Difference between the four expert databases?

[Marc N. Zeichen]

Hello forum and EPA Support Team,

I'd like to ask for clarification or for a link on the difference of the four expert databases EPAB, BULL, GPI and PATSTAT:



Specifically, are there differences in the completeness of the databases, and which database is recommended for which research activity?

Which database would be best for determining in which countries European patents of a particular applicant have been validated?

Best regards
Marc

[EPO / EPAL Team]

Dear Marc,

We apologise for our very late answer.

- EP full-text search (weekly update): mainly for detailed searches in the bibliographic data and full-text (descriptions, claims) of EP publications

- EP Bulletin search (weekly update): mainly for detailed searches in the bibliographic data and legal events of EP publications - so a kind of searchable version of the European Patent Bulletin but with more legal event information available

- GPI (weekly update): mainly for detailed searches in the EPO worldwide bibliographic data collection, combinable with part of the EPO worldwide full-text collection (limitation to CH, DE, ES, FR, GB and WO full-text) and with the EPO worldwide legal event collection

- PATSTAT Online (bi-yearly update): mainly for detailed statistical analysis using the EPO worldwide data collections

We will comment later on you last question.

User support

[EPO / EPAL Team]

Dear Marc,

Whilst the specific data that you need will depend upon the use cases, two important sources include the EP Register and Federated Register. The Federated Register provides a single point of access to reliable post‑grant bibliographic and legal status information on European patents.

INPADOC legal events could also be a relevant source of information - INPADOC data is displayed in Espacenet and searchable in GPI / PATSTAT Online - for more information on INPADOC, please contact patentdata@epo.org

User support