The volume and complexity of patent citations make it a difficult area to efficiently navigate. However, with the right tools, it is also an exceptionally valuable one. An accurate citation analysis requires calculations that involve the analysis of a very large number of patents where data quality and internationally broad content is paramount. Understanding a large dataset like this can be difficult, and just a few years ago neither the big data analytics tools accessible for most users or the lack of fully global data collections allowed for it.

The Citation Analysis options in PatBase Analytics V3 provide powerful solutions to explore citations. With these insights, you can quickly identify players working in a similar technology area, new competitors entering a similar field, potential licensing opportunities and potential infringers in the sea of data. The number of forward citations is also seen by many as the biggest predictor of patent value as a large number of forward citations is a sign of industry-wide investment in that specific technology area.

The Citation Network Analysis creates highly engaging and visually stunning representations of complex patent citation networks from portfolios and any search results from PatBase. There is a range of built-in features and settings which make it simple to manipulate and arrange the networks as required, whatever the level of complexity.

We identified the technology area related to classification code H04L9/06 (Arrangements for secret or secure communication; the encryption apparatus using shift registers or memories for blockwise coding, e.g. D.E.S. systems) as being a growing area of interest in the field of blockchain technology.

Using the Citation Networks, we identified the most influential companies working in this area, judging the value of their patents by the number of forward citations they have. For instance, nChain has received 471 forward citations on only 25 patent families, while Anonos has received 537 forward citations on 1 family so these patents are more likely to be valuable.

Many of the assignees featured in the Citation Network do not rank in the top 20 assignees for the overall conducted search for blockchain and cryptocurrency-related patents, which shows how citation data allows us to interrogate the data in a different way. Citations can help with identifying potential market disruptors who may not have the largest output but are the most influential in the technology area.

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