IP Menu News - The Latest Intellectual Property Resource News
Review: Wizfolio Web 2.0
Around a year after the release of WizPatent Express Wizpatent have released WizFolio Web 2.0.
WizFolio is a free browser-based programme which simplifies the collection and sharing of documents, references and patent information.
WizFolio collects and stores references to patents and journals and will, where possible, find the PDF for the patent or journal to which these references refer. These references may then be organized with ease through a drag and drop interface.
The standout feature of WizFolio is its ability to share selected files with either the public or with a selected list of other WizFolio users.
A user may also upload documents to their WizFolio account and similarly chose to make these documents available to other users. Where the uploaded file is a scientific journal, WizFolio will produce a reference by retrieving information from journal databases.
The user interface is intuitive and anyone familiar with the windows operating system will find it simple to use.
Click here for a demonstration of WizFolio. Labels: Patent News
Trilateral group meets in The Hague
Representatives from the European Patent Office (EPO), Japan Patent Office (JPO) and United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently met to address shortfalls in the international patent system and to discuss reforms.
Representatives of industry groups , the Institute of Professional Representatives before the EPO and WIPO also participated in the conference.
One question which arose was how to reconcile the two systems currently in operation between the Trilateral members – the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and bilateral Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) agreements.
IPwatch reported that Dr Gurry, head of WIPO, indicated his support of the PCT, suggesting that the PPH lacked ‘systemic benefit’.
The Trilateral participants agreed to support initiatives of the IP5 group (consisting of the EPO, JPO, USPTO and the Korean and the Chinese intellectual property offices) and though agreeing to continue to develop the PPH, acknowledging that the PCT was to remain the principal patent application system.
View the EPO account of the conference and see the EPO press release. Labels: Conferences, Copyright News, Domain Name News, Patent News
Japan overhauls patent application system
For several years, the Japanese government has been implementing measures to address long processing times and long backlogs of patent applications.
A number of reforms were put in place including the recruitment of considerable number of new examiners and the outsourcing of certain aspects of the examination process.
The new system has only recently started to process applications and expects to process patents in just over 2 months. IPworld reports that the first patent was granted 17 days after the filing date.
View a detailed account of the recent developments of the Japanese Patent Office at Thomson Reuters. Labels: Japan, Patent News
New Australian Head of WIPO pledges to make changes
Dr Francis Gurry yesterday delivered a speech to the WIPO General Assembly accepting his nomination as Director-General. Dr Gurry’s appointment comes amidst a turbulent period for WIPO. A division had arisen between the developed and developing world over the controversial outgoing Director-General Dr Kamal Indris and additionally, The Australian cites a PriceWaterhouseCoopers audit of WIPO found organisational inefficiencies and staffing-related problems.
In his speech Dr Gurry acknowledged:
‘Patent Offices are choking on demand ... There are an estimated 3.5 million
unexamined patent applications in the world today. The quality of the output of
Patent Offices, pushed to cope with such strong demand, is also under critical
scrutiny.’
‘The Patent Cooperation Treaty…is not providing a
sufficiently adequate solution to the crisis in demand management’
Dr Gurry outlined a number of changes to be made to address the grievances leveled at WIPO; namely improving efficiency and improving communication between WIPO, member states, and other UN bodies.
View his acceptance speech
Forbes article on Dr GurryLabels: Australia, Patent News
Canadian-led seven-year study critical of international trends in IP law
The International Expert Group on Biotechnology, Innovation and Intellectual Property today released a review of international trends in intellectual property law.
The study analyzed current IP law from a multidisciplinary approach. Its findings are accordingly framed in broad terms of the social utility of IP law.
The study divided IP law into two classes, ‘Old IP’ and ‘New IP’. ‘Old IP’ was characterized by a flood of patents being granted due to under regulation, and flows of knowledge being obstructed by companies and universities:
‘Research also showed that it was unclear whether patents actually increase inventiveness and dissemination’ (Executive Summary Page 5)
‘New IP’ is characterized by more stringent regulation, leading to less patents being granted, and the sharing of knowledge between developed and developing countries.
The report makes a number of recommendations, with a recurrent theme of a collaborative approach between countries.
See the report (including executive summary). See also an ABC article on this report. Labels: Canada, Patent News
National Innovation System Review released
The Innovation Review Panel yesterday released the Review of Australia’s National Innovation System.
A number of recommendations are made such as supporting enterprise in business and tax incentives for research and development.
The report made several recommendations with respect to intellectual property. These included that intellectual property should be managed as a facet of economic policy; and also that the threshold of inventiveness required for the filing of new patents be raised, contending that a low threshold of inventiveness actually impedes innovation (at 84).
