Patents

What is a patent?

Patents are a form of intellectual property. Intellectual property has been defined by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in the Stockholm treaty, 1968, as "all legal rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, literary or artistic fields".

A patent is a statutory protection for a term of years (generally a maximum of 20) for a technical concept, defined by a statement known as a patent claim. A patent can be regarded as a contract between the state and the patentee (applicant or inventor) by which a monopoly is granted, for a number of years, in return for disclosing all the details of the invention. The term monopoly means, in this context, that no one except the applicant can exploit the invention. The patent system encourages research and development in that it ensures a period of protection for commercial exploitation, in which research expenditure can be recovered.

The patent specification consists of the following:

• Heading/bibliographical data - this contains details such as the Application country number, Priority number, Date of filing, Applicant, Inventor, Representative etc. An abstract (written by the applicant) and, where necessary, drawings are usually included.
• Opening Statement
• Background information - description of current state of the art.
• Problem - the nature of the technical problem.
• Invention - main description, explaining the inventive step and how it works, with reference to any illustrations.
• Claims - legal aspects of the monopoly.
• Drawings
• Search report - this will include as a minimum a list of patents or other documents which describe the state of the art.

The arrangement of these items differs from country to country.

Patents are an important (and often under utilised) source of information.

Patents as information sources are useful for:

1. Current Awareness. Regular scanning of recently published patent specifications provides a good way of keeping up to date with new developments in a particular field.
2. Information on the solutions to specific technical problems.
3. Information on the state-of-the-art in specific fields of technology.
4. Information on Activities of Competitors. By checking the current patents, you can check up on your competitors.
5. Information at the Start of New Projects
6. Avoiding Infringement. When planning for manufacturing or importing, it is important to study the patent literature to avoid infringing patents that are still protected in the country concerned.
7. Licensing Opportunities. A study of the patents could lead to the possibility of licensing agreements for manufacture or import.

Searching for patent information is a specialized skill. Many industrial companies employ patent engineers and/or patent lawyers to work on questions of patent awareness, searching and applications. It is also possible to get information searches carried out at national and regional patent offices and at a number of university libraries.

Recent list of KTU personal patents in chemistry:

• Lietuvos patentas Nr.4097, C14C 1/06. Plikes gavimo budas/J.Balciuniene, K.Beleska, A.Skrodenis, V.Valeika, V.Valeikiene. - 1997 01 27. - Biul. Nr.1.
• Lietuvos patentas Nr.4111, B05D 5/12, C23C 3/02. Elektrai laidziu dangu ant polietileno gavimo budas/ I.Ancutiene, V.Janickis, S.Grevys. - 1997 02 25. - Biul. Nr.2.
• Lietuvos patentas Nr.4235, B05D 5/12, C23C 8/40. Elektrai laidziu dangu polikaproamido gavimo budas/R.Ivanauskas, V.Janickis, V.Zelionkaite, A.Zebrauskas. - 1997 10 27. - Biul. Nr.10.
• Lietuvos patentas Nr.4402, B05D 5/12. Laidziu dangu ant polikaproamido gavimo budas/ R.Maciulevicius, V.Janickis, R.Ivanauskas. - 1998 10 26. Biul. Nr.10.
• Lietuvos patentas Nr.4357, C01B 33/26, C01B 33/32. Ceolitu gavimo budas/ K.Sasnauskas, D.Palubimnskaite. - 1998 07 27. Biul. Nr.7.

Lithuanian patents are registered in the Official Gazette of the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania: Išradimai. Pramoninis dizainas. Prekių ir paslaugų ženklai. Firmų vardai : LT - Oficialus biuletenis.- Vilnius, 1992-

Searching for patent information

Other databases

Several online hosts offer a variety of patent databases. The most important hosts for patent databases are:

• DIALOG
• ORBIT-QUESTEL
• FIZ Karlsruhe

The most important general patent databases are:

INPADOC, INPANEW, INPAMONITOR and LEGSTAT produced by EPIDOS and covering information from 56 patenting authorities. Available on DIALOG, ORBIT and STN.

WORLD PATENT INDEX (WPI) - produced by Derwent Publications - covers 31 issuing authorities. The most recent part of the database is known as World Patents Index Latest (WPI/L). Available on DIALOG, ORBIT and STN.

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