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Technology convergence is considered one of the cornerstones of technological innovation as a phenomenon emerging at the intersection of two previously unrelated fields of technology. The new technological system is a new combination of knowledge types, technology components and intersections. For this matter, analyzing patents is an essential part for strategic decision making. However, the manual analysis of large amounts of patent semantics is often time-consuming, extensive, and difficult even for experts. To enhance manual patent analyses, new machine learning-based techniques are gaining increasing interest. This study aims to enrich this methodological research by developing and evaluating an unsupervised text-mining approach to automatically cluster patents of two knowledge types into four technology components. To this end, this study presents a five-step method including the comparison between different algorithms and design choices. This method is applied to printed electronics-relevant patents extracted from the Derwent World Patent Index and enables to draw recommendations for automated patent analyses. The findings show different significances for types of components: while components of the specialized knowledge type could be predicted with significance, components of the design knowledge types could not provide significant results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internet of things (IoT) technology has garnered significant attention in recent years due to its wide-ranging applications. IoT, with its high connectivity capabilities, integrates various industrial, domestic, and agricultural devices into a smart and remotely controllable software and hardware platform. The field of IoT technology is expansive and encompasses a multitude of sub-technologies. Identifying core technologies in this domain is crucial for guiding research and development efforts by companies. Given the interrelation of these core technologies and their combination with recent decision-making approaches, network-based strategies have recently received special attention. The developed methods are based on static conditions and the assumption of stability, while in emerging technologies like IoT, the pace of changes over time is high. This leads to changes in the importance of technologies under various scenarios. In this study, in order to analyze the extracted patent data, association rule mining (ARM) algorithms were applied to identify the relationships between technologies and social network analysis was used to analyze the relationships between technologies and estimate their initial weights. Finally, fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) were used to estimate the final weights of technologies and rank them. The fcm approach allows for simultaneous modeling of both static and dynamic states of the system and, on the other hand, by calculating under various scenarios, suggests a core technology that is sustainable. The research results show that digital information transmission technologies, digital or electrical data processing, and wireless communication networks are the most important sub-technologies of Internet of things. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welcome to the latest quarterly Literature Listing intended as a current awareness service for readers indicating newly published books, journal, and conference articles on IP management; Information Retrieval Techniques; Patent Landscapes; Education & Certification; and Legal & Intellectual Property Office Matters. The current Literature Listing was compiled end-May 2024. Key resources include Scopus, Digital Commons, publishers' RSS feeds, and serendipity! This article gives a selection of interesting references to whet your appetite - the full list of references can be found in the companion datafile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on patent analysis is quite extensive, containing a wide variety of studies. The idea has been widely discussed in the literature in recent years as innovation and globalization have increased in frequency in studies. The literature does not contain any research that integrates content analysis with bibliometric mapping analysis, despite the fact that a number of studies have been conducted on the subject. Hence, within the parameters of this study, a bibliometric mapping analysis of 1006 papers covering "patent analysis" and indexed in the Web of Science database, as well as a content analysis of the 50 most cited papers, was conducted. Therefore, this paper aims to determine the common words, keywords, journals published, authors, and universities of affiliation of 1006 studies, focusing on the 50 most cited studies. The study shows that "technology" is most frequently used as a word in summary and keywords. The reason for this can be explained by the fact that technology has the greatest impact on patenting. This study provides authors working in this area with a guide that identifies journals, institutions, authors, and works with high efficiency in patent analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in Deep Learning based prior art search has enabled the development of easy-to-use prior art search engines that accept natural language search queries and provide improved search performance. However, unlike conventional keyword-based techniques where the results are readily interpreted by the presence of queried keywords, Deep Learning based techniques act like a black box. As a result, it is difficult for users to articulate their information in order to obtain optimal results. In this paper, we share insights on query well-formedness from extensive experimentation with PQAI, 1 1 https://projectpq.ai/. an open source Deep Learning based prior art search engine. We study the effects of various query parameters such as grammar, specificity, and verbosity on the search results and show that ill-formed queries containing grammatical errors, non-essential content, and broad terminology adversely affect the relevance of search results. We also develop a number of Machine