| Abstract: | The activities of 59 intellectual property offices and organisations worldwide in the field of patent information are summarised for the period 1997–1999. The summary is presented under eight standard headings, as far as relevant, for each country. Activity varies enormously from just a handful of applications through to RU ( 24K), GB (30K), DE (58K), KR (80K), EP (121K), US (270K utility patents), and Japan (405K); the numbers are continuing to increase significantly in most countries. This part (second of two) covers 35 countries and organisations, with WIPO codes starting I to Z.The author concludes, inter alia, that(i) the number of patent applications is increasing at such a rate that the granting or registration activities of many IP Offices are unable to keep up; (ii) the development of electronic filing systems is proceeding apace; (iii) the IPC, or derivatives such as ECLA, continue to be the primary tools for allocation, classification, and search in all IP Offices, except US and GB; (iv) automated search systems continue to be developed and are used in tandem with manual search files, commercial and free Internet online databases; and (v) the use of complex jukebox systems to handle the vast numbers of patent specifications on CD-ROM continues to increase. Author Keywords: Annual technical reports; Patent information; Application filing trends; Electronic filing; International patent classification; IPC; Official gazettes; Digitised search systems; Electronic search systems; ECLA; EPOQUE; Jukeboxes; PTDLP; PHARE-RIPP; CD-ROM; DVD |
