EPO patent - current or filled Applicants?

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Damian_TR
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2022 3:54 pm

EPO patent - current or filled Applicants?

Post by Damian_TR » Fri Nov 11, 2022 4:23 pm

Dear Forum, I am working with the PATSTAT 2022 version using the applicants (not inventors) EPO patents. However, I do not know if the applicant reported is the inventor firm or the current firm (in case of patents transfer).
For instance, in the EPO file (PATSTAT 2022) you will have patent EP2524963 with firm "Ipsen Bioinnovation Ltd". But after looking at Google patents, that same patent has "Toxogen GmbH" as the applicant firm but "Ipsen Bioinnovation Ltd" as the current firm. So, you may think that the PATSTAT 2022 data shows the current firm.
But doing the same for other patents, it is the opposite. For instance, in PATSTAT 2022 dataset the patent EP2700771 has "Inneo21 SL", which in Google Patent it is the filled firm, while it has "Nordex Towers Spain Sl" as the current firm. So, you could think that in fact the PATSTAT shows the inventor firm (or the first firm). This also happen with some other patents (ex. EP2637010).
So, my question is: which is the firm that we have in the PATSTAT (EPO) dataset, the filled or current firm?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help!


Damian_TR
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2022 3:54 pm

Re: EPO patent - current or filled Applicants?

Post by Damian_TR » Thu Nov 17, 2022 11:09 am

Dear forum and @EPO / PATSTAT Support,
Just to clarify about the question. My point is that we have several dates in the PATSTAT files (OECD REGPAT database, OECD Citations database,...). That is, publication, application, and priority dates. If I want to merge the firm listed in (202202_EPO_App_reg) with financial firm data, then I would need to know which date to use, and of course, if the listed firm is the first firm (filled applicant in order to use the application date) or the current owner of the patent (in which case I do not know which date should be used).
Thus, if it is the current firm, it cannot be used the application or priority date, because at that date there was not any relation between the patent and the current firm (I assume). This is why I am asking which firm do we have listed in the 202202_EPO_App_reg.txt dataset.
So, how does PATSTAT incorporate these changes of firms into the dataset? Do they consider any change between the application date and the publication date (assuming a change in the ownership within these dates)?
Or they update the patent dataset even after the publication date (in case of a change of ownership after the publication date)?
What would happen if after the publication date (patent granted), another firm acquire the patent? Is this registered in the following PATSTAT versions?

Thanks a lot in advance!


EPO / PATSTAT Support
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Re: EPO patent - current or filled Applicants?

Post by EPO / PATSTAT Support » Tue Nov 22, 2022 1:53 pm

Hello Damian,
The short answer is: the names that are on the publications of the patent document.

But there is no straight answer to your questions because the names you will find in PATSTAT depend on what patent authority (country) you are looking at, and what kind of data the patent office provides to the EPO. This varies from country to country. EPO data is of course complete.
The details on the PATSTAT production process are explained in the data catalog; see 1.5.4 and other relevant paragraphs. (1.5.6, 5.7 business rules, …)

To illustrate it; I will use the the EP patent numbers you referred to.

Generally spoken, the applicant names originate from EPO’s DocDb database which is based on PATENT PUBLICATIONS. --> the paper documents; so not based on for example “IP transfers, licences or company mergers”. To know what applicants are linked to the patent publications, one needs to merge (joining in SQL) the tables tls211_pat_publn to table tls206_person via the tls227_pers_publn table.
For EP applications; this means that the applicant linked to an A1 publication can be different then the "owner" of the B1 (granted patent). Later publications (B8, B9) can be linked to different names then wat is on the A1, A2, A3, B1,... And when a granted EP application enters the so called national phase, a new owner(s) can be registered in the patent register maintained by that specific country (so not the European patent register). In ESPACENET you can find dirict links to some of the national patent registers via the "Global Dossier" icon.

Here is the SQL query (will run on PATSTAT Online) that illustrates and extracts the data using your example EP2524963.
EP2524963 is an EP publication number; and we know that the publication numbers for EP applications do not change depending on the kind of publications; so the query will retrieve all the publications and the “persons” related to the different publications.

Code: Select all

SELECT tls211_pat_publn.pat_publn_id, publn_auth, publn_nr, publn_kind, 
publn_date, invt_seq_nr, applt_seq_nr,psn_name, person_ctry_code, person_address, person_name_orig_lg
FROM tls201_appln  join tls211_pat_publn on tls201_appln.appln_id = tls211_pat_publn.appln_id
  join tls227_pers_publn on tls211_pat_publn.pat_publn_id = tls227_pers_publn.pat_publn_id
  join tls206_person on tls227_pers_publn.person_id = tls206_person.person_id
where tls211_pat_publn.publn_auth = 'EP' and tls211_pat_publn.publn_nr = '2524963'
imgA.png
You can clearly observe the change from Toxogen GmbH in the A1 document to Ipsen Bioinnovation Limited on the B1 document.