Learning models, viz. Grammatical Error Detection Model (GEDM), Query Specificity Model (QSM), and Query Verbosity Model (QVM), to identify and mitigate commonly encountered issues with ill-formed queries. The data, survey forms, and code relating to this work will be released to the community 2 2 https://github.com/Renuk9390/Query%5fformedness%5fPQAI.. Towards future breakthroughs, critical areas of query understanding in prior art search for advancing research are given in the end. • Deep Learning based patent prior art search engines act largely as a black box. • Grammar, specificity, and verbosity decide the well-formedness of the search query. • Relevance of prior art search results is adversely affected by ill-formed queries. • Abstracts are preferred over claims while natural text-based patent searching. • Deep Learning search engines alone cannot be an effective patent search strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of construction robotics (CR) has been rendered technically and economically viable by the proliferation of microprocessors and a decline in costs. A captivating epoch in CR has emerged, and it defies conventional interpretation. We ask how to extract the frontier research topics from patents, which countries are driving innovation in CR, and what policies are contributing to the current situation. This paper uses patent analysis and text mining to study 1831 C R-related patents and finds four clusters from the Derwent Innovations (DI) database. The patent remaining life impact (PRLI) index is calculated. The results show an increase in the number of CR-related patents annually. China leads in the number of patent publications, while the US and other patent organizations have played critical roles in the field. An improved technology evolutionary path tracing visualization identifies several hotspots. Additionally, the policy strategy matrix (PSM) analyzes the industrial stimulation policies of the two countries with the most considerable proportion, providing an explanation for predicting future technology research and development (R&D) and the direction of optimization. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining a technology's potential applications is crucial in assessing its level of innovation and evaluating its commercial viability. However, patent documents offer limited insights into a technology's full potential. As a solution, this study suggests an approach to explore a technology's applicability beyond what is explicitly stated in patents. The approach employs causal extraction to extract sentences expressing technologies and their applications from patents, followed by deep learning-based similarity analysis to compare the similarity of these sentences. Experimental results show its effectiveness in extracting sentences about technologies and applications and its superiority in terms of F1 score compared to benchmark models. This study enables cross-domain comparisons of technologies and applications, identifies multiple prospective applications for a given technology, and offers new opportunities for patent value analysis and intellectual property management in the industry. A cross-domain application network of the proposed method demonstrates how to find all potential cross-domain connections of a given data and we provide open access to the code. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welcome to the latest quarterly Literature Listing intended as a current awareness service for readers indicating newly published books, journal, and conference articles on IP management; Information Retrieval Techniques; Patent Landscapes; Education & Certification; and Legal & Intellectual Property Office Matters. The current Literature Listing was compiled end-August 2023. Key resources include Scopus, Digital Commons, publishers' RSS feeds, and serendipity! This article gives a selection of interesting references to whet your appetite - the full list of references can be found in the companion datafile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable search results are necessary in the empirical analyses utilizing patent data. In this study, we evaluate the tagging schemes for patent documents related to low carbon technologies and provide a patent analysis of bioethanol with PCT patent publications between 2010 and 2016. The classification-based queries were optimized to find grain bioethanol (1G), cellulosic bioethanol (2G) and patents belonging to grain and cellulosic bioethanol (1G AND 2G) trajectories. The results reveal that based on original search strategy, only second-generation cellulosic bioethanol patents could be identified with a good match. Through use of co-classification and content analysis of patents we expand understanding of bioethanol inventions and potential future technology generations in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Although access to open and commercial digital sources is easily available thanks to the proliferation of the internet, R&D departments still face the challenge of how to analyze information from several sources. This paper addresses this issue specifically when technological and scientific information needs to be analyzed in an integrated manner. 