EPO - Discussion forums

Hello,

One currently can't search by Assignee using the Espacenet user interface.
Searching by Applicant name is not very useful for searching larger companies that have acquired or merged with other ones.
Currently, the Assignee information is held in the register at the bottom of the INPADOC Legal Status list.
Is there a way to search by Assignee, e.g. by using a RESTful query?

Thank you,

-Thomas

Dear Thomas,

A possible way would be to search INPADOC legal status using Global Patent Index (GPI - you can subscribe to a free trial on http://www.epo.org/gpi - User manual available for download on the same page) which allows you to search party names, for example in the case of a change of ownership or assignment.

The search criterion EVOW "Owner mentioned in the event record" allows you to retrieve patent documents having INPADOC events including the name of the party you want to search for (the so-called "Owner name" in INPADOC).

Query example: EVOW="RHONE-POULENC" retrieves US 9540693 B2 where we see the following event:
2016-04-21 [AS] ASSIGNMENT
Owner name: RHONE-POULENC RORER S.A., FRANCE

EVOW can be used in combination with any other GPI search criteria (bibliographic and/or legal status data).

Best regards,

Patrick