD OF BIOTECHNOLOGY EPC = European Patent Convention à it contains all the general patentability criteria (Articles 52 and 53). Regulation à automatically enforced in every single member state Directive à needs to be converted in national laws What does the directive do? It harmonizes national patent laws regarding biotechnological inventions + it specifies those inventions which are patentable on ethical grounds and those which are not. Main criteria for patentability: § NOVELTY à not previously made available to the public § INVENTIVE STEP à not obvious § INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION à use, function Inventions which concern a product consisting of, or containing, biological material* or a process for the production of such biological material may be patented if they are new, involve an inventive step and can be applied industrially. Patentable subject-matter: 1) ISOLATED biological material even if it previously occurred in nature (EU directive/EPC) - Proteins, DNA, chemicals from MOs - Living organisms and cells: (stem) cells, bacteria, viruses, animals, plants 2) METHODS AND USES of biotech-related products: - Producing a protein, PCR, in vitro diagnosis, in silico screening, preparation of plants and animals - Making foods, medicines Exceptions: the following are not patentable: - Plant and animal varieties or essentially biological processes (breeding = crossing and selection) for their production à the reason is to avoid a double protection in field of plant breeding. The patent is allowed if the technical feasibility of the invention is not confined to a particular plant variety (es artic apple is not focus on a specific apple variety, it regards apples in general) - Biological processes for producing plants and animals à Plant varieties or essentially biological processes* for the production of plats are not patentable; plants are patentable if the technical feasibility of the invention is not confined to a particular plant variety. * a process is essentially biological if it consists entirely of natural phenomena such as crossing and selection (it can be thought as those processes traditionally done by breeders). - The human body at the various stages of its formation and development à However, an element isolated from the human body or produced by a technical process may be a patentable invention. Inventions may not be patented where their commercialization would be immoral or against public order. In particular, the following are not patentable: o Processes for cloning human beings o Processes that modify the human germ line genetic identity o Use of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes o Processes that may cause suffering to animals when modifying their genetic identity PROTECTION OF NEW VARIETIES OF PLANTS UPOV mission statement: to provide and promote an effective system of plant variety protection, with the aim of encouraging the development of new varieties of plants, for the benefit of society. What is UPOV? It is basically the international convention for the production of new plants varieties established in 1961. UPOV à 76 members (Union international pour la Protection des Obtention Végétales) What is a plant variety? In analogy with the UPOV convention, Rule 26(4) EPC defines "plant variety" as any plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowest known rank, which grouping can be: Ø Defined by the expression of the characteristics that results from a given genotype or combination of genotypes Ø Distinguished from any other plant grouping by the expression of at least one of the said characteristics Ø Considered as a unit with regard to its suitability for being propagated unchanged Why it’s important to protect new plant varieties? World population continues to grow Agricultural productivity needs to be increased WITH INNOVATION!à arable land and other resources are scarce Production function: starting from a certain amount of input I obtain a certain amount of outputs Es inputs (asse x) = fertilizers Outputs (asse Y) = tones of product = production LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURN Es adding water, after a given point, additional water is no longer useful, the delta of production in the curve start to decrease à it is still positive, but the marginal increase is lower and lower If I use an innovation of production function, the curve shifts upward = MORE OUTPUT starting from the SAME INPUT and SAME OUTPUT = LESS INPUT à this can solve some sustainability issues à that’s why innovation is so important So – more efficient use of inputs which leads to ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS Improved quality – less waste, higher value Better resistance to pests and diseases – high yields, less inputs Plant breeding is long and expensive BUT plant varieties can be easily and quickly reproduced BREEDERS NEED PROTECTION TO RECOVER INVESTMENT Which are the essential provisions of the UPOV convention? 