12,577 families of patents, 2601 scientific papers and 706 news articles are combined, normalized and analyzed using their own metadata and text. A software tool is used to extract insights from semi-structured and unstructured data by means of text mining. Additionally, interactive force-directed graph visualization is employed to show the multiple relations of concepts during different time periods with regard to the entire technology ecosystem. Through a case study of 3D printing technology, this paper shows how to apply mashup and obtain the benefits, and it defines the challenges of using interactive visualization representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study uses 'tech mining' (extracting intelligence from R&D data) to validate and refine the content of a particular section of a landmark roadmap of nanotechnology for aeronautics. We utilize topical content from publications and patents to analyze the developmental status of nanocomposite coating technologies. This enables us to validate predictions made by specialists, as presented in the target technology roadmap section. Moreover, we augment that roadmap section by providing additional information on nanocomposite-related emerging technologies. This study supports use of tech mining as a means to inform technology roadmapping, both when creating a new roadmap and to check progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This research develops a computer-supported ontology-based Technology Function Matrix (TFM) construction method, called eTFM, as an approach to reduce technology mining man-power and enhance the accuracy and consistency of patent analysis results. The paper addresses a rarely discussed issue of the TFM validation. The proposed validation approach compares the TFMs construction based on both on the domain ontology and the International Patent Classification (IPC) classes. The research demonstrates the methodology's practical applications using the patent analysis case of cyber physical system (CPS), an essential core technology enabling advanced manufacturing and Industry 4.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A deep learning-based method was developed to retrieve and analyze patents related to green sciences in cosmetics. An exploratory phase was conducted with five transformer machine learning models on a training set to screen out the most relevant one. A second phase was implemented to fine-tune the selected model by comparing the results generated by the algorithm to the manual scoring done by an expert on a naive set of data. The final model is based on a combination of BERT-like and Longformers models which successively analyze the abstract, the description and the first claim of each patent. A survey of the patent literature with the selected model shows that key information can be obtained regarding the patenting activity in green sciences in cosmetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Patents contain a large quantity of information which is usually neglected. This information is hidden beneath technical and juridical jargon and therefore so many potential readers cannot take advantage of it. State of the art natural language processing tools and in particular named entity recognition tools, could be used to detect valuable concepts in patent documents. The purpose of the present research is to design a method capable of automatically detecting and extracting one of the multiple entities hidden in patents: the users of the invention. The method is based on a new approach tailored for users extraction by integrating state-of-the-art computational linguistics tools with a large knowledge base. Furthermore the paper shows a comparison among different machine learning algorithms with the twofold aim of achieving the highest recall and evaluating the performance in terms of precision and computational effort. Finally, a case study on two patent sets has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and the output of the entire tool-chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quarterly Literature Listing is intended as a current awareness service for readers indicating newly published books, journal and conference articles on: patent search techniques, databases, analysis and classifications; patent searcher certification; patents relating to a) life sciences and pharmaceuticals and b) software; patent policy and strategic issues; trade marks; designs; domain names; and articles reviewing historical aspects of intellectual property or reviewing specific topics/persons. The current Literature Listing was compiled end February 2018. Key resources used are Scopus, Digital Commons, publishers' RSS feeds, and serendipity! Please feel free to send the author details of newly published reports/monographs/books for potential inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quarterly Literature Listing is intended as a current awareness service for readers indicating newly published books, journal and conference articles on: patent search techniques, databases, analysis and classifications; patent searcher certification; patents relating to a) life sciences and pharmaceuticals and b) software; patent policy and strategic issues; trade marks; designs; domain names; and articles reviewing historical aspects of intellectual property or reviewing specific topics/persons. The current Literature Listing was compiled end August 2017. Key resources used are Scopus, Digital Commons, publishers' RSS feeds, and serendipity! Please feel free to send the author details of newly published reports/monographs/books for potential inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patent information is increasingly important for decision makers. Their demand for exploratory trend and competitor analysis poses new challenges with respect to the processing and visualization of patent data. We present PatStream: a highly interactive approach for decision support through patent exploration, which offers a streamgraph-based visualization for trends at different levels of abstraction and facilitates the combined analysis of their various aspects, including patent applicants, IPC distributions and innovativeness. PatStream integrates powerful natural language processing techniques for concept extraction and patent similarity assessment to allow for content-oriented visualization and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on an automated patent landscaping and legal geography analysis to scrutinize the biopiracy of endemic plants in the island of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic). My analysis relies on shrubs and flowers that may be reaped without a fair and equitable distribution of benefits. My findings highlight that Western pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies' innovations may overlap sovereign states' intellectual property rights, implying that regulatory gaps must be filled to empower local communities to benefit from biodiversity and ecosystem services. Therefore, I suggest that the island