Patenticulars

Challenge

When is the next annual fee payment due for granted Japanese patent JP6534571B2?

Hint

You can find useful information on Japanese fee payment regulations on the EPO's Asian patent information web pages.

Catch the next Patenticulars in two weeks' time for one possible path to the solution.

Challenge from the previous edition

Conventional wind turbines only reach a certain height, but winds are stronger and more constant higher up. To generate more electrical power, inventors and companies are trying to harvest winds at higher altitudes, and several inventions use tethered kites to help with this.

When did this technology really take off (priority year)? Who are the applicants that have filed the most applications? In which countries are most applicants located?

Solution

There are several ways to approach this challenge so answers may vary. One way is to formulate a query in Espacenet that combines the CPC classification code for wind motors – F03D –with certain keywords.

Activate the Filters menu to view the possible filter categories.

So when did this technology really take off? Applying the priority date filter reveals a steep rise in worldwide applications in 2006/7. 

Applying the Applicants and Applicants - country filter categories then shows that a lot of applications originate from companies such as X Development LLC, Google Inc., Makani Technologies LLC and Vestas Wind Systems A/S that are based in the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and Denmark.

Different search queries may generate results different to those in the above example. But the general approach should be the same.

We hope you enjoyed taking the first challenge and that you're ready to take on more in the future!