Published in The Patent Lawyer Magazine – March/April 2020

This article demonstrates the importance of data interrogation using PatBase Analytics and examines the activity of patent offices across the world in the wake of COVID-19. This article answers some key questions about coronavirus in patent data: 

• Is this a growing area of interest?  
• Where are the key jurisdictions for filing in?  
• What are the fields of current interest?
• Is this a growing area of interest? 

Using PatBase to search by keywords related to “coronavirus” and interrogating this data through historical graphs generated in PatBase Analytics, there are evident peaks in coronavirus related patents following the SARS epidemic in 2003. Some highly impacted countries by SARS, such as China and Canada, come up as the top jurisdictions for coronavirus related patents. Then, by analysing the top CPC classifications within the search results set, it is revealed that the majority of coronavirus mentioning patents are in the field of medicine, specifically virus vaccines. It is expected that following COVID-19 similar trends will appear in patent data. 

The article also demonstrates a novel way of using PatBase data by calculating current granted patent rates from jurisdictions around the world to observe the impact of the pandemic on national patent offices. The numbers in China show a clear difference month-on-month between November 2019, before the virus started spreading, and the following months as the country entered emergency lockdown. For other countries around the world, the number of grants appears less affected. This may be due to better preparedness as there was more time to arrange remote working solutions than in China where the outbreak started. 

To read the full article, click here: https://patentlawyermagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/The-Patent-Lawyer-Magazine-March-April-2020.pdf 

To learn more about PatBase and to sign up for a free two-week trial, visit www.minesoft.com/patbase.