Analysis of the patent cooperation network in global artificial intelligence technologies based on the assignees

Studying the distribution of the patent cooperation networks from the perspective of assignees provides a very important reference to improve the analysis of the market situation, master the layout of industrial technology and seek partners or mergers and acquisitions. This study uses the Derwent patent database and the patent metric approach to investigate the cooperative network structure of the assignees. The overall patent output in the artificial intelligence field on a global scale exhibited a rapid growth, and the proportion of cooperative patents significantly increased; the cooperation structure between the assignees was loose, and the innovation efficiency was low.     

A guide to efficient keyword, sequence and classification search strategies for biopharmaceutical drug-centric patent landscape searches - A human recombinant insulin patent landscape case study

Searching biopharmaceutical drug-related patent information is generally considered to be challenging. In particular, setting up efficient search strategies for comprehensive retrieval of high amounts of patent documents related to processes and methods of use, that achieve a reasonable level of precision, but still remain within a particular search scope. While it is generally accepted that patent information cannot be searched using standardized approaches, it is desirable to have a basic rule set for successful biopharmaceutical drug-related patent information retrieval, particularly facing a steady flow of patent expirations for prominent biologic drugs. The present human recombinant insulin case study shows an assessment of keyword, sequence and classification search strategies for establishing biopharmaceutical drug-centric patent landscapes. The search results of both crude and sophisticated keyword search strategies, as well as of a sequence search strategy, were compared in terms of the key information retrieval quality indicators; the recall and the precision. Through analyses of the relevant retrieved documents, a quality assessment of keyword choice is provided, as well as determining focused IPC and Derwent Manual classification codes and terminology from original patent and Derwent documentation abstract titles. All of which can be used for setting up more efficient search strategies and facilitated document categorization.     

TSUG, the Thomson Scientific User Group in the UK

The forerunner to the UK-based Thomson Scientific User Group (TSUG) was formed in 1990 as a professional interest group for patent information searchers using Derwent patent abstracts and related products. Although discussion and activities still revolve around this area, the group today also exchanges information on and searching experience with any other patent-related information products of interest and relevance to members. The group and its members maintain close links with Thomson Scientific for the purposes of product development and product evaluation.     

Are significant inventions more diversified?

This study aims at exploring whether significant inventions are more technologically diversified or have more diverse applications, investigating whether there are any innovation laws existing in R&D activities. Based on technology co-classification analysis, we select patent dataset meets the specific standard from the worldwide patent database named Derwent Innovations Index as sample dataset. Three indicators out of four verify the proposed hypotheses, i.e., significant inventions are more diversified in terms of individual invention. The fourth indicator implies that focusing on some core technology domains maybe better for creating significant inventions when R&D activities are considered as a whole. The results are of great theoretical significance by helping us identifying the diversified characteristic laws of significant inventions; moreover, they are of crucial practical meanings to R&D work and technology innovation activities etc.     

Measuring patent quality: A claim and search report approach

This paper presents a new prospective metric for assessing the novelty and inventiveness of patents. It does this by using initial patent search reports and examiner's intuition about the impact of adverse citations on patent claim survival. The paper then demonstrates the metric by evaluating the quality of Switzerland's national patent stock using a selection model, finding that between 84 and 90% of the country's national patents would likely not survive examination at the European Patent Office. In doing so, it contributes to the larger literature on patent assessment, underscores the relevance of patent strategy in the observed characteristics of patents, and removes some of the ambiguity in the academic literature about backward citations.     

The effect of recycling on a patent citation network

This paper describes the results obtained from the creation of a patent cittation network on X-ray tomography. Such networks have up to now been created by noting the patents and journal articles cited in a given starting patent. In this experiment, Science Citation Index was used to ‘recycle’ the network by identifying further journal articles. This recycling technique added some new references to the network, but did not fundamentally alter the characteristics of the network. It is concluded that whilst a reliable patent citation network can be created by the simple techniques used up to now, use of Science Citation Index makes a more complete network.     

Blockchain patent landscaping: An expert based methodology and search query

The present study is concerned with the emergence of Blockchain related technologies in terms of patenting activity. Blockchain has captured the attention of the public and research has intensified in this field over the last few years, making it a highly interesting topic of study for a patent analysis in order to obtain insight into the developments of this emerging technology. In this paper we present a unique methodology and exhaustive search strategy for identifying Blockchain patent documents by using a combination of specific keywords and patent classifications. This query was built in cooperation with subject matter experts of the European Patent Office (EPO). Our keyword set was then analysed by relevance and was prioritised. The set of specific relevant patent classifications was furthermore combined with keywords in order to exclude false positives. With our methodology we present an exhaustive query for retrieving a highly relevant dataset of Blockchain related patents, extracted from the EPO databases that can be used for patent landscaping exercises or any other bibliometric analysis. In a case study we applied the search strategy to analyse worldwide Blockchain patenting from 2008 till 2018. The results are presented in this paper.     