1. Breeders varieties 2. Conditions of protection 3. Scope of the right, exceptions and duration BREEDER à the one entitled to protection. He bred, or discovered and developed, a new variety è development is essential VARIETY à the subject matter of protection. It’s a plant grouping defined by the expression of specific characteristics. It is distinguished from other plant grouping and to be protected in UPOV convention, it needs to fill some conventions, such as patentability criteria (novelty, inventiveness and industrial application). Conditions for granting a breeder’s right (criteria to be satisfied): - Novelty - Distinctness – clearly distinguishable from any other variety whose existence is a matter of common knowledge on the time of the filing of the application. “Common knowledge” is not restricted to national or geographical borders - Uniformity – if, subject to variation, it is sufficiently uniform in its relevant characteristics. It refers only to the characteristics which are relevant for the protection of the variety. - Stability – a new variety is stable if its relevant characteristic remain unchanged after repeated propagation. The criteria of stability thou rely only on the relevant characteristics of a new variety OTHER REQUIREMENTS: - Variety denomination - Formalities - Payment of fees BREEDER’S RIGHT In case of any protected variety, the authorization of breeder is required for: Production or reproduction (multiplication) Conditioning for the purpose of propagation Offering for sale Selling or marketing Exporting Importing Stocking for any of the above purposes Material covered: - All propagating material - Harvested material under certain conditions à IF obtained through unauthorized use of propagating material unless, reasonable opportunity for breeder to exercise his right EXCEPTIONS TO BREEDER’S RIGHT: Acts done: A) Private use or non-commercial purposes B) For research (experimental use) C) Breeding other varieties D) Farmer’s privilege (optional) Advantages of the breeder’s exemption: Ø Germplasm sources remain accessible to the community of breeders Ø Genetic bases for plant improvement is broadened and is actively conserved Ø Variety improvement is enhanced Ø Opportunity for all breeders to share in benefits of breeding activities MINIMUM DURATION OF PROTECTION (to be counted from the date of grant) Trees and vines à 25 years Other plants à 20 years PATENTS AS INICATORS OF INNOVATION Plant variety protection and utility patents played important and complementary roles in promoting and adopting innovation. Among the few available indicators of technology output, patent indicators are probably the most frequently used. Get familiar with patent database à tips on the use of patents as indicator of innovation. We will see how patents are usually used not from the inventor side, but from the businessman POV; we need to use patent data to analyse innovation. Why patent data are one of the best of indicators of innovation? Major advantages: - Patent data are public, big difference with market data, you can find a lot of market report, but usually they're not for free, you have to pay 2-4 thousand euros, sometimes more. Among the few available indicators of technology output, patent indicators are probably the most frequently used. - They're open source, these are available data. The alternative to patent data are scientific publications, which are OK but characterized by a delay, from the scientific innovation to products on the market, they're not able to catch innovation in the making because too far from innovation. - Patent data have a close link to inventions, for ex in terms of timing à usually inventions are developed, produced and just before the starting of pilot activities, to move forward to market, they patent. It's the very first activity after the invention of something, they're closer in timing. - Patent data contain very detailed info about an invention, a long description of it. - The spatial and temporal coverage of patent data is unique, we can have access to patent data of patent systems all over the world and access also to data from the past centuries. Drawbacks (which not prevent the use of patent data for this kind of analysis but need to be considered): - Not all inventions are patented, patents are just one way to protect innovation, there is also trade secrets etc. We have to consider this aspect when we base our analysis and considerations on patent count, since I can underestimate (there can be biases). - Each specific sector has its own propension to patent, in some innovation sector the propensity is lower, so we have to correct our data on these shares, different in each innovation sectors. - The value of a patent: how can I estimate the value of the content of a patent, the value of an invention? One very important invention, disruptive invention = completely changed an innovation sector, has a value which can be different from an incremental innovation, which produced innovation but not so relevant. There are specific indicators and methods to estimate the value of a patent. Normally indicators are based for ex on the number of inventors (ex 1 or 20, we can imagine the effort to develop these two inventions can be different), the number of patent systems in which I asked for protection, the number of citations (most cited patents are the one with higher values). - Differences in patent law and practices around the world: patent procedures are different, if I want to analyse the innovation in plant varieties patented around the world for ex, I have to consider that in EU we don't have patents on plant varieties, I could think that in EU there’s not innovation on plant varieties. - Patent data are complex, you have to be an expert on this field to understand the content of the paper. Case study: the patent landscape of RNAi-based innovation à they collected a huge number of patent families, 7.262. Public database of European patent office, use a combination of filters and keywords, ex the time span, geographical distribution and you put a query to facilitate your research. Date: priority date (first priority date in the family record) and publication date (first or earliest publication date for each patent office family member filing). Priority Country: patent office of the first priority date in the family record Assignee: name of the current owner of the patent family Assignee type: classification of the type of patent owner (agbiotech companies, other private firms, academic organizations, public