adopt effective and consistent access and benefit-sharing policies, including mechanisms that encourage environmental protection and require prior informed consent and mutually agreed terms for utilizing genetic resources. I also suggest the introduction of disclosure of origin and/or source of genetic resources in their respective patents regime to ensure that Convention on Biological Diversity regulations and other related international frameworks can be followed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quarterly Literature Listing is intended as a current awareness service for readers indicating newly published books, journal and conference articles on: patent search techniques, databases, analysis and classifications; patent searcher certification; patents relating to a) life sciences and pharmaceuticals and b) software; patent policy and strategic issues; trade marks; designs; domain names; and articles reviewing historical aspects of intellectual property or reviewing specific topics/persons. The current Literature Listing was compiled mid-August 2016. Key resources used are Scopus, Digital Commons, publishers’ RSS feeds, and serendipity! [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) and Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCEVs) are potential alternatives to replacing the Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs). However, these new possibilities, that aim to make mobility more sustainable, still lack greater research and development to boost their competitiveness and achieve technological maturity. The goal of this study is to analyze the technological life cycle of the FCEVs and compare it with other propulsion modes (ICEVs, HEVs and BEVs). Data was collected on the Questel Orbit platform for patent families published in the US (United States Patent and Trademark Office) and EP (European Patent Office). Using logistc model and LogletLab 4 software, it was possible to evaluate the level of technological maturity of each one of these technologies. The results of the search through patents show that FCEVs technology has reached technological maturity, and it is very close to saturation (between 2018 and 2024). The annual growth rate of the patent families for FCEVs decreased after 2009, reaching between 1 and 7%. In comparison, ICEVs are a mature technology, with its expected saturation between the years 2037–2043. HEVs and BEVs are the "hot" area of the technological movement and are causing greater R&D efforts. • The technological maturity of the FCEVs is compared to other powertrain systems. • Analyzes are performed from patent family data from the year 1982 throughout 2018. • ICEVs have an estimated survival of 2–3 decades. • HEVs and BEVs are the "hot" area of the technological movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welcome to the latest quarterly Literature Listing intended as a current awareness service for readers indicating newly published books, journal, and conference articles on IP management; Information Retrieval Techniques; Patent Landscapes; Education & Certification; and Legal & Intellectual Property Office Matters. The current Literature Listing was compiled end-August 2022. Key resources include Scopus, Digital Commons, publishers' RSS feeds, and serendipity! This article gives a selection of interesting references to whet your appetite - the full list of references can be found in the companion datafile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following article briefly discusses the history of the PDG and why Taskforce/Working Group efforts have been an important part of PDG activities. The authors describe a methodology for analysing exemplified compound indexing from the patent literature in three databases: Chemical Abstracts (CAPLUS and REGISTRY), DerwentWorld Patents Index (DWPI) and Reaxys. This article also discusses the post analysis feedback from the database vendors. The feedback and the further discussions with the vendors culminated in some examples of positive changes to their indexing policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quarterly Literature Listing is intended as a current awareness service for readers indicating newly published books, journal and conference articles on: patent search techniques, databases, analysis and classifications; patent searcher certification; patents relating to a) life sciences and pharmaceuticals and b) software; patent policy and strategic issues; trade marks; designs; domain names; and articles reviewing historical aspects of intellectual property or reviewing specific topics/persons. The current Literature Listing was compiled mid-August 2015. Key resources used are Scopus, Digital Commons, publishers' RSS feeds, and serendipity! Please feel free to send the author details of newly published reports/monographs/books for potential inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since at least Schumpeter's theory of "new combinations", innovation has often been viewed as the synthesis of disparate knowledge areas. Recent works have investigated cross-sector innovation, where the disparity between combined technologies may be substantial. However, even within one sector, such as technology, leveraging combinations of ideas, software, and hardware from different technological sub-fields can yield innovative results. We analyze two large datasets—2.3 million patents and nearly 34,000 venture capital investments—in order to provide new evidence for and analyze the trends of "cross-technology" innovation. Notably, we test the hypothesis that for a number of emerging technologies, cross-technology innovation is growing more rapidly than innovation isolated within single technological categories. Our study provides supporting evidence for existing theory on entrepreneurship and innovation, yet it also prompts questions about the rates at which cross-technology innovation is occurring, particularly for emerging technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welcome to the latest quarterly Literature Listing intended as a current awareness service for readers indicating newly published books, journal, and