Senator Kim Carr, Minister of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research said that the government will release a response by the end of the year.
View the Review and Senator Carr’s press release.Labels: Australia, Patent News
IP Australia designates the Korean IP Office as an International Search Authority
In an agreement reached on 1 August, IP Australia agreed to designate KIPO as an International Search Authority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.
IP Australia is currently the only available ISA for Australian international patent applicants seeking an international patent search. From 2009, Australians will be able to request an international patent search with KIPO.
View the IP Australia announcement and the KIPO announcementLabels: Korea, Patent News
WIPO Releases 2008 World Intellectual Property Report
The 2008 World Intellectual Property Report is an analysis of international trends in the filing of patents trends for the year 2006.
A brief summary of the findings of the report:
. Worldwide filing of patents increased 4.9% from 2005.
. Growth of patent filing in North-East Asian countries
. Increase in use of patents in developing countries
. Increase in the filing of patents across multiple countries.
. Electronics-related fields experienced the greatest amount of patent
activity
. Also notable increase in the number of patents in the field of
renewable energy technology.
Click here for the report and the associated press release. Labels: Patent News
Italy - Introduction of prior art search and substantive examination
IP Resources - AusPat upgrade announced
 IP Australia has announced that the AusPat search system for Australian patents will be upgraded later this month. "The following changes will be included in AusPat 1.1 - Addition of Opposition Data
- Addition of Acceptance Published Date as a search field
- Removal of Acceptance Date as a search field
- Addition of Name of Agent paying last continuation/renewal fee (for mainframe applications)
- Addition of Extension of Term data (for applications managed in PAMS)
- Addition of Court Order details for Court Ordered Amendments (for applications managed in NPS)
- Changes to Application Details page to support new data elements."
AusPat is available at http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/auspat/Labels: Patent News, Resources
IP Resources - PATENTSCOPE update: Japanese search
 The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has updated its PATENTSCOPE service to provide full-text data search of Japanese patent documents. Previously full-text searching was only available in English, French, German, Spanish and Russian. WIPO's press release discusses the benefits of this new facility: '“This enhancement improves access to Japanese PCT international applications, which make up 16% of all applications filed in the past four years,” said Mr. Francis Gurry, Deputy Director General of WIPO. He recalled that, after English, Japanese is the language in which most applications are filed. He also noted that a number of top users of the PCT are Japanese companies. “This is part of our continuing endeavor to add value to the PCT system,” noted Mr. Gurry, who oversees the work of the PCT. The PCT is a cornerstone of the international patent system and offers a rapid, flexible and cost-effective means of obtaining patent protection in up to 139 countries. 'The searchable Japanese text data includes descriptions and claims of published PCT international applications filed electronically in Japanese and published on or after July 3rd, 2008. It further includes all the titles and the bulk of abstracts of international applications published since 2004. The Japanese text data will also be available on a weekly basis to all patent offices and companies that have subscribed to the FTP data delivery service.' Resources and for further information World Intellectual Property Organization press release - WIPO’s PATENTSCOPE® Service Expands Language Functionality World Intellectual Property Organization - PATENTSCOPE Labels: Patent News, Resources
IP Resources - IP Newsflash update: PDF download of patent documents
PIUG Update - PIUG Service Awards
 The Patent Information Users Group, Inc (PIUG) has recently honored several of their volunteers with the PIUG 2008 Service Award. An Award of Appreciation was presented to Donna Cooper in recognition of Donna’s service to PIUG as Newsletter Editor from 2003 to 2004 and Annual Meeting Brochure Editor 2002 to 2008. Mark Hutcherson was also presented an Award of Appreciation for his service as Newsletter Editor Extraordinaire 2004 to 2008. In addition, Stephen Adams was presented the Special Recognition Award in recognition of Stephen’s Tireless Service to PIUG for his Ten Years of Excellent Patent Searching Workshops, being on the PIUG Board of Directors 2002 to 2006, and also for being voted Favorite Speaker countless times. "The Patent Information Users Group, Inc. (PIUG) is a not-for-profit organization for individuals having a professional, scientific or technical interest in patent information. With the ever increasing volume of patents and related technical documents, the effective retrieval and analysis of patent information has become an essential skill in business. The mission of PIUG is therefore to encourage the development of patent information research and analysis systems, to further develop members' patent research and analysis skills, and to provide appropriate recognition for its members excelling in the field. Through this international forum and discussion, we promote and improve the retrieval, analysis and dissemination of patent information. PIUG has over 700 members in 2008 including 440 patent information professionals who do patent searching for a corporation, 60 patent information professionals who do patent searching for law firms and 125 patent information consultants." For further information about PIUG, including how to become a member, is available on the PIUG website. Labels: Patent News, Resources
Australia - New IP Resource: AusPat
IP Australia has released a new system for searching for Australian patents, called AusPat. AusPat is now IP Australia's official source of online data, which means that the previous systems Patsearch and PATADMIN will no longer need to be used. "In this release you can: - Search for applications managed in PATADMIN and PAMS systems through the Quick, Structured or Advanced search interfaces
