Fighting coronavirus – EPO supports researchers with patent information
The EPO has today, 26 June 2020, published the first two parts of a series of resources designed to help researchers and decision-makers benefit from patent information in their fight against the new coronavirus.
The EPO as a world leader in supplying technical information has taken the initiative to support researchers, businesses and decision-makers in these challenging times by sharing patent information on technologies which are useful in combating the new coronavirus or treating COVID-19. Technical information in patent documents are often published nowhere else.
The first two data sets released by the EPO today relate to antiviral vaccines and pharmaceutical therapeutics, with more resources to be released in the coming weeks covering, for example, diagnostics and medical technologies and devices.
EPO patent examiners and analysts who are experts in these technologies have created a variety of search statements to help scientists and decision-makers identify the most relevant documents and innovations in these technical fields. The first two topics comprise over 100 targeted search strategies, each specific to a type of vaccine or pharmaceutical. These search strategies are especially suited to run on the EPO's free to use online patent search interface: Espacenet. This public database contains more than 120 million documents from more than 100 intellectual property authorities around the world.
For applicants who require a fast track patent procedure, regardless of the technology they are developing, the EPO offers accelerated prosecution of European patent applications.