- Patent Analysis: In this present era of technology driven economy, patents are Techno-Legal Documents providing value added piece of information while protecting the innovative technological advancement. This intangible asset can be managed and protected when these are assessed and analyzed properly. Patent analysis fetches the reader to understand most of the interactions (Inventors, Applicant, important dates, family members, IPC, legal status). Further this analysis helps to utilize strategic information for more patents and licensing opportunity, reduce inadvertent infringement to reveal competitive intelligence. Analyzing the relevant patents also possible in citation analysis, text mining, assignee listing, claim assessment, gap analysis, IP risk management, increased revenue and reduced cost implication. Roughly there are two primary ways of analyzing patent information: qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative method shows more closely the content of the individual patent documents. The quantitative method results in statistical processing. These two methods have quite different objectives and different ranges of applications. Patent analysis can be displayed by visual representation using bar graphs, polygonal line graphs, pie charts, radar charts and other charts/graphs, which are called ‘Patent Maps’. Visualization is an especially effective way of representing the results of this type of analysis.
- White Space Analysis: It points out the gap in the technological field that is not yet practiced and the space where new strategic inventions can take place in future. White space analysis helps to refine research direction by finding new areas for innovation and exclusivity and to enhance product-patent portfolio.
- Patent Landscaping: A patent landscape is an overview of patenting activity in a field of technology. Patent landscaping is suitable for planning research in virtually any area of technology. It provides a tool to avoid expensive and embarrassing problems later. A patent landscape reveals past and present activities of various companies in a given technology. It includes the white space analysis, which results in identification of problematic and safest research areas. It can also give insight to new potential areas, where there is a possibility of improvement. It provides additional insights, including trends in the IP activity over the time and what technological progress had been made during a defined period of time. Patent landscapes can also include data on published patent applications, as well as issued patents. Data extracted from the patent provides insight into many areas, including field-wide trends affecting the entire field of technology, the identity and activity of the various competitors active in that particular field, trends affecting specific technological subspecialties within the broad field of that technology; and, geographic information pertaining to where the research activity is happening. As it is so informative, patent landscaping is a powerful tool for strategic research planning. Patent landscape reports can be useful for the business strategists, market analysts, scientists and attorneys take key decisions in new product development and R&D planning. Thus patent landscaping is vital to gain competency or dominate in a particular field of technology and benefit in today’s competitive market. In a gist, patent landscapes can be used to:
- Gain competitive insight
- Identify gaps and clusters in technology
- Develop future R&D strategies
- Identify new application areas of existing patents
- Develop a licensing strategy
- Develop new products and improve existing products
- Determine commercial value of patents
- Monitor patent activity in particular geographic markets
- SWOT Analysis: is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve that objective.
- Subject-Action-Object (SAO) Analysis: The request SAO structure key words/phrases are stored and sent to a standard search engine to search for required document. The engine, using the request SAO structure key words/phrases identifies candidate documents and stores them (full text) for system 10 analysis.SAO analysis for the search request, is repeated for each sentence of each candidate document so that SAO structures are generated and stored. The SAO structures of each document are used in the comparative steps where the request SAO structures are compared with the candidate document SAO structures. If no match is found then the documents and related SAO structures are deleted from the system. If one or more matches are found then the document and related structures are marked relevant and its relevancy marked for example on a scale of 1.0 to 10.0. The fill relevant document text is permanently stored (although it can later be deleted by user if desired) for display or print-out as user desires. Relevant SAO structures are also marked relevant and permanently stored.
CORNISH PASTY NAME GIVEN EUROPEAN PROTECTED STATUS
The term "Cornish pasty" has been given protected status by the European Commission. Pasties made only in Cornwall from an established traditional recipe can now be called "Cornish pasties", according to the Cornish Pasty Association (CPA).
Authentic Cornish pasties will now be marked with a special logo because of the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) tag .................more
GOVERNMENT PROPOSES COMPULSORY E-FILING OF PATENTS
The Indian government in its effort to bring transparency and efficiency in the filing of patents, has proposed to amend the Patent Rules and make e-filing of applications compulsory. The e-filing of patent & trademark applications was launched on July 21, 2007.
The commerce ministry's Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) has prepared a draft proposal and asked sought suggestions from stakeholders to amend...............more
JOY CREATORS RESTRAINED FROM USING P&G'S 'TOTAL EFFECTS' TRADEMARK
The Delhi High Court has held back Joy Creators from using the term 'Total Effects' on its products. The Court found that the words were similar to Procter & Gamble's (P&G) registered trade mark- Olay Total Effects.
The multinational company had filed a petition seeking directions to Joy Creators to not use its trade mark 'Olay Total Effects' or any other deceivingly similar mark and questioned their unfair intentions to benefit from an established brand.............more