- Use any of the 20 search fields
- Use the Name Selector to find variants of Applicant and Inventor names
- View, sort and print the results of your search in the “Search Results” page
- Customise the “Search Results” page by adding, removing or rearranging columns"
"In future releases you will have access to: - Additional opposition, ownership and publication data
- Full text searching of applications back to 1904
- eJournal – Search, browse and print information from AU Journals
- eRegister – Search, browse and print information from the Australian Patent Register
- eCase – public access to patent case files that are deemed Open for Public Inspection"
AusPat is available at: http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/auspat/ References and for further information IP Australia news - AusPat - Australia's new patent search system IP Australia - AusPat User's Guide Labels: Patent News, Resources
UK - New Free Patents Database
New IP Resource - PriorSmart.com
PriorSmart.com is a new free IP Resource that providing access to 60+ online patent databases from a single search box. Using PriorSmart.com is easy; simply type in the query and then select which database to use. The available databases include: US-granted patents (USPTO), US-applications (USPTO), Espacenet - European Union, Google - US-all, PatentLens - Worldwide, and Delphion - Worldwide.  The site also provides access to patent databases for following countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Delphion, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, European Union, Finland, France, Free Patents Online, Germany, Google, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Latin America, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, PatentLens, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United States, United States (apps), Uruguay, Venezuela, World IP Office, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Christmas Island, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Republic of, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Province of China, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan. Visit the PriorSmart.com website at http://www.priorsmart.com/ Labels: Patent News, Resources
IP Resources: LexisNexis update including new IP DataDirect-Patents
 LexisNexis recently updated a number of its IP resources and also added a new service providing patent information for in-house proprietary systems, IP DataDirect-Patents. In addition to the full-text data from 22 patent authorities, IP DataDirect-Patents also includes: - "Bibliographic and abstract data from 96 authorities
- English-language machine translations
- Clipped images
- Legal status, forward and backward citations, and patent-family data
- PDF images in searchable, bookmarked, and compressed format"
LexisNexis' TotalPatent database has also been updated to output data in XML format for use in internal systems. Furthermore, there TotalPatent now has an option to search by inventor/assignee, and is now organised into patent families. The new functionality added to the PatentOptimizer tool includes, "patent links that navigate directly into the TotalPatent service, allowing customers to check terms and references, as well as verify citations. Additionally, customers verifying claims can immediately compare and navigate multiple claim sets across a series of user-identified documents." Sources & for further information LexisNexis Press Releases - LexisNexis® Expands Intellectual Property Solutions to Help Customers Protect Valuable Assets LexisNexis - IP DataDirect-Patents LexisNexis - TotalPatent LexisNexis - PatentOptimizer Labels: Patent News, Resources
IP Resources - PatBase
 A new addition to IP Menu's Database Networks is Minesoft's PatBase. PatBase is a searchable, international, patent family & full text patent database covering over 75 authorities. "PatBase offers over 20 million full-text searchable documents from the US, EP, PCT, GB, DE and FR patent-issuing authorities. A hit map and keyword-in-context hit analysis assist users in document examination. PatBase also offers citation searching enabling users to navigate through patent and no-patent documents cited against US, EP, and WO publications as well as a citation tree visual analysis tool. An alerting service, which provides clients with up-to-date reports on their search criteria, is available on a weekly or monthly basis." Minesoft also offers other software products related to PatBase: "PatBase Express offers a simple and intuitive way of investigating patents by subject, competitor or number. Based on the original PatBase database, which was developed by Minesoft and RWS Group as a search tool for patent professionals, PatBase Express draws upon the same comprehensive data, but offers a simplified way of searching so it can be used by anyone in a corporation who would like to find out about patents or competitor activities. Used by research engineers & chemists, paralegals and business managers." "Minesoft Patent Family Portal is an ideal service for fast, up-to-date checks on patent families and corresponding legal status. Designed for users who require the very latest comprehensive patent family and legal status data in a well-organised, concisely tabulated layout, it provides fast, concise access to INPADOC and Patent Office Registry records covering over 70 countries." The PatBase website is located at: http://www.patbase.com Labels: Patent News, Resources
IP Resources - Questel enhancements
 In the recent months Questel has further updated and enhanced their database system. One of the key enhancements is the addition of further full-text documents. The US backfile full-text now covers 1920-1973 and in the next few weeks there will also be full-text documents for Switzerland, Belgium and Austria. In addition, there are now machine translated titles and abstracts for Germany, France, Japan, Korean and China. Other new features listed on the Questel news page include the following: - "Natural and Multi-lingual search via our partnership with Lingway for PatentXL
- Comprehensive JP legal status via our partnership with PATOLIS Corp.
