Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship
| Fall 1997
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URLs in this
document have been updated. Links enclosed in {curly
brackets} have been changed. If a replacement link was located,
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Conference Reports
Science and Patent Sessions at Online World, Sept.16,
1997
Washington, D.C.
Flora G. Shrode
University Libraries
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
I. Sci-Tech Content Review
presented by Gail Clement, project Director of the Everglades Digital
Library at Florida International University Libraries
II. Patent Update
presented by Nancy Lambert, Chevron Richmond Technology Center,
Richmond, California
I. Gail P. Clement,
presented a session on trends and developments in online information
sources in science and technology. She explained a phenomenon she calls
disintermediation taking place in the development and flow
of scientific information and demonstrated a few tools in pure and applied
science. Gail arrived at the term disintermediation as a way to describe
some of the impact the World Wide Web has on the way information is
produced, disseminated, and used. Replacing the well-understood path of
the traditional information chain, from author, to publisher, to secondary
publisher, to online vendor, to library, to user, the web provides the
potential for new roles and partnerships among stakeholders in the
process.
Librarians' and information professionals' roles as intermediaries
between information sources and users are changing as users' direct access
to information tools increases. The web as a platform for electronic
information delivery and vendors' efforts to provide products designed for
end users is resulting in improved products and services for users.
Intermediaries have opportunities to add value to the information in
different ways. The growing multiplicity of mechanisms now available for
access to content makes librarians' decision-making about how to use their
budgets most effectively to meet their community's information needs more
complicated.
Gail discussed plans to standardize metadata required for data and text on the web which can help users to address errors they encounter. Metadata should indicate who provided or submitted the data and should state data providers' intended purpose in making it available. Two examples of progress on establishing metadata standards are the {Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata} from the Federal Geographic Data Committee's and the {National Biological Information Infrastructure Metadata Standards}.
Several specific web sites Gail demonstrated provide examples of new roles for delivery of information from author or publisher to end user, products online vendors are developing which are aimed at end users, and approaches publishers are using to add value to their products through web tools.
Sites Demonstrated:
II. Patent Update
presented by Nancy Lambert, Chevron Richmond Technology Center,
Richmond, California
II. Nancy Lambert, expert chemical
patent researcher at Chevron Research Company in California, reviewed
basic information about patents and presented updates and search tips for
several online patent search products. Patents can help researchers learn
about their competitors' activities. Information about patents and patent
applications may augment directories of consultants in specific fields or
provide solutions to technical problems. Nancy reminded the audience of
the scope of international patents and associated information searching
challenges. An article she wrote titled, {Patent Searching: What,
Why, When, Were?} provides an overview of several sources of
patent information on the Internet. She distributed copies at the
conference; the article appeared in the November/December 1996 issue of
Online User which ceased published in March 1997.
Fundamental principles guiding patentability are presented in
Nancy's article as the "Three-Legged Stool of Patents." The three legs are
that the patent must be new, it must be unobvious, and it must be useful.
Nancy cautions that it is best to turn to patent searching experts in
several situations but that end users can benefit from patent resources on
the Internet for "quick and dirty" searches.
Summarizing from her {Online User} article, Nancy
suggested that under the following conditions, it is safe for end-users to
search for patent information when:
- the searcher knows a specific patent number and wants to see the text;
- the search is for something straightforward such as a patenting company or
inventor when they need a few good references on a subject;
- they can describe their search with precise keywords.
It is not safe for end-users to search, and a professional patent searcher is needed
if they:
- want to patent a new invention;
- are concerned with infringing someone else's patent rights;
- think a competitor's patent isn't valid;
- search will support an expensive decision (to launch a research program, for
example);
- need to search other than U.S. patents.