conference articles on IP management; Information Retrieval Techniques; Patent Landscapes; Education & Certification; and Legal & Intellectual Property Office Matters. The current Literature Listing was compiled end-May 2022. Key resources include Scopus, Digital Commons, publishers' RSS feeds, and serendipity! This article gives a selection of interesting references to whet your appetite - the full list of references can be found in the companion datafile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we present an operational prototype of a workbench for intelligent patent document analysis and summarization that has been developed in the context of the R&D project TOPAS, partially funded by the European Commission. The workbench uses the GATE environment as infrastructure for document representation and algorithm integration. It contains, apart from several preprocessing tools, five modules for the individual aspects of patent analysis (entity recognition, lexical chain identification, invention composition derivation, segmentation, and claim – description alignment) and a module for patent summarization. The workbench, which has been tested in different application settings, can be used as a standalone engine or as component within a more global patent processing line. Most of its modules can be also used separately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statistical analyses based on patent data appeal to researchers and policy-makers from diverse fields because patents can serve as quantitative indicators of phenomena that are difficult to measure, including innovation, knowledge spillovers, collaboration, and technological space. This article conducts a comprehensive literature review of studies employing patent landscape analysis—assessing research objectives, sources of patent data, dataset sizes, the structured or unstructured nature of data, and modes of data interpretation—in order to provide an overview of methods of patent analysis across research fields. This article concludes that, while studies in certain fields seem to follow consistent norms of methodological disclosure, these norms are not universal. It emphasizes a need for greater awareness of the limitations of patent data, for improved transparency through harmonized standards for the disclosure of patent methodology, and for cross-disciplinary sharing of best practices in order to develop methodologies tailored to specific research objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leveraging available technologies for high-throughput screening (HTS), to enable the rapid delivery of comprehensive data packages for drug discovery programs, is a primary goal in developing new molecular entities for clinical applications. Pharmaceutical companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) must constantly evolve their assay methods to ensure an effective and timely impact to business. This article is focused on a novel three step approach, using Linguamatics I2E text analytics software to mine the full text of patents, to identify (1) kinase assay technology information, and (2) kinase group information that is associated with therapeutic areas for drug screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The rapid growth of patent documents has called for the development of sophisticated patent analysis tools. Currently, there are various tools that are being utilized by organizations for analyzing patents. These tools are capable of performing wide range of tasks, such as analyzing and forecasting future technological trends, conducting strategic technology planning, detecting patent infringement, determining patents quality and the most promising patents, and identifying technological hotspots and patent vacuums. This literature review presents the state-of-the-art in patent analysis and also presents taxonomy of patent analysis techniques. Moreover, the key features and weaknesses of the discussed tools and techniques are presented and several directions for future research are highlighted. The literature review will be helpful for the researchers in finding the latest research efforts pertaining to the patent analysis in a unified form. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The long history of the attempts to harness the power of the wind to generate electricity from the late 19th Century to the present day is outlined. The article discusses the way that the filing of patents has reflected the waxing and waning of enthusiasm for this free, but challenging, resource and the commercial realities of trying to convert an unpredictable and sometimes violent energy source into an economically viable contributor to the world's energy needs. The author opines that the key to unravelling this dichotomy may lie in the successful development of alternative, improved methods of storing electricity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Currently, the electric vehicle (EV) technology is of great interest in China and around the world. This paper first conducts a comprehensive review of China's EV policies and the development of China's EV technology, and then analyzes the domestic performances of China's EV technology and its international competitiveness by adopting the recently developed concept of transnational patents. The results show an outstanding performance for China's EV technology in the domestic market, but a relatively poor performance in the international markets. Finally, several main factors causing the inconsistent performance of China's EV technology are proposed and discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Offshore wind is a promising clean and sustainable energy source, and the foundation of the offshore wind turbine is a crucial part that enables the operation in ocean environments. Therefore, this study investigates the general development condition and innovation opportunities in offshore wind turbine foundations using a patent analysis approach. It shows that the domain has evolved into the matured stage, with all countries, except China, having a downward trend of patent grants since 2010. The patenting activities in China