Christian Soltmann 5 November 2014 5.4.2 Patent Information Promotion

EPOPIC 2014: Discussion round 7 Survey results

European Patent Office

For what purpose is patent statistics done?

§ Most important: - to assist the competent experts when deciding to

establish a legal relationship with others - to report on competitors’ activities or predict future

activities

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European Patent Office

Clients: Level of expertise with respect to patent statistics

§  In general, clients do not understand well patent statistics and the results

§ Business/legal people do not understand relationship between patents and products

§ Scientists/engineers do not understand legal implications of patents

§ Clients trust in experts' know-how and analyses

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European Patent Office

Obstacles that prevent from understanding the results of patent statistics

§ Complexity of patent statistics § Client often does not understand implications of results

for his daily routine § Depending on background information available, results

may be understood in different ways § Results are often too complex to fit the client's 'yes-no'

expectation

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European Patent Office

Expections of EPO to overcome the obstacles

§  Improve - data quality - consistency - name harmonisation/standardisation

§ Provide good training § Present examples (case studies) of good practice in the

field of patent statistics §  Inform relevant target groups about the benefits of

patent information apart from purely technical aspects

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