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Trilateral Collaborative Metrics Study on International Search Reports PCT MIA

Trilateral Collaborative Metrics Study on International Search Reports PCT MIA. Milena Lonati PD Quality Management DG2, European Patent Office. Canberra, February 2012. Introduction.

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Trilateral Collaborative Metrics Study on International Search Reports PCT MIA

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  1. Trilateral Collaborative Metrics Studyon International Search ReportsPCT MIA Milena Lonati PD Quality Management DG2, European Patent Office Canberra, February 2012

  2. Introduction • In the Trilateral meeting of June 2010, the three Offices agreed to undertake a pilot collaborative study on quality metrics of International Search Reports. • It was agreed that the EPO would coordinate the study and that a report would be made to the Trilateral in November 2011. • The EPO thanks the JPO and USPTO for their essential contributions to study design, data collection and results analysis.

  3. Previous Individual ISR Studies USPTO JPO EPO JIPA

  4. Benefits of a collaborative study Common analysis Commonly agreed approach Collaboration Commonly defined sample Combined resources Data exchange Clearer Picture! Commonly defined parameters Use of PATSTAT data Commonly agreed metrics Larger samples

  5. Study approach Phase 3 Proposed detailed analysis of underlying causes of divergence based on a subset sample (postponed). Phase 2 Contribution of ISRs to national first actions. Inspection of a sample of 1152 files per ISA. Phase 1 Characteristics of 720000 ISRs produced by the Trilateral offices from 2004-2009. Trilateral Conference, Autumn 2011

  6. Phase 1: ISR Characteristics Studied Citation of Non-Patent Literature Average Number of Citations Trends and Differences Percentage of ISRs with X or Y Citations Citation Languages

  7. Percentage of ISRs With X or Y Category Citations The trend for each office is statistically significant at a 95% level (* excepted) % of ISRs characterised "Y no X" *

  8. Patent And Non-Patent Literature Citations Statistically significant increase at a 95% level (*) Difference EPO-JPO is due to non-patent literature (NPL) citations * Increase in average is due to a higher number of patent citations

  9. Non-official Language Citations

  10. Phase 1 Conclusions • Differences are observed between the Trilateral Offices in • XY rates and their development over time, • the level of "Y no X" ISRs, • the average number of patent and non-patent literature citations and its trend over time, • the level of non-official language citations. • In order to obtain a better understanding of these differences and their consequences on ISR reuse, they should be further analysed. • Pertinent prior art is often only available in a non-official language. • The challenge of finding this art has to be addressed. • For example enhancement of machine translation tools can help.

  11. Phase 2 Description • Sample-based study of national phase first actions. • Approx. 1150 applications per national office (~3450 in total). • Characteristics of analysed applications: • International filing date 2006, • searched by one of the Trilateral offices as ISA, • received a national phase first action at any time thereafter. • Each office collected data for applications which had entered its own national phase.

  12. PCT as a Filter Mechanism Statistically significant difference at a 95% level (*) Claims not amendedafter a WOISA indicating that none of the claims is regarded as novel or inventive * * Amended Claimsafter a WOISA indicating that none of the claims is regarded as novel or inventive *

  13. Documents Cited in the National First Action ISA = National Office

  14. Reuse & Agreement Study Results

  15. Phase 2 Conclusions • The PCT is valuable for applicants in order to • decide on further national phase prosecution and to • overcome patentability objections early. • Reuse of ISR citations: • examiners do reuse ISR citations, • however, many new documents are found in the national phase. • Hence, enhancement of ISRs would result in more efficient national first actions. • Agreement on patentability: • agreement is high where the WOISA does not acknowledge patentability ("negative" cases), • agreement is low where the WOISA acknowledges patentability ("positive" cases), when ISA ≠ national office. • Hence, enhancement of ISRs would also improve consistency between PCT and national phases.

  16. Achievements And Final Conclusions • The study has • Provided insight into current working of the PCT & areas for improvement. • Enhanced mutual understanding of common and differing practice. • Developed a basis for ongoing collaboration. • Established metrics benchmarks. • A technical environment has been created that • can be reused for further monitoring or • expanded to other offices (e.g. IP5). • Benefits in terms of quality, efficiency and reduction of backlogs can be achieved if the potential of reuse of ISRs is further enhanced.

  17. Thank you for your attention!

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