Design Patent Map: An Innovative Measure for Corporative Design Strategies

Abstract:

The design patent map is one of the essential strategic measures for formulating design strategies. Because the design patent is considered less definite than other patent categories, it is relatively difficult to create a design patent map. No study has been discovered in a worldwide search of patent documents or publications that is relevant to design patent maps, proving the innovative nature of this study. The authors have extracted 96 representative works for bicycle frame design patents that were published from 1992 to 2003 and have used them as the study samples. To ensure precise interpretation of the technical data of bicycle frames and to create the design patent map, the authors have interviewed 11 design patent examiners who have an average of 10 years of experience in patent examination, and are currently working in the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office. Based on the matrix for the available patenting capability and the degree of need for patents, the authors have further converted the design patent map into nine feasibly specific design strategies: (1) overall seizure, (2) expansion, (3) closing-in, (4) envelopment, (5) dispersion, (6) pincer attack, (7) division, (8) deviation, and (9) abandonment. As a result, enterprises will be able to employ the design patent map developed in this study to customize their own design strategies. Such a strategic measure will soon become a new competitive edge for enterprises with the arrival of the knowledge economy era.     

Perspectives on machine translation of patent information

A brief review of developments in using machine translation and/or machine assisted/aided translation forms a backdrop for an exploration of its applications in the processing of patent information. Particular reference is made to the message threads on this topic on the ‘patent information users group-Listserver' (PIUG-L), and to developments in this area by Derwent Information and other commercial organisations. The main language pairs referred to are Japanese into/from English and German into/from English. Some details about ‘free' web-based translation systems are also included.     

Study and comparison of the unique selling propositions (USPs) of free-to-use multinational patent search systems

The article analyses and compares some free-to-use patent search services which are not managed by patent authorities but which may offer unique selling propositions (USPs) beyond the expected, standard, search functions. Those services selected for this study are Google Patents, Lens, Patent Inspiration, Free Patents Online, SureChEMBL and Octimine. For this comparative study a total set of 66 criteria were analysed for each of the six search services. Furthermore the USPs and perceived advantages and disadvantages were identified. The study concluded that some of these search services are better suited for general prior art searches or patent analysis while others are applicable for patent searches in specific fields like biotechnology or pharmaceuticals.     

A Systemic Approach to Exploring an Essential Patent Linking Standard and Patent Maps: Application of Generative Topographic Mapping (GTM)

Abstract:

As the intense competition for the international standardization of technology has increased, many companies are concentrating their capabilities on securing essential patents that claim one or more inventions required to practice a given industry standard; however, despite the importance of developing essential patents, the approaches to exploring promising essential patent: have some limitations in terms of methodology and data. As a remedy, this article proposes a method that derives an essential patent through Generative Topographic Mapping (GTM)-based standard and patent maps. The suggested approach involves a systematic process that identifies vacuums on a standard map in a specific technology field and enables analysts to find candidate for promising essential patents instead of relying on the experts. By applying the proposed methodology, this research discovered the vacuums in an industrial standard document about fuel cell technology as well as the candidates of essential patents in this technology field.     

Patent co-citation networks of Fortune 500 companies

This paper provides an overview of the progression of technology structure based on patent co-citation networks. Methods of patent bibliometrics, social network analysis and information visualization are employed to analyze patents of Fortune 500 companies indexed in Derwent Innovations Index, the largest patent database in the world. Based on the co-citation networks, several main technology groups are identified, including Chemicals, Petroleum Refining, Motor Vehicles, Pharmaceuticals, Electronics, etc. Relationships among the leading companies and technology groups are also revealed.     

The persistence of worthless patents?

The U.S. patent system requires owners to pay renewal fees at the four, eight, and twelve-year points of the patent's life of twenty years. Previous studies of renewal rates for patents granted over 1981–1991 and 2001–2004 show only around half of the patents were renewed by the twelfth year—leading some scholars to refer to this majority of patents as ‘worthless’. Much has changed in the world since patent renewal fees began in 1981, however. This paper investigates whether patent renewal rates changed correspondingly. Among those changes, the sheer volume of patents increased substantially, creating a challenge for collating patent data. A web scraper was coded to collect renewal rate data on 2.5 million utility patents issued from 1992 to 2009—the most recent patents for which twelve-year renewal rates are available. We find, somewhat surprisingly, that patent renewal rates are virtually unchanged from several years ago. We present and discuss related data, and present the underlying computer code that patent researchers may find useful for investigating a wide range of topics in the future.     