- More stats in the analysis module via our partnership with Intellixir"
Questel has also added new cited patents and non-patent documents in PatPlus and FamPat for the following countries: BE, CH, NL, TR, AU, JP, BS, ES, SG, DK, LU, FI, CY, and IT. This is in addition their existing literature for EP, WO, US, DE, FR, GB and JP. Moreover, "the Citation search field now includes standardized citation numbers and displays hit-term highlighting." The final new enhancement is the Questel Analysis module. Questel states that "with this new powerful and interactive web-based analysis module, you can analyse patents from within your PatentExaminer workfiles by: - Date, country, priority country
- Inventors and Assignees
- IPC - by IPC including IPC definitions
- Cross analysis by Assignees and IPCs"
Questel is available for a fee from www.questrel.com Source and for further information Questel - Website home page [includes release update details] Labels: Patent News, Resources
Europe - New EPO IP Training Website: ip4inno
 The European Patent Office has launched a new website providing information about intellectual property called ip4inno. As the ip4inno website explains, "its main aim is to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) enhance their understanding and use of intellectual property rights with a view to promoting innovation and competitiveness in line with the European Commission's Lisbon goals." The website allows users to "perform an advanced search for a wide selection of articles, case studies and best practices for small and medium-sized enterprises on topics ranging from basic info on patents and other kinds of intellectual property, through patent information, to building a business with intellectual property." In addition, the website at a later date will also provide a library of material for intellectual property trainers to use. Sources and for further information European Patent Office - IP training website launched ip4inno homepage - http://www.ip4inno.eu/ ip4inno - What is ip4inno ip4inno - For SMEs Labels: European Union, Patent News
New Intellectual Property Resource: PatDL
Sooner Tech's PatDL is a new intellectual property resource that has just been added the Database Network page on IP Menu. "PatDL is a software of Patent Searcher and Downloader which is custom-made for general scientific researcher and patent staff." Features - "Automatically Download patent’s full text, abstract, legal state in batches; and merge all of the pages to one file in PDF, including the abstract and legal status. You can also merge the pages you select to one file by yourself.
- Search patents from the most important databases about patents, such as EPO V3 database, SIPO Chinese, SIPO English, TIPO Chinese, USPTO PatFT, USPTO AppFT, JPO English
- Download patents from several databases, EPO V2 database, EPO V3 database, SIPO database, USPTO database (including granted US patents and published US patent applications), JPO database (including all JP patents), JPO English (PAJ), TIPO database (Taiwan patent gazette), TWPat database (Taiwan patent document), SIPO English
- Automatically analyze the type of the full text and download them.
- Extract biblio.data to EXCEL file quickly for analyzing patents.
- Automatically split a patent into several parts, and download each split simultaneously even when the full text of a patent or application exceeds 100 pages. PatDL could help you get them precisely and quickly. Multiple connections are opened to each patent, and the result is the most efficient exploitation of the bandwidth available. Whatever your connection, PatDL makes sure that all of the bandwidth is utilized. Thus PatDL could drastically reduces the download time and make your download absolutely easy for any kind of patent or application.
- Continue re-downloading if connection is lost or computer crashes and don’t need to start from the first page again."
Further information about PatDL is available at the SoonerSoft website. A free trial of PatDL is available here. Labels: Patent News
Australia - Review of National Innovations System
 The Australian Federal Department for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research has announced a review of the national innovations system to be conducted by an expert panel. The panel has called for submissions and stakeholder meetings are currently underway around the country. "The Panel will identify gaps and weaknesses in the innovation system and develop proposals to address them. In particular, it will: - Identify a set of principles to underpin the role and participation of the public sector in innovation.
- Develop a set of national innovation priorities to complement the national research priorities, ensuring the objectives of research programs and other innovation initiatives are complementary.
- Identify regulatory and other barriers to innovation and recommend ways to minimise these.
- Examine the scope for simplifying and reducing program duplication and ensuring that any support provided is well-targeted and easy to access.