As many researchers prefer “the latest” information, PATSTAT also has the tls207_pers_appln table that links the persons recorded on the latest publication directly to the application table tls201_appln.
Below is the SQL using your example (EP11004152).
You see that now only the names from the B1 (latest publication for this application) are listed.

Code: Select all

SELECT tls201_appln.appln_id, appln_auth, appln_nr, appln_kind, 
appln_filing_date, invt_seq_nr, applt_seq_nr,person_name, psn_name, person_ctry_code, person_address, person_name_orig_lg
FROM tls201_appln 
  join tls207_pers_appln on tls201_appln.appln_id = tls207_pers_appln.appln_id
  join tls206_person on tls207_pers_appln.person_id = tls206_person.person_id
where tls201_appln.appln_auth = 'EP' and appln_nr = '11004152'
order by tls201_appln.appln_id,invt_seq_nr, applt_seq_nr;
For EP2700771 we only retrieve "Inneo21 SL". This name is linked to the A2, A3 and B1 publications. This is an indication that no transfers happened during the application and granting process.

Code: Select all

SELECT tls211_pat_publn.pat_publn_id, publn_auth, publn_nr, publn_kind, 
publn_date, invt_seq_nr, applt_seq_nr,psn_name, person_ctry_code, person_address, person_name_orig_lg
FROM tls201_appln  join tls211_pat_publn on tls201_appln.appln_id = tls211_pat_publn.appln_id
  join tls227_pers_publn on tls211_pat_publn.pat_publn_id = tls227_pers_publn.pat_publn_id
  join tls206_person on tls227_pers_publn.person_id = tls206_person.person_id
where tls211_pat_publn.publn_auth = 'EP' and tls211_pat_publn.publn_nr = '2700771'
and applt_seq_nr > 0
However, the B1 publication (grant) was published on 2019-01-02 and on 2019-01-28, a change (NOT A TRANSFER !) took place to “Nordex Towers Spain, S.L.” which was registered in the European Patent Register. See:
https://register.epo.org/application?nu ... n&tab=main and
https://register.epo.org/application?do ... &npl=false
The document indicates that this is a change of name and NOT a transfer.
A future later publication (unlikely) linked to the same application would show Nordex Towers Spain, S.L., but the information on the change is visible via the European Patent Register. Below is the query. The attribute “is latest” indicates the latest applicant.

Code: Select all

SELECT TOP 1000 appln_auth, appln_nr, appln_filing_date, appln_id,parties.type
	  ,parties.name, parties.address_1, parties.set_seq_nr,parties.seq_nr,parties.is_latest
FROM reg101_appln doc
  join reg107_parties parties on doc.id = parties.id
where appln_auth= 'ep' and appln_nr = '13193900' and parties.type = 'a'
order by parties.set_seq_nr asc, parties.seq_nr asc
By looking in detail at the complete patent family for EP13193900, one can observe (for example via Espacenet) that the national phase of this patent in Poland is owned by “ACCIONA TOWERS S L [ES]” And Googling the name indicates that as well Acciona as Inneo21 SL are “old names” for Nordex Towers Spain, S.L. (https://www.einforma.com/informacion-empresa/inneo-21)
Inventor names normally don’t change, except for corrections. I don’t observe a similar process with publication EP2637010.
PATSTAT Support Team
EPO - Vienna
patstat @ epo.org


EPO / PATSTAT Support
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Re: EPO patent - current or filled Applicants?

Post by EPO / PATSTAT Support » Tue Nov 22, 2022 4:37 pm

Hello Damian,
on your question on dates.
OECD data (largely) originates from PATSTAT, and OECD patentd data sets are normally compatible and can be linked to PATSTAT. Linking the data to ORBIS (BVD, AMADEUS) is not straight forward. Some researchers have created concordance tables that link the person_id with what was called the BVD identifier. I would advice you to contact BVD for more information. On 202202_EPO_App_reg.txt, I am rather sure that the tls207_pers_appln table was used as the whole data set is application based. (So the general rule of "latest publication provides the applicants is valid.) Transfers of ownership (or a registered change/ corrections of the applicant name) BEFORE the latest publication will be visible in the OECD data. Transfers or corrections will result in differences between the names on the priority filings and later publications. But as PATSTAT has very solid data on priority filings, there should be no doubt on the company that was initially involved with the invention. Researchers often use the earliest priority filing as the best proxy to answer"when, where and who" was in an early stage involved with the invention.