are mainly driven by academic institutes, while Chinese companies show weak global competitiveness. Thus, this study suggests that China's policymakers introduce incentives to help the industrial sector transform theoretical innovations into practical applications. Besides, the floating foundation was identified as an emerging technology at an early commercialization stage among all foundation types. Furthermore, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis was implemented based on a novel input-conversion-output of patent (ICOP) model to reveal the innovation condition of different foundation types in the regions of interest from competition and productivity dimensions. The domains with low competition and high productivity were recognized as investment opportunities, while those opposite were not recommended as ideal investment targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study, the author examines patents granted to 174 Taiwanese universities during the period of 2004–2009 to gain a better understanding of innovation and patenting activities of Taiwanese universities. The results show that the university administrations took very proactive roles in patenting the research inventions or works that resulted from the university-funded research after two Bayh-Dole-like acts were passed in Taiwan. There were 105 universities and colleges granted patents during the reviewed period. The distribution of patents granted shows that general universities were granted mainly invention patents and universities of technology were more active in gaining utility model patents. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Since Trippe introduced the term ‘patinformatics’ a lot of progress has been made in this particular field of information science. However, there is still need for a more comprehensive framework to structure the variety of tasks related to ‘patinformatics’, to highlight essential functions within the patinformatics process and to identify those process parts, which are supported by currently available software tools, and others, which are not. In this paper we apply business process modeling to describe the patinformatics process for supporting managerial decision making. The process model enables an overview of major tasks within patinformatics and links them to currently available tools. This paper provides a guideline through patent research for most users of patent information. It may also be employed as a fundamental model for the comparison of patinformatics software applications and approaches. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In 2001, a new ruling for the publication of patent applications at the United States Patent and Trademark Office came into effect. Since then, all applications which are also filed with foreign offices have to be published 18 months after the application date, in analogy to the ruling in Europe and Japan. This new regime replaces the former system where only granted patents were published. With about 70% of all applications the share of pre-grant publications of applications of US origin is quite high, allowing new types of statistical analysis. In particular, the investigations of time series based on priority years instead of grant years can thus be performed much more topically. On the one hand, a larger dataset for applications of US origin is available; on the other hand, the sample of applications from Asian countries is generally much larger at the US Patent Office than at the European Patent Office. Despite these new opportunities, searches at low levels of aggregation by codes of the International Patent Classification still have to be handled with care. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Welcome to the new quarterly Literature Listing intended as a current awareness service for readers indicating newly published books, journal, and conference articles on IP management; Information Retrieval Techniques; Patent Landscapes; Education & Certification; and Legal & Intellectual Property Office Matters. The current Literature Listing was compiled end-August 2021. Key resources include Scopus, Digital Commons, publishers' RSS feeds, and serendipity! This article gives a selection of interesting references to whet your appetite - the full list of references can be found in the companion datafile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avian Influenza is a very hot field. In this rapid analysis we show how patents can be used to rapidly determine the trends of R&D in this field as well as some differences between different groups of countries, academic institutions and companies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Based on the notion of the national innovation system (NIS), this paper proposes an exploratory method of measuring inter-industrial knowledge flows. The proposed measures are based on patent analysis and input–output analysis. By employing the Korean case, the knowledge measures are gauged and the knowledge network is visualized. For both disembodied and embodied knowledge, the densities of the knowledge network have steadily increased over time and the knowledge linkage between the traditional sector and the emerging sector has become more active, along with the evolutionary advancement of industrial structure. However, the knowledge network is still incomplete in that some weak ties and missing links exist. Although the Korean case may not be generally applicable due to national idiosyncrasies, the proposed framework provides a useful tool for measuring knowledge stock and flows at sectoral or industrial level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Computer aided patent portfolio analysis is a useful tool to evaluate both the R&D landscape and business opportunities. All necessary patent data can be generated from publicly accessible data bases. Patent data allow conclusions about a firm’s patent activity and the quality of its patent portfolio. Further, the international and technological scope of a company’s patent strategy can be assessed. This information is particularly interesting for the evaluation of a firm’s innovative