institutions), own elaboration Plant: identification of the main plant’s varieties included in the patent dataset, own elaboration Trait: classification of the main trait modification included in the patent dataset, own elaboration. A patent is a single patent document referring to an invention; as soon as the applicant decide to protect the very same invention in different countries, a patent family is generated. A bunch of patents granted in different countries but referring to the same invention. I have two patents; how can I understand if they belong to the same family? The applicant must be the same, the title could be different, since it would be in another language. Actually, they share the same finger print, the same priority code, another code conferred at each patent in the very first filing of the patent. All the copies have the same priority number because they referred to the same invention. Then they analysed these data: the simpler ones are the time trends, the evolution over time of the number of patents; for RNAI technology they observed a positive evolution over time, we can say that is an emerging technology. In blue in the graph we have the number of publications, why there aren’t publications in 2017 and 2018? I have to consider 1 year and half of delay before the publications. Early Priority: this is the first filing of a patent application, anywhere in the world (usually in the applicant’s domestic patent office), to protect an invention. Publications: the set of patents filed in several countries which are related to the same invention. The list of countries in which the application is filed is an indication of the applicant’s market strategy. It is also indicative of the invention’s value (Patent family). Then country analysis, where the RNAi innovation is increasing: EPO = European Patent Office JPO = Japan Patent Office USPTO = United States Patent and Trademark Office SIPO = CNIPA = Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration We can see the evolution of RNAi innovation: at the beginning USA was the research leader on this topic, then in 2010 arrived in China (in red, SIPO à nowadays CNIPA). It's impressive, we can understand a lot of things looking at these data, also the European innovation grew initially and then decreased. Then we can analyse the content of these inventions: ex, for plants, rice is the first plant involved in RNAi- based innovation, and again this is related to the entry of China in the innovation field, since rice is one of the staple plants in China. Trait analysis: which is the modified trait with RNAi? We can see a variety of modifications, agronomic properties, herbicide tolerance, pest resistance, abiotic stress resistance, product quality etc. (consider that with GMO, the main traits introduced were herbicide tolerances + insect resistances à with RNAi we have a wider range of improvements that can be obtained in the plant). Patent analysis for type of assignee Type of applicants: we can have private applicants, private other, then public other, and public universities. Concentration indexes, CR = concentration ratio, ex CR4, is a ratio that consider the share of number of patents filed by the first 4 “players” (I think the first 4 assignees filing the higher number of patents in a specific field). You can also rank applicants. Private applicants, we can identify historical “big six” companies, Monsanto, Bayer, BASF, Syngenta, Dow and DuPont; recently, these six became the “big four”, due to mergers between different corporations: Bayer-Monsanto, DowDuPont/Corteva, ChemChina-Syngenta, BASF à they own, all together, the 60% of the global seed market, but what about the RNAi? Is not a so concentrated market, for this technology there are lot of small companies, public research institutions ecc, it's a different scenario. RNAi is an emerging technology, characterized by limited IP concentration on a great variety of plants and traits; there is an emerging role of Asian countries, principally China, but also Japan and Korea. Very simple elaboration and analysis but at the same time also very useful. OECD, Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development, use a lot of statistic on IP to analyse innovation. IP SEARCH TOOLS We start with Espacenet! A user-friendly service from European patent office for patent search. Search for EPO on google, find the official website, learning section, material and programmes for universities, IP teaching kit, IP basics and we can download the modules. Today we are going in searching for patents, Espacenet patent search. Don't use open Espacenet but use open classic Espacenet, which is much easier to use. Espacenet has a unique feature that other patent systems don't have, you can make patent search at worldwide level, it's possible to search for front pages of patents, the claims and search report (reports on prior art). Why should we perform this kind of search? To find out what others are doing To get new ideas To check the freedom to operate landscape Enforcement (?) Who are the potential users of Espacenet? Various kind of info can be extracted from published patent documents. This information can be technical, scientific, legal or commercial in nature, so it is of interest to a wide range of potential users, including scientists, engineers, lawyers, economists/business administrators, historians. Smart search, I just put keywords as in Google, let's search for ex Monsanto, we obtain more than 10.000 results for Monsanto. If you click on the title, you open the page for that specific patent. What can we find? The title, the name of the inventors, the applicant, the country for both inventors and applicant and: Ø The front page à in Espacenet it is possible to search specifically