So, how does PATSTAT incorporate these changes of firms into the dataset? See previous post in forum.
Do they consider any change between the application date and the publication date (assuming a change in the ownership within these dates)? YES, but any ownership changes following the grant + the 9 months opposition period is a matter for the national patent offices of the designated contracting states. (assuming no opposition proceeding extend the process). Information on changes after the opposition period will often be visible via the so called INPADOC data in the tls231_inpadoc_legal_event table. Check for the event_category_code = 'R' --> "PARTY DATA CHANGE" and/or Run this query for an overview of relevant codes:

Code: Select all

SELECT  event_auth 
      , event_code 
      , event_descr 
      , event_descr_orig 
      , event_category_code 
      , event_category_title 
  FROM tls803_legal_event_code
  where event_category_code = 'R'
  order by event_auth,event_category_code
See also : https://www.epo.org/applying/european/G ... 11_3.html
Or do they update the patent dataset even after the publication date (in case of a change of ownership after the publication date)?No,not if no later publications happen.
What would happen if after the publication date (patent granted), another firm acquire the patent? Is this registered in the following PATSTAT versions? Only via the tls231_inpadoc_legal_event table; this is where the EPO collects and groups data coming from other national patent offices with regards to so called "post grant" events for granted EP applications, or other legal events with regards to pure national patent applications. The codes are NOT standardised across the different countries; you will need to make the right selections depending on what patent authorities you want to include in your research.
PATSTAT Support Team
EPO - Vienna
patstat @ epo.org


Damian_TR
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2022 3:54 pm

Re: EPO patent - current or filled Applicants?

Post by Damian_TR » Fri Nov 25, 2022 10:21 am

Dear EPO/PATSTAT,

thanks a lot for this very exhaustive and didactic explanation. I think I have a clearer idea now about what to do and how this works.
Can I ask a quick question? If a patent is registered in different offices (ex. EPO, other national offices, and USPTO). Is it possible to detect this?
And in such a case, is it possible to have different application/publication dates depending on the chosen office (for the same patent)?
Will it be also differences in the number of citations?
Which office is recommended to use in this circumstance?

Thanks a lot again for your help!
Last edited by Damian_TR on Fri Nov 25, 2022 10:46 am, edited 1 time in total.


EPO / PATSTAT Support
Posts: 424
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 5:33 pm
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Re: EPO patent - current or filled Applicants?

Post by EPO / PATSTAT Support » Tue Nov 29, 2022 4:49 pm

Yes, you can easily detect patents that have been filed in multiple patent offices via the (docdb) patent family data. The docdb patent family is used as a proxy to group patents that have been filed for a single invention in different countries. (Filed by the same applicant !)

Here is an example query that selects so called triadic patent families that were granted and filed after 2015. Triadic families are patent families that are filed at the EPO,USPTO and JPO. I further restricted to specify that all 3 need to be granted and filed > 2015. That gives about 50.000 patent families.

Code: Select all

SELECT [docdb_family_id],[appln_id],[appln_auth],[appln_nr],[appln_kind]
      ,[appln_filing_date],[ipr_type],[receiving_office],[internat_appln_id]
      ,[int_phase],[reg_phase],[nat_phase],[earliest_filing_date]
      ,[granted],[inpadoc_family_id],[docdb_family_size]
from tls201_appln
where 
docdb_family_id  in (select docdb_family_id from tls201_appln where appln_auth = 'EP' and granted = 'Y' and appln_filing_year > 2015)
and docdb_family_id  in (select docdb_family_id from tls201_appln where appln_auth = 'US' and granted = 'Y' and appln_filing_year > 2015)
and docdb_family_id  in (select docdb_family_id from tls201_appln where appln_auth = 'JP' and granted = 'Y' and appln_filing_year > 2015)
and appln_auth in ('EP','US','JP')
order by docdb_family_id, appln_auth, appln_id
The applications can have different application and publication dates, but the application dates normally fall within a 12-18 months time frame. (with exception for US continuations). In the event that a PCT application is part of the Docdb patent family, then very often the other family members will have the same application filing date as the PCT (WO) application.
Number of (backward) citations is completely dependant from what the examiners decide to cite. Examiners will cite patents which they can read and understand, or which they can have translated in case it is needed.
Not sure what you mean with the last question. But in case you are referring to "forward citations", the tls201_appln table does a forward citations count based on "family/family level". So that takes away all the noise that might occur due to different applications citing different publications or publications being cited multiple times for different set of claims. But for certain kind of analysis, researchers still need to get to the very details on "which publication cites which other publication for what claims". And those relations are defined via the tls212_citation and the tls215_citn_categ tables.
PATSTAT Support Team
EPO - Vienna
patstat @ epo.org


Damian_TR
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2022 3:54 pm

Re: EPO patent - current or filled Applicants?

