Patenting search tools

The avaHabHity of citation searching tools is on the increase. A citation database for U.S. patents was first built by Search Check, Inc., which coHected aH U.S. patent citations back to their first appearance on patent copies in 1947. This database was subsequentiy made avaHable for on-line... 

We should not minimize the effects that electronic searching of patents has had on the business of research. In 1990, CAS introduced MARPAT, which is a database of Markush (generic) structures found in patent documents [1]. This database provided a valuable tool for patent searching in a more comprehensive way than had been available previously. In 1995, CAS launched SciFinder, which provided access to the patent literature for chemists on their desktops. Using the SciFinder interface, one may search for research topics, authors, companies, or structures/reactions. From a practical viewpoint, SciFinder did more to enhance the searching capabilities of the medicinal chemist than any other tool. Even today, SciFinder continues to provide a first pass through the patent literature when chemists want to include patents in their searching. Indeed, when a search is performed, patent references are included in the answer set. Only very recently have there been additional tools to search the patent literature that have found widespread use. 

The Chemical Information Sources Wiki (http //cheminfo. informatics.indiana.edu/cicc/cis/index.php/Main Page) is a guide to the many sources of reference materials available for those with questions related to chemistry. The site includes information on primary, secondary, and tertiary pubheation sources, chemical information databases, physical property information, chemical patent searching, and molecular visualization tools and sites. The material is based on an undergraduate course offered for many years in the Indiana University Department of Chemistry by Gary Wiggins. 

Patent applications are assigned a serial number when filed and a document number when they are published. These numerical identifiers are printed on the face of the patent, as is the serial number of the priority application when there is one. Additional bibliographic information may include the name of the patent examiner, the name of the patent agent or attorney handling the application, and patent classification codes that define the field of technology claimed. Patent classification codes were the original search tools. 

Databases of chemical structures play a major role in chemical and pharmaceutical research, both for precise archival storage and as flexible research tools. No less important is their role in the organization, indexing and access to the evergrowing chemical literature chemical patent searching and reaction databases are two examples of this class of application. These roles will continue to be significant in the future. 

Derwent Information Ltd. Derwent Information Ltd., previously known as Derwent PubHcations Ltd., changed its name in the 1990s to reflect more accurately the fact that its products go far beyond traditional pubHcations. Derwent provides a wide spectmm of information products and services, many of them relating to patents. Derwent also produces important databases (qv) of nonpatent information from the pharmaceutical and agncultural chemical Hterature. These products and services encompass alerting tools for current awareness, systems for retrospective search and retneval, and means for document deHvery and archiving. 

The USPTO follows the Graham four-step process in its examination of patents for obviousness. See MPEP 904.02 for a description of the USPTO search guidelines. Note that for some arts, such as the chemical arts, the USPTO recommends that its examiners, who likely hold advanced degrees, still use the services of USPTO personnel specifically trained in specialized tools for searching the chemical arts. 

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