Nancy reviewed new developments from online patent sources IFI, Derwent, the
European Patent Office, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office:
- IFI/Claims
-
- has a new web site {http://www.ificlaims.com/}
- "Patent Intelligence and Technology Report" is now available to
subscribers on the web
- has a new email address: claims@ifiplenum.com
- patent citations back to 1950 are backward searchable
- is adding information about reissue applications
- Derwent World Patent Index
-
- is adding new indexing to include major/minor terms, roles, links, and reactions indexing
- is developing a universal template for new abstracts
- has done a database reload
- is reorganizing abstracting and indexing under the "Phoenix Project" to improve
quality and speed up availability
- EPO (European Patent Office) Patents Full-Text
- Available on KR/Dialog back to 1978 (with some gaps)
- Available on STN, 1996-present
- Will be available on STN Easy
- Will be available on the web via Derwent's Internet Explorer
- Problems: many are not in English but also in French, German
- EPO patent publications (A-documents) based on World Patents are not included if the
world patent is in an EPO language (English, French or German)
- News from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO)
- Patent law has changed so that patents are good for twenty years from the date of
filing instead of the previous seventeen years from the date granted. Increased
possibility exists for extensions resulting from PTO delays in processing
applications. Provisional applications may be filed without claims or declaration, for a
reduced fee, and the provisional filing date will be the priority filing date if converted
to a regular application within twelve months.
- Most countries publish patents eighteen months after application even if the patent is
not yet granted. The patent publication in that case carries no legal enforcement but
establishes prior art because the patent content is in the public domain. U.S. PTO may
change to a similar process.
- Legislation is in the works to make the PTO a government corporation so it could
keep the fees it charges and have freedom from some procurement restrictions.
Update of Patent Information on the Internet
Most patent material on the net is from the U.S. from 1974 with some gaps. Patent sources
have limited searchability, most provide raw data with few enhancements (not
full-text), and lack indexes (no expand or browse capabilities).
Patent resources on the net searchable for free include:
Others that may cost money:
Nancy demonstrated the {IBM} and MicroPatent web services. She
summarized the strengths and weaknesses of those two and other sites as
follows:
{IBM Patent
Server Home Page}
http://www.patents.ibm.com/ibm.html
| Strengths
- Free search of titles, abstracts, and claims text for 1971- present
of U.S. patents (a few gaps)
- Free viewing of items retrieved
- Free images of full patents (1974 - present)
- Three levels of search text with powerful and flexible advanced
search text
- Connections to other patent resources and links to forward and
backward citations
| Weaknesses
- Clumsy and unobvious advanced text search syntax
- Some patent front page fields not yet searchable
- Limited time-ranging capabilities
- Many holes in the data
- Patent images fuzzy and hard to read
|
MicroPatent
http://www.micropat.com
| Strengths
- Full-text search and display
- Front page image display in Patent Gazette
- Easy to order patents, but they are not free
| Weaknesses
- Only current information searchable
- Primitive search capabilities except for the Patent Gazette
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USPTO Patent
Database
http://www.uspto.gov
| Strengths
- Good search engines (two search modes)
- Good online help
- Good information resource
- Good links to other patents
| Weaknesses
- Covers only 1976 - present
- Only front-page information searchable
- No images available
- Cannot choose multiple fields
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{QPAT-US from Questel-Orbit}
http://plpatprd.questel.fr/plpat/jsp/en/login.jsp
| Strengths
- Full-text of patents is searchable
- Menu or command language search options
- Boolean or natural language search options
- Powerful, flexible command language
- Excellent text browsing
| Weaknesses
- Not free: $1995/year for unlimited use
- Slow, both searching and loading text
- No choice of display mode: only relevance-ranked results
- No images (as of September 1997)
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{Shadow Patent Office}
http://www.spo.eds.com/patent.html
| Strengths
- Major text-crunching engine
- Long strings of text may be entered
- System generates a list of "similar" patents when a U.S. patent number is entered;
supplementary search subject
| Weaknesses
- Expensive (except for freebies of current patents)
- Slow (text crunching often times out)
- No information on what is actually happening
- Exaggerated claims of search value
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