Post by Damian_TR » Thu Dec 01, 2022 10:32 am

Dear EPO/PATSTAT,

Thanks a lot for your answer!
So, the triadic patent only control for patents protected in Europe, US, and Japan, right? So, the citations we have there are not from the document, but from the invention (in case it is protected in several patent offices, right?).
I have a clearer idea now. I would like to kindly ask for your help with what I want to study since I am not a SQL user.
I want to study all the patents from Spanish firms (a firm could patent in EPO, USPTO, but also in ES, IT, AR,... such as the case for "IBERDROLA INGENIERIA Y CONSTRUCCION SAU" that has around 10 patents but I only capture two of them in the EPO dataset) taking care of not double accounting (in a case a patent is also protected in other offices). And for these patents, I want to count (eliminating self-citation) the rest of patent from other firms that also cites the same patent in a given year (something I plan to do in Stata).
That is, if patent A cites patent B in 2010 (being B from a different firm), I need to count the number of other patents (coming from different firms than the ones in patents A and B) that also cites B in 2010.
Maybe if you could help me with:
First, how to obtain all these Spanish patents with the information of the id of the firm listed in the patent (the SQL code). Taking care of not double accounting a given patent present in more than one office. And using the publication date (that I will need for the count of patents).
Second, the SQL code for how to make this counting of patents as in the previous example. It would be great (that way I can contrast with my Stata code).
If it is too much, please, at least could you give me a hand with the first point?
Thanks you very much in advance, this is a great forum for people like me learning patents from the begining.


EPO / PATSTAT Support
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Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 5:33 pm
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Re: EPO patent - current or filled Applicants?

Post by EPO / PATSTAT Support » Wed Jan 25, 2023 5:28 pm

Yes, the list gives you all the EP, US and JP patent family members for patents granted in (at least) those 3 geographical areas. The pre-agregated forward citations count is based on a family/family relation, but is not linked to the fact whether the citing applications are also from EP, US or JP. If you add nb_citing_docdb_fam to your SELECT clause you will see that it has the same value for each family member; which is what we would expect.
On the forward citations: this becomes difficult when you want to link triadic patents to the country of the applicant. Reason: we do not receive (much) information on the applicant country code from the Japanese patent office. This means you will need to develop a work around to identify the Spanish applicant. The easiest is probably to quick and dirty accept that EP (and US) has complete applicant country information, so if the family has at least 1 Spanish applicant we accept that there is a Spanish applicant for US, EP and JP.
Here is the adapted query:

Code: Select all

SELECT [docdb_family_id],[appln_id],[appln_auth],[appln_nr],[appln_kind]
      ,[appln_filing_date],[ipr_type],[receiving_office],[internat_appln_id]
      ,[int_phase],[reg_phase],[nat_phase],[earliest_filing_date]
      ,[granted],[inpadoc_family_id],[docdb_family_size], nb_citing_docdb_fam
from tls201_appln
where 
docdb_family_id  in (select docdb_family_id from tls201_appln where appln_auth = 'EP' and granted = 'Y' and appln_filing_year > 2015)
and docdb_family_id  in (select docdb_family_id from tls201_appln where appln_auth = 'US' and granted = 'Y' and appln_filing_year > 2015)
and docdb_family_id  in (select docdb_family_id from tls201_appln where appln_auth = 'JP' and granted = 'Y' and appln_filing_year > 2015)
and appln_auth in ('EP','US','JP')
[b]and docdb_family_id in (select distinct docdb_family_id from tls201_appln join tls207_pers_appln on tls201_appln.appln_id = tls207_pers_appln.appln_id join tls206_person on tls207_pers_appln.person_id = tls206_person.person_id
where applt_seq_nr > 0 and person_ctry_code = 'ES' and appln_filing_year > 2015)[/b]
order by docdb_family_id, appln_auth, appln_id
You could run the above query in PATSTAT Online and then extract a data base extraction to further anlyse the citations. The pre-calculated forward citations count does include the self citations. But as the number of patent families is rather limited with the used criteria (<200), it might be easiest to simply check the forward citations manually instead of writing pages of SQL. There are quite some forum posts on forward citations.
PATSTAT Support Team
EPO - Vienna
patstat @ epo.org


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