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Free Pint Patent Information Exchange

Any one of the 50,000,000 patent specifications in the British Library could save tens of thousands of pounds from your company's research budget - or cost you even more in infringement litigation. Do you know how to exploit the patent literature to your advantage?

Patents are unfamiliar territory to the majority of information specialists. In busy departments, pressure of work is steering many users to try out new free-of-charge online files for the first time. Without an understanding of how the patent system works, searches will be inefficient and results open to misinterpretation. This session addressed the basics of how patent documents get published and what they mean. It was appropriate for librarians or information specialists with established skills in handling enquiries, but who lack a background in patents to really get the best out of the files. It also suited employees from small businesses, who have limited time and money but need to monitor technology developments using this unique information resource.

The session aimed to define some basic ideas about patents, de-mystify some of the legal jargon surrounding patent information, explain how patent documents come to be published and examine how some of the major databases process this information for the user. It did not discuss details of search techniques, but focused upon key legal and information aspects of patents.

The session covered:

• Definitions and concepts of patent information
• Typical procedures of a modern patent office
• A more detailed look at four major systems
• the United States,
• the European Patent,
• Japan
• the Patent Co-operation Treaty
• Understanding the structure of patent bibliographic records
• Locating the original documents

Stephen Adams is managing director of Magister Ltd., an information and training consultancy specialising in patents documentation formed in 1997. The company works closely with patent information users (and non-users!), the major patent database producers, online hosts and industry lobby groups such as the Patent Documentation Group. He is immediate past-Chair of the UK Patent and Trade Mark Group, which represents patent searchers in industry, private legal practice and the public sector, and Director-at-Large of PIUG Inc., the International Society for Patent Information.

All attendees received a hint sheet with details of how to use the major websites discussed, and a reference glossary of patent terms.