It is no secret that patent data yields a rich source of competitive intelligence. A significant volume of technical and scientific information (estimates range from 70 to 80%) is only to be found in patent documents. It won’t be published anywhere else!

Having access to a powerful and comprehensive patent search and analysis platform, like Minesoft’s PatBase, is therefore crucial to exploit patent data. For example, being able to analyse patent citations is a great source of competitive & business intelligence, to see who is involved in inventing the critical technology and how the knowledge in the sector is building up – and where. For this, you need a high quality, extensive global database of patents.

Due to the volume and complexity of patent citations, it is a difficult area to efficiently navigate. Citation Explorer is provided as an interactive module within PatBase which makes it much easier to locate, browse and review the complex web of patent citations on a single invention or patent document basis. Citations can be viewed side-by-side, visualised on a timeline or tree and relevant statistics revealed.

Incorporating the latest customer feedback has led to Minesoft further enhancing Citation Explorer. A new methodology to effectively track backward and forward citations for a family of interest makes life easier. Citations can be displayed by various criteria, allowing users to get an easy overview, cross-reference related citations and discover their origins.

In addition, the Citation Tree, a means to follow and traverse citation paths from patent to patent, now shows forward and backward citations simultaneously. As a result, it is easier to extrapolate and draw conclusions. Users can quickly identify which patents are being cited by or citing the invention of interest. Hovering over the publication number lets you quickly scan the title, assignee and excerpt of the abstract.

Exploring forward citations provides an excellent source of competitive business intelligence. You can quickly identify players working in a similar technology area, new competitors entering a similar field, potential licensing opportunities and keep an eye on potential infringers in the sea of data.

Citation Explorer is a comprehensive global patent citation database, ideal for unearthing new players or technologies in your area. Even better – it is included in all PatBase Subscriptions at no extra cost.

Contact us today for a demonstration and free two-week trial at [email protected], or call us on +44 (0)20 8404 0651.

Minesoft was pleased to be featured in a recent publication titled ‘Growing Business Innovation’. Driving innovation is central to the ethos of Minesoft as a patent solutions provider. With over 70% of the technological and scientific information available in patents inaccessible anywhere else, ignoring patents as an information source at best delays innovation and at worst, prevents it.

Minesoft’s James Cooper and Rahman Hyatt authored a chapter on ‘The Use of Patent Information for Innovation and Competitive Intelligence’. Patent data is an excellent source of external ideas and information that can be used to drive innovation by identifying opportunities and threats to a business; improving its survivability and profitability in the modern marketplace. This information is also crucial to competitive intelligence, which makes use of public information to accrue data on competitors and the market environment to steer strategic decision making.

The chapter covers three different approaches to using patent data and the potential information each approach can generate to drive decision making:

1. Patent Landscape Analysis
2. Infringement Searching
3. Licensing and Portfolio Analysis

“Rahman and I outlined three common uses of patent data to give the reader a basic understanding on the kinds of questions patent information can be used to answer,” says James Cooper, co-author and member of Minesoft’s Support Team. “We explain the processes used to generate valuable information and the tools, like PatBase, that can reduce the time and effort required to obtain them.”

The foreword, authored by Tim Moss, CBE at the UK IPO, highlights the vital role that intellectual property plays in encouraging innovation in all industries, at all levels. The book features contributions from prominent figures in law, IP and business.

Growing Business Innovation is available to buy here.

Being aware of the legal status of patents is critical in business. It is important to track your own portfolio and to keep an eye on when a competitor’s patents will expire since, once expired, anyone can use the patented technology without fear of infringement and litigation. Hence, Minesoft launched an updated Legal Status Viewer and Timeline for PatBase, the global patent database.

The PatBase Legal Status Viewer is one of the most comprehensive available. IP professionals will no longer need to go through the long, manual process of checking with individual Patent Offices to monitor the legal status of different patents within a family. The Legal Status Viewer combines data from a variety of sources, including information directly from European, American and Japanese National Patent Offices, as well as other legal status data in PatBase data feeds.

Users have different options to view the information. The Timeline & Table options have a streamlined design and convenient export tools making it ideal and easy to share with colleagues and/or clients. In addition, the Priority Relationship diagram makes it simple to spot how patents within a family are related by priority number, again, this is easy to export and share throughout the company (even with non-PatBase users!).

Another time-saving functionality is the ability to show calculated expiry dates for each country. The calculated expiry dates do the hard work for you, taking into account not just the different patent terms for each country and type of document, but also additional information (where available), e.g. Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) and Patent Term Extensions (PTEs).

In the Life Sciences and Pharmaceutical area, the length of the patent term can vary where SPCs or PTEs apply. Therefore, it is important to be aware of which patents are affected by these extensions. Companies can apply for SPCs/PTEs if the review process by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), or similar, takes longer than the norm. These extensions can increase the life of a patent by up to 5 years. Where available, this information is taken into consideration by the Legal Status Timeline when calculating the Patent Term Expiry.

Tracking the legal status of patents is essential for any innovation-based industry. For PatBase users, there is no need to waste time and resources monitoring patent status. The Legal Status Viewer does all the hard work, combining several sources of business-critical legal status information on one easy-to-use resource.

Press contact: Caitlin Kavanagh ([email protected])

Minesoft announce new Chinese distributor, the Intellectual Property Publishing House

Minesoft is pleased to announce a new addition to the distribution team, the Intellectual Property Publishing House Co., Ltd (IPPH).

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