- Consider the appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Concession Scheme in promoting innovation and make recommendations to improve innovation outcomes.
- Consider ways to improve the governance of the national innovation system to support higher expectations of government agencies and industry.
- Assess the appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program and make recommendations to improve innovation outcomes."
"A Green Paper will be received from the panel by the end of July 2008, and this will be followed by a White Paper response from the Government." Submissions may be posted or emailed to innovationreview@innovation.gov.au, with the deadline for submission 30 April 2008. Sources and for further information IP Australia news - Review of National Innovation System Department for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research - Review of National Innovation System Department for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research - Innovation Review Consultation Sessions Department for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research - Innovation Review: Call for Submissions Labels: Patent News
UK & Korea - Patent Prosecution Highway between US & Korea
 The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) have launched a pilot Patent Prosecution Highway program between the two offices. "Under the Patent Prosecution Highway, an applicant receiving a ruling from either CIPO or KIPO that at least one claim in an application is patentable may request that the USPTO fast track the examination of corresponding claims in corresponding applications. Similarly, if the USPTO determines that at least one claim is patentable, the applicant may request accelerated processing of corresponding applications filed at CIPO or KIPO."  "'By facilitating the direct use of each other's patent examination results, the KIPO-USPTO Patent Prosecution Highway will alleviate the examination workload and enhance the overall quality of examinations in our respective countries,' said Commissioner Sang-Woo Jun of KIPO. 'It will also be of great benefit for Korean and U.S. applicants as it will expedite the acquisition and commercialization of high quality patents.'" The US-Korea Patent Prosecution Highway pilot program follows other such programs between Japan & Korea, the US & Japan, the US & Canada, the UK & the US, and the UK & Japan. The trial program between the US and Korea is to run for one year, terminating on 28 January 2009. Sources and for further information USPTO Press Release - USPTO Expands Patent Prosecution Highway Network to Canadian, Korean Patent Offices USPTO - The Patent Prosecution Highway in Conjunction With the Korean Intellectual Property Office KIPO - Patent Prosecution Highway Information about other Patent Prosecution Highways IP Menu news - US & Canada - Patent Prosecution Highway IP Menu news - UK & USA - Patent Prosecution Highway opens between UK and USA IP Menu news - UK, Japan & US - Patent Prosecution Highway updates Labels: Korea, Patent News, United Kingdom
UK - Copies of UK patent files available through online form
Norway and Croatia join the EPO
 The European Patent Organisation (EPO) has announced the accession of Croatia and Norway to the European Patent Convention (EPC). The two countries became members of the EPO on 1 January 2008. The accession of Croatia and Norway means that there are now 34 member countries of the EPO, with patent protection obtainable in several or all of the member counties through one patent application.  "The European Patent Organisation's members now include all 27 members of the European Union, plus Croatia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia also recognise European patents on their territory, making European patents valid in 38 countries and a market of around 570 million people." Source and for further information European Patent Organisation news - Croatia and Norway join the EPO Labels: European Union, Patent News
US & Japan - trial of New Route for obtaining patents in foreign countries
The Japan Patent Office (JPO) has announced that in conjunction with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) the "New Route" for obtaining patents abroad will be trialed in a pilot project. The "New Route" project will allow the examination results from the first filing of a patent application to be utilised by foreign Patent Offices when subsequent applications are filed. The New Route will deal with applications filed through the Direct Application Route (Paris Route). "Under the New Route, a patent application filed with the Office of First Filing (OFF) will be regarded as being filed on the same date as the filing date in the Office of Second Filing (OSF). The search/examination results obtained in the OFF will be transmitted to the OSF within a certain period of time. At the same time, the New Route gives an applicant sufficient time (30 months from the filing (priority) date) to think over whether or not his/her application should undergo an examination in the OSF based on the search/results issued by the OFF." "The New Route reduces the examination workload and increases the examination quality by providing for the mutual utilization of search/examination results on a full scale for Paris-Route applications, while giving an applicant more time to make a decision about whether to file overseas and the payment of accompanying costs."  As the New Route would require changes in the law in the US and in Japan, the pilot project will simply test the concept using the existing framework under the existing laws. In order to get the results of the pilot in a limited period of time, the applications for the pilot will be examined expeditiously at the OSF. The trial will begin on 28 January 2008 and will finish when either 50 applications have been processed or 28 January 2009, whichever occurs first. Sources and for further information Japan Patent Office news - Analogous New Route Pilot Project between the JPO and the USPTO Japan Patent Office - Outline of the New Route Proposal for Applications Abroad Labels: Japan, Patent News, United States
US & Japan - Patent Prosecution Highway to continue on full-time basis
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