Coopetition and innovation in high-tech firms: What we can learn from analysis of the semiconductor industry's patents

This study investigates coopetition among the 16 semiconductor firms that figured among the top 10 by revenue from 2009 to 2019 using patent data obtained from the Derwent World Patents Index™ (DWPI), considering records available for the selected firms published and indexed up to July 26, 2020. Only 1791 (0.17%) records from a total of more than 1.1 million have two or more of these competing firms as assignees (i.e., they are records for joint patents involving these firms), indicating the existence of coopetition in this scenario. These joint patents demonstrate coopetition between firms from different countries and in the main areas in which their patents are classified, indicating that they may coopete in those areas. Furthermore, mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures may influence coopetition and innovation, resulting in joint patents. Finally, a framework that consolidates the main findings is presented to guide future research. We contribute to the coopetition literature with novel inputs. From a managerial perspective, the findings can be used to build strategies to better exploit the potential of patents.     

Who influences USPTO patent examiners?

We test for evidence that the patent attorney has an extra-ordinary influence on the patent examiner using data on examiner citations of 93 608 patent applications to the USPTO. We find that examiners cite patents from the same patent attorney (as used for the focal application) at an abnormally high rate. This evidence is consistent with the view that attorneys are influencing the examiners reports. Coupled with new evidence that non-blocking examiner citations have a positive effect on the grant decision, this suggest that the grant decision may be compromised.     

Pharmacology and Pharmacy: research and innovation analysis

Pharmacology and Pharmacy has a highly vertiginous evolution at international level. Its results are widely applied in the pharmaceutical industry, which is in the first places internationally. The study is aimed to analyse the behaviour of the leading institutions at global level in terms of production of papers and patents; as well as the impact that these contributions generate. The databases used were Science Citation Index and Derwent Innovation Index, both belonging to Web of Science platform. The InCite tool was used to analyse the period from 2000 to 2019. It was demonstrated that there is no correspondence among the highlighted institutions in patent applications, patents granted and number of citations, as well as among entities with the highest number of papers, highly cited papers and number of citations. Leadership in the discipline of Pharmacology and Pharmacy is neither determined by their highly productive institutions nor the impact generated by them.

     

Deep learning based pipeline with multichannel inputs for patent classification

This work introduces a deep learning pipeline for automatic patent classification with multichannel inputs based on LSTM and word vector embeddings. Sophisticated text mining methods are used to extract the most important segments from patent texts, and a domain-specific pre-trained word embeddings model for the patent domain is developed; it was trained on a very large dataset of more than five million patents. The deep learning pipeline is using multiple parallel LSTM networks that read the source patent document using different input dimensions namely embeddings of different segments of patent texts, and sparse linear input of different metadata. Classifying patents into corresponding technical fields is selected as a use case. In this use case, a series of patent classification experiments are conducted on different patent datasets, and the experimental results indicate that using the segments of patent texts as well as the metadata as multichannel inputs for a deep neural network model, achieves better performance than one input channel.     

The patent activities of Korea and Taiwan: a comparative case study of patent statistics

This paper examines the patent grant rate of Korea and Taiwan by using the country-level patent statistics of Korea, Taiwan and USA during the period of 1988–1998. The patent grant rate means the rate of US patent grants to the applications filed in USA during the investigated years. To measure the grant rate, a model was developed for the methodological procedure. In the framework of the model, the process of patent dynamics in these countries shows different patterns. The financial crisis of Korea in 1998–1999 influenced the number of domestic patent applications by Koreans, resulting in the rapid decrease. The US patent application rate by Koreans, however, was not affected, keeping the average rate of applications at 7.5% of the Korean applications during the investigated period. The rate of US patent grants by Koreans in the early 1990s dropped, which can be explained by the change of patent strategy of Samsung Elec. Co. Ltd.Taiwan, on the other hand, had filed 160% more US patent applications than its own domestic applications. The authors suggest that this is attributable to some US patent applications corresponding to Taiwanese domestic applications for utility models, and that this may be a factor in the lower rate of Taiwanese US patent grants (average 53.4%) than that of Koreans (average 66.3%). The rate of US patent grants by Taiwanese has constantly increased, while that for Koreans has fluctuated; the authors conjecture that this implies that Taiwanese patent management for the US patents has improved.     

Patent data as indicators of wind power technology development

This paper reports a study into the use of patent application numbers as indicators of technological development in the field of wind power technology. We show that patent information can be used to analyse the evolution and the level of maturity of this particular technology. The data is gained from databases available at the Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV). Three different segments of wind power technology; rotor form, regulation and pitch adjusting, are distinguished and maturity in respective parts is compared to the general technological progress.