potential. Besides, it allows conclusions to be drawn on the innovative dynamics of the considered market segment, in this case dietary supplements. The results are shown in graphs and spider charts. In sum, we can make conclusions about the relative innovative power and patent strength of a company within the selected market segment. We draw conclusions on the importance of patents as a method of knowledge protection in this market and gather insights about the availability of companies that are potentially suitable for co-operations or acquisitions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Historians and economists are agreed on the importance of technical invention and innovation in modern industrial societies but hold varied opinions on the respective roles of corporations and independents. One reason is the difficulty of obtaining accurate quantitative data, in the absence of which there is a strong tendency to fall back on entertaining if often misleading “heroic inventor” stories. Patent statistics are extensive and freely available, if difficult to interpret for non-patent specialists, so a few researchers have used these to attempt to quantify invention and innovation, especially in the USA. The author has used statistics on GB originating completed term patents to study the respective role of GB corporate and independent innovators since 1950. He concludes that, despite the rise of 20th century corporate research, of the order of a third of successful innovation still comes from independents judging by samples of GB patents expiring in 1970 and 2003. However, this third comes from a steadily reducing pool of innovation corresponding largely to the decline of GB manufacturing industry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This article starts with a commentary on the importance of natural products for today’s society, emphasizing the relevance of Brazilian biodiversity in the world scenario, as well as the need to protect research results in this area notwithstanding the controversies related to this protection. A survey is then presented based on patent documents involving 278 native Brazilian plants. The object of this survey was to verify how the patent system is used by Brazilian companies, universities and research institutions to protect the results of research on these plants. The survey also served to identify the main patent applicants, both Brazilian and foreign, the main plants whose derivatives are objects of protection (forms of Hypericum, Allium, Eucalyptus and Aloe are the top 4, for instance) and the types of inventions protected. The results showed that, inter alia, 66.9% of these Brazilian plants are the object of patent documents. This article also verified that the main patent holders of these patents documents are foreign applicants (94.2%). Brazilian companies, universities and research institutions are a minority of applicants (5.89%). Finally, this article presents some proposals to alter the current situation in this field. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Patent analysts predict trends in research and the business environment by studying the numbers and classifications of patents issued to companies around the world. Those attempts are often affected by the changes taking place in international treaties, governments, patent laws, patent classification systems, and corporate mergers and acquisitions. This paper describes some of the changes in the patent information environment that have disrupted the trends predicted by patent analyses in the past. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The availability of free patent databases on the Internet, offers the opportunity of opening the door of patent information not only to patent specialists, but also to many other groups, such as researchers, decision makers, potential inventors and students. The goal of this paper is to show how the combination of free patent databases (in this paper esp@cenet®) and dedicated software makes it possible to perform easily and rapidly tests on new ideas, the automatic benchmarking of an enterprise''s activity and the stimulation of innovative thinking. The benchmarking of companies alone, or of clusters of enterprises is exemplified with reference to the concept of high temperature lubricating oil technology. How to improve innovative thinking is shown within the context of an analysis of coconut technology in postgraduate courses of competitive intelligence provided in Indonesia. Both applications emphasize that the role of patent information is expanding as a unique source of technical information because free availability combined with easy patent mapping and analysis allow non-specialists to use this information source in all technical aspects of innovation, research and development, and strategic planning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Intellectual property rights have become a significant component of R&D policy in India. The inventor''s productivity is a major concern of the publicly funded R&D organizations like the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The paper examines the patenting activity of inventors from CSIR in India and the US during 1976–2000. It observes that there is no uniform trend in patent output of inventors. The patent productivity is highly concentrated in a relatively small number of talented individuals. The first inventors have a role as scientific mentors. It defines the `pioneer first inventors'' as those who contribute more as first inventor and less as co-inventor. The `patronising first inventors'' are those who contribute less as first inventor but more as co-inventor. Though the former produce more patents in total in comparison to the latter yet the per inventor output of `patronising first inventors'' is twice that of `pioneer first inventors''. The paper suggests that, within CSIR''s policy of rewarding innovation and creativity, the role of leading inventors should be distinguished as pioneering first inventors and patronising first inventors and their contributions rewarded accordingly. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]