130 likes | 267 Views
Use of the IPC in the Industry. Gerold Frers Arndt Mecke IPC WORKSHOP WIPO, GENEVA, 2008-02-04. Agenda. Usage of IPC in the industry / Benefits Consequences of the IPC reform Impact of changes in IPC for alerts Implication of incorrect assigned IPC codes Examples.
E N D
Use of the IPC in the Industry Gerold Frers Arndt Mecke IPC WORKSHOP WIPO, GENEVA, 2008-02-04
Agenda • Usage of IPC in the industry / Benefits • Consequences of the IPC reform • Impact of changes in IPC for alerts • Implication of incorrect assigned IPC codes • Examples
Usage of IPC in the industry • General business and portfolio decisions • Buying a business because of technological synergies • Buying a business because of needed technologies • Identifying the Licensee of IPRs for needed technologies • Identifying internal business that does not match the overall portfolio (anymore) • General technology decisions • Is a technology already covered by competitors or are there still "white spots“ • Are competitors going for a special technology • Single IPR related decisions • Identifying IPRs that can be sold or licensed-out • R&D related applications • Profile based surveillance of competitors or technologies • Freedom of operation searches • Prior-art searches
Benefits of the IPC • Reduced need of complex and error prone keyword searches • Example: Main Group B61C 3/00 can replace keywords like: “electric locomotive”, “electric railcar”, “locomotive with electric propulsion …” in a search • Hierarchical classification scheme applied by the skilled professionals of the patent offices.
Consequences of the IPC reform • Reduced comparability of statistical analyses performed before the reform and today as well as those carried out in the future. • Slightly easier prior-art searches because of the now dynamic classification scheme. • Loss of instruments that were used for years in every day work: e.g. Main / Secondary Classes
Impact IPC reform on alert services • Much larger effort is necessary to keep automated profiles up-to-date due to the regular changes in the classification • Because of the use of correlation tables by other classification systems those systems are more sensitive for inconsistencies and delays in the new IPC process • Example: US Class, Derwent Manual Codes, F-Terms(?)
Implication of incorrect assigned or initially missing IPC codes • Any document that has an incorrect assigned or an initially missing IPC code is lost as information source for alert services • Depending on your database provider whole sets of documents can be unavailable, if the IPC is incorrect or missing • Example: WO 2006 074123 (SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMAGE LIFT WITH ENHANCED IMAGE CAPTURE ) • Complete change of scope between A2 and A3 from • B03B (SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS) • to G06K (RECOGNITION OF DATA; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS)
P4 Separating, Mixing P41 Crushing: centrifuging, separating solids (B02, B03, B04). P42 Spraying, atomising (B05).
Conclusion and requirement • Solve the problem with missing IPC • Early information about Reclassification • More cooperation between the offices inthe standardization processes • Improvement of the usability of the available online tools
PDG activities and working groups • IMPACT (meetings twice a year, next in Basel April 2008) • SACEPO/PDI • EPOPIC • In all this groups / meetings we are discussing the facts and working on solutions • Thank you for your attention