EPO patents - information on traded patents

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khanhhienbi
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2020 9:49 am

EPO patents - information on traded patents

Post by khanhhienbi » Wed Nov 09, 2022 5:49 pm

Dear PATSTAT community,

I am working with PATSTAT Online 2022 Spring and am currently interested in exploring information on the transfers of patents, i.e., the name of the buyer and of the seller, the date at which the assignment was recorded at the patent office, etc. for each assignment. I'm wondering where can I get this information. Should I check INPADOC legal status database ?

Many thanks in advance!


EPO / PATSTAT Support
Posts: 425
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 5:33 pm
Contact:

Re: EPO patents - information on traded patents

Post by EPO / PATSTAT Support » Thu Nov 10, 2022 10:14 am

Hello khanhhienbi,
In principle, yes. The "INPADOC data" (table tls231_inpadoc_legal_event) contains information on "INFORMATION ON LICENSING AND SIMILAR TRANSACTIONS"; they are grouped under event_category_code = 'S'. Some of the codes in the "R" category (Party data change) might equally be relevant.
The "event_code"s itself are not standardised, so you will need to see for the correct codes for the countries (patent authorities) you want to analyse.
Run this code:

Code: Select all

SELECT TOP (1000) [event_auth]
      ,[event_code]
      ,[event_descr]
      ,[event_descr_orig]
      ,[event_category_code]
      ,[event_category_title]
  FROM [patstat2022bRC2].[dbo].[tls803_legal_event_code]
  where event_category_code = 'S' --or use 'R'
However, it can very well be that a transfer of ownership happens before a patent is granted. For EP patent applications, you will then observe a difference in the "person"data (table tls206_person) that are linked to for example the A1 and B1 publications. (linkage happens via tls227_pers_publn ).

Transfers of granted European patents also get reported by respective national patent offices once the patent has entered the national phase.
Each office uses again its’ own codes, so depending on what country you want research on, you will need to see what codes are relevant. At this link you will find an overview of all INPADOC codes being used and their frequencies. That gives you directly a good overview on which codes are useful or obsolete: mapping-data-completeness-of-patstat-gl ... ls231-7984 .

A small heads-up warning: the data on transfers is not very representative because there is no legal obligation to register ownership changes at the EPO after the patent is granted. Some countries oblige the owners to register changes at national level, in which case this will also be available in the INPADOC data. But many times the agreement takes the form of a licence and not a transfer. There is very little information available on licences for European patent applications. (For US applications there is better data…)
PATSTAT Support Team
EPO - Vienna
patstat @ epo.org


khanhhienbi
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2020 9:49 am

Re: EPO patents - information on traded patents

Post by khanhhienbi » Mon Dec 12, 2022 11:40 am

Thank you so much for your help!

Could you please correct me if I'm wrong that: the information on events and patent owners is in the PRS database (PATSTAT version: April 2014) which is now included in tables tls231 and tls803? (Please see the journal titled
Tracking patent transfers in different European countries: methods and a first application to medical technologies
as reference)
Is it possible to get the details of the legal events at the EPO after the patent is granted, for example, the number of events, the trader information, etc.? I'm particularly looking at pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms in the UK between 2012 to 2021.

Many thanks in advance!


EPO / PATSTAT Support
Posts: 425
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 5:33 pm
Contact:

Re: EPO patents - information on traded patents

Post by EPO / PATSTAT Support » Wed Jan 04, 2023 6:20 pm

In 2014, the PRS data was sold as a separate product (compatible with PATSTAT) and the table was named TLS221_INPADOC_PRS

Now the PRS data (= INPADOC data) is standard included in the PATSTAT data base as table tls231_inpadoc_legal_event . The tls803_legal_event_code is only a reference table to facilitate the understanding of the legal status codes. As there are about 4000 codes, the tls803 table is EPO's approach to implement WIPO ST27.

Any events that were registered in the 2014 PRS data base should be available in the latest release.

I had a quick look a the paper you referred to:
Tracking patent transfers in different European countries: methods and a first application to medical technologies
Laurie Ciaramella, Catalina Martínez & Yann Ménière
https://link.springer.com/article/10.10 ... 017-2411-1
As the authors used PATSTAT Global and the INPADOC data, I would assume that the methodology used for the paper could be applied on more recent data for UK companies. I am not sure up to what degree transfers or trader data is available for the UK. Each patent office decides themselves what post grant data will be provided to the EPO. For many countries, there is no legal obligation to register transfers of ownership or licences.
PATSTAT Support Team
EPO - Vienna
patstat @ epo.org


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