Discussion rounds and tutorials

Plenary session:

The new design of esp@cenet - users' opportunity to comment
EPO expert: N. Clarke

esp@cenet is getting a new look. The EPO is working on a completely new design for esp@cenet, focussing on a simple presentation on screen, easy navigation and straight-forward searching. This session will be users' first opportunity to take a look at some of the new design concepts and express their views.

Discussion round 1:

What do we want from South East Asian Patent Information?
EPO experts: K. Rowles, I. Schellner

The EPO is working together with national patent offices of the ASEAN region in the area of patent information exchange and delivery to the public. As part of this effort a survey of current offerings and near-term plans was made and followed-up during a workshop at the East Asia Patent Information conference 2010. During this discussion round the EPO will present the results of the survey, and would welcome input from participants on the needs of patent information users in Europe regarding data from South East Asia.

Discussion round 2:

The EPO's role as a PCT receiving office and an ISA and its contribution to PCT document quality
EPO experts: P. Avédikian, A. Spigarelli, L. Zimmermann

Over 60% of European patent applications are not published by the EPO, but by WIPO as Euro-PCT documents. So the EPO is dependent on WIPO for the quality of over 60% of its publications. Seen the other way, the EPO, as a PCT receiving office and as an International Search Authority, is responsible for the search and some associated administrative steps. To what extent is the EPO responsible, as a receiving office and an ISA, for the quality of WO documents?

Discussion round 3:

Manual of best practice
EPO expert: M. Weaver

The EPO has agreed with the European Patent Institute (epi) on the production of a Manual of Best Practice, documenting the best practices which applicants, their representatives and the EPO should all adopt during the prosecution of an application, with a view to providing a more efficient procedure with a higher quality level, particularly among applicants. This session will discuss the relevance of the Manual of Best Practice for patent searchers and the possible impact it may have on patent data quality.

Discussion round 4:

IPscore for portfolio evaluation - a case study
EPO experts: J. Schaaf, M. Noé

Designed as a tool for evaluating patent portfolios, IPscore is downloadable free of charge from the EPO website. Using an illustrative case study, this session will discuss the effectiveness of IPscore for reinforcing the decision-making process in business.

TUTORIAL 1:

Using Web services to retrieve Register data
EPO expert: D. Lingua

Since their introduction in 2003, the EPO's Web services have continued to evolve. This workshop will provide an overview of the current options for accessing the databases behind the European Patent Register via Web services, thus providing direct access to a rich source of raw data.

Plenary session:

What's in INPADOC legal status and how it gets there
EPO expert: P. Avédikian

Around the world in 90 minutes: this specialised plenary presentation will give participants a rapid tour of the countries that supply INPADOC legal status data to the EPO, highlighting what is delivered and when, how it gets converted into the right format for the database, and how the EPO ensures that errors are minimised during the process.

Discussion round 5:

Does the EPO's new visualisation tool fill a gap in the market?
EPO expert: J. Schaaf

Designed to run via a web browser interface, the EPO's patent data visualisation tool will present patent statistics in a graphical way. The visualisation tool is still in the development phase and is being shown to the public for the first time at the EPO Patent Information Conference. It uses data from the Worldwide Patent Statistical Database to display patent trends and patent maps. Participants in this discussion round will have an opportunity to see the visualisation tool up close and to say whether it fills a gap in the market.

Discussion round 6:

Classifying patents using Web 2.0?
EPO expert: H. Wongel

Patent searchers know that they sometimes come across documents with missing, erroneous or just plain weird classification symbols. This discussion round will ask if Web 2.0 could provide a solution for this. Imagine a "wiki-class" system, where users could assign classes to patent documents whenever they wanted, so that they and others could find them again at a future date, without being dependent on the classification symbols assigned by the patent offices. Could this work?

Discussion round 7:

Meeting the Asian challenge - sharing best practice
EPO expert: I. Schellner

Over 50% of all new patent applications are published in Japanese, Chinese or Korean. However, it can prove difficult to search Asian documentation with traditional tools and search strategies: the language barrier means that keyword searches are not always an option, and the IPC alone may not be sufficient for effective searches in Asian data. Machine translation and cross-language search engines are new and promising developments for all those dealing with Asian patent documentation: but how reliable are these approaches and what are users' experiences?

This discussion round will be an opportunity for users to share their views and experiences on the best ways of searching, retrieving and understanding Asian patent information. Participants can discuss their day-to-day challenges with Asian patent data and find inspiration for new approaches for dealing confidently with Asian patent information. 

Discussion round 8

Quality in patent information - what industry really needs!
Chairman: Beat Rauber, Hofmann-La Roche
Swiss Patent Office expert: T. Nyfeler

Patents and patent information are tools that help to make innovation possible. It is important always to bear in mind that the patent system is not an end in itself, and that patents have no intrinsic value without this qualification. The needs of the users of the patent system are at the core, users who sometimes find themselves in the role of applicant, sometimes of patent owner and sometimes of an affected third party. This discussion round will provide an opportunity for those in industry to articulate their needs and to debate them with other prominent representatives in the field.  

TUTORIAL 2:

An introduction to divisionals at the EPO
EPO expert: L. Zimmermann

Divisional applications are commonly used by applicants in the European system and understanding them can be key to a good search result. Recent changes to the time limits for filing divisional applications may affect applicants' behaviour in future. This introductory presentation will give an overview of how divisional applications fit into the European patent procedure, and how users can find them in the EPO's online databases.