In which patent offices does a firm file the same invention?

Here you can post your opinions, ask questions and share experiences on the PATSTAT product line. Please always indicate the PATSTAT edition (e.g. 2015 Autumn Edition) and the database (e.g. PATSTAT Online, MySQL, MS SQL Server, ...) you are using.
Post Reply

juergen.kruse
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2014 7:37 pm

In which patent offices does a firm file the same invention?

Post by juergen.kruse » Wed Feb 19, 2014 8:03 pm

Dear all,

I would like to investigate in which patent offices a specific applicant (say Siemens) files the same invention. Unfortunately I am not completely sure how to do it. So hopefully you can tell me, if I am on the right track with the following procedure:

1) Merge TLS201_APPLN with TLS218_DOCDB_FAM and with TSL207_PERS_APPLN

2) Choose a specific DOCDB_FAMILY_ID

3) Identify the priority filing in the patent family (actually I do not know exactly how to: I would take the patent with the lowest APPLN_FILING_DATE, but probably this could not be unique)

4) Assign the applicant(s) (i.e. PERSON_ID(s)) of the priority filing to all other patents of the family, since normally the family members have different applicants (IMHO that is the crucial question here: to which applicant does a family actually belong)

5) Take a look where the applicant has filed the invention (e.g. 1x DE, 1x FR, 2x JP, 1x EPO)

Best regards and many thanks

Jürgen Kruse


nico.rasters
Posts: 140
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2009 5:51 pm
Contact:

Re: In which patent offices does a firm file the same invent

Post by nico.rasters » Fri Feb 21, 2014 7:30 pm

You could use http://gder.phpnet.org/The_worldwide_co ... tents.html in combination with the EEE-PPAT database. Alternatively there's TLS206_PERSON (dirty names), TLS208_DOC_STD_NMS (standardized by the EPO... they themselves say it's low quality) and the OECD HAN database.

For your understanding, you'll find priority patents in three important tables: TLS204_APPLN_PRIOR, TLS205_TECH_REL, TLS216_APPLN_CONTN. Actually, that's not true. I should say you find priority patents by their absence in these tables:

SELECT `tls201_appln`.`appln_id` FROM `tls201_appln`
LEFT OUTER JOIN `tls204_appln_prior` ON `tls201_appln`.`appln_id` = `tls204_appln_prior`.`appln_id`
LEFT OUTER JOIN `tls205_tech_rel` ON `tls201_appln`.`appln_id` = `tls205_tech_rel`.`appln_id`
LEFT OUTER JOIN `tls216_appln_contn` ON `tls201_appln`.`appln_id` = `tls216_appln_contn`.`appln_id`
WHERE `tls204_appln_prior`.`appln_id` IS NULL
AND `tls205_tech_rel`.`appln_id` IS NULL
AND `tls216_appln_contn`.`appln_id` IS NULL;
Store this in a separate table, or add a column `priority` to `tls201_appln`. No sense building huge queries.

Suppose you are using the EEE-PPAT database, then you can find your Siemens with:
SELECT DISTINCT `hrm_l2` FROM `EEE_PPAT_Oct2013` WHERE `hrm_l2` REGEXP "[[:<:]]Siemens[[:>:]]";
Well, it's quite a list, but let's say we're going for just "SIEMENS".

SELECT *
FROM `tls207_pers_appln`
INNER JOIN `tls218_docdb_fam`
ON `tls207_pers_appln`.`appln_id` = `tls218_docdb_fam`.`appln_id`
INNER JOIN `EEE-PPAT`.`EEE_PPAT_Oct2013`
ON `tls207_pers_appln`.`person_id` = `EEE-PPAT`.`EEE_PPAT_Oct2013`.`person_id`
WHERE `hrm_l2` = "SIEMENS" AND `applt_seq_nr` > 0;
This would give you a list of Siemens patents, along with their DOCDB family IDs.

You can combine with the data above to extract only priority patents.

In the end you'll want a table with DOCDB family IDs and appln_auth and throw it in Excel or whatever you prefer.

I didn't know that the applicant changed within a family. Have to look into that.
________________________________________
Nico Doranov
Data Manager

Daigu Academic Services & Data Stewardship
http://www.daigu.nl/


juergen.kruse
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2014 7:37 pm

Re: In which patent offices does a firm file the same invent

Post by juergen.kruse » Mon Feb 24, 2014 6:40 pm

Thanks Nico.

Yes, in the end I'll want a table with DOCDB family IDs, appl_auth and different applicants (say Siemens, ABB, ...). But actually this table should contain all patents of a family, not just the priority patents. Now I'd like to count patent families for Siemens and ABB. But since the applicant changes within a family, I'm not sure, to whom a patent family actually belongs. Would you take the applicant of the priority patent (somehow the founder of the family)?


nico.rasters
Posts: 140
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2009 5:51 pm
Contact:

Re: In which patent offices does a firm file the same invent

Post by nico.rasters » Wed Mar 12, 2014 6:27 pm

I ran the following query on PATSTAT October 2013.

SELECT *
FROM `tls206_person`
INNER JOIN `tls207_pers_appln` ON `tls206_person`.`person_id` = `tls207_pers_appln`.`person_id`
INNER JOIN `tls218_docdb_fam` ON `tls207_pers_appln`.`appln_id` = `tls218_docdb_fam`.`appln_id`
WHERE `tls218_docdb_fam`.`docdb_family_id` =3490408

After some Excel magic it gives me a list of applicants:
LENZING AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
Lenzing Aktiengesellschaft
Lenzing AG
SCHREMPF, CHRISTOPH
MAENNER, JOHANN
FIRGO, HEINRICH
MUELLEDER, EDUARD
KALT, WOLFRAM
MANGENG, BRUNO
NIGSCH, ARNOLD
SCHWENNINGER, FRANZ
LENZING AG
LENZING AG.
LENZING AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT.
LENZING AG, LENZING, AT
LENZING AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT,
LENZING AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, LENZING
RENTSUINGU AG
LENTSING AKTIENGEZEL'SHAFT

Those names in red are inventors. These inventors names come from only two patents, both of which are PCT applications with the Austrian office. Maybe in PCT applications it's common to name inventors as applicants? Or maybe it's an Austrian thing.
All the other names are actually one and the same applicant, even though the spelling is off. Even RENTSUINGU is the same. I guess it's how Japanese pronounce Lentsing. Just confirmed it. This came from an application in Japan.

So when you are saying that the applicants change, are you referring to variants in spelling? Because that's something you should resolve by using an additional table such as TLS208_DOC_STD_NMS or an additional database such as EEE-PPAT or OECD HAN. Note that all the variants above have doc_std_name_id 89659.

Regarding your comment "But actually this table should contain all patents..."
Once you have a list with DOCDB family IDs, you can easily create a list of all patents by feeding the family IDs to TLS218_DOCDB_FAM. So that's not a problem at all. Though you should consider whether to use DOCDB or INPADOC.

The main issue is your statement that applicants change. I'm hoping that you just meant that the spelling varies. Of course due to an acquisition or an actual name change, an applicant's name really could change. But to capture that you need other data sources.
________________________________________
Nico Doranov
Data Manager

Daigu Academic Services & Data Stewardship
http://www.daigu.nl/


Post Reply