in the front page bibliographic data and the front page title and abstract; if it contains full-text searchable documents, it is also possible to search the description and claims. Ø The claims à define the legal scope of the patent, the area of technology for which patent protection is requested. In any given patent application, the allowable set of claims are for a product, a process involving the product, or an application of the technology. The first claim in any of the above sets is called an independent claim; all other claims which refer to the independent claim are called dependent claims. Ø The search report à is a document produced by the patent examiner after he/she has carried out patentability research. In it the examiner compares the current patent application with previously published material known in the patent world as “prior art”. Cited documents section >> corresponds to documents cited in the search report, patents related to the new invention belonging to the state of the art. Ø Classification à is technology specific and made up by a set of codes, the application number and the priority numbers. Ø Also published as: the other countries where the patent was filed. We can find information about the legal status of a patent clicking on INPADOC legal status, where we can find the progress of the different phases of the grant process. In fact, patent documents are also concerned with legal issues, such as ownership, legal status and validity, and whether or not a patent has been granted or is still pending. A patent is a legal title, it’s possible to link from a European patent publication in Espacenet, to the corresponding record in the European Patent Register. We have also a code in the patent title: - A document à European patent application, published 18 months after filing with the EPO or 18 months after priority date A1 document, European patent application published with European search report A2 document, European patent application published without European search report (search report not available at the publication date) A3 document, separate publication of the European search report  A4 document, supplementary search report - B document à European patent specification B1 document, European patent specification (granted patent) B2 document, new European patent specification (amended specification) B3 document, European patent specification (after limitation procedure) - Citing documents: section where I can find the value of a patent, I can find all the patents that cited this patent as prior art, a proxy of the value of this patent by looking at the number of citations it received. Tool to find blockbuster patents (a thing of great power or size, in particular a movie, book, or other product that is a great commercial success). For ex PCR in 2010 received 248 citations, in 2015 received 1329 citations. Espacenet search options available to users On the landing page we can find the “smart search” option, which offers two type of search method: 1) Smart search for dummies à you just simply add terms to the box, like you would in Google, and generally you will get a result 2) Smart search for experts à you can compose a complicated “command-line” search using field identifiers, truncation and Boolean and proximity operators, to execute sophisticated search statements. Advanced search In this section, each field is labelled with the allowed input. This makes it easy to construct a complicated search without having to learn “command line” syntax. Search section, advanced search, here you can filter your results using a very high number of filters. We can use the code for patents, application, publication or priority numbers. Or even also filter for only the country code. We can make a time filter based on the publication date. You can filter for the name of the applicant/inventor. You can also filter for codes, basically technical codes that classify inventions for technical fields, you can filter for a specific type of technology. IPC, International Patent Classification = provides for a hierarchical system of language independent symbols for the classification of patents and utility models, according to the different areas of technology to which they pertain. A new version of the IPC enters into force each year on January 1st. CPC, Cooperative Patent Classification is an extension of the IPC and is jointly managed by the EPO and the USPTO. It is divided into 9 sections, A-H and Y, which in turn are subdivided into classes, sub-classes, groups and sub-groups. There are approximately 250.000 classification entries. à C12N, for ex is the one regarding biotechnology (?) The huge number of patents in the world are classified to make it easier for patent offices to search and examine. Espacenet has chosen the new CPC scheme. You can use keywords to search the CPC, for ex search for polypeptide antibody à we can drill down into the classification and find the classification for polypeptide antibodies against hepatitis C virus and hepatitis G virus; we can copy the relevant classification symbol into the advanced search box and search further, refining our search with additional terms. Saving and downloading Espacenet allows you to save and download entire documents, or front pages, to read later. Just click on the star symbol to add documents to the “My patent list”. It will turn from black to red when activated. Then open “My patent list” by clicking on it in the toolbar à you’ll see a list of documents you have saved. To select a document for download, just tick the checkbox on the left end of the title bar (only the first 500 results are displayed, and you can download only the one displayed). Select export in XLS format (export to Excel) à download covers.