Date : 12th April 2016
Time : 3 pm – to 3.30 pm IST
Webinar on : Patent Family-INPADOC, EPO & FamPat
This webinar is focused on structure of patent family in INPADOC and FamPat. Questel has developed unique, invention based family with duplication free results, called FamPat. We will see how Inpadoc, EPO and Fampat is different in family grouping.
A patent is a territorial right, provides protection within the country where right is granted. Therefore, applicant must file the application for patent wherever he wish to have protection.
When an applicant files the same invention in more than one countries, these applications and publications are known as a patent family. Typically, applicant files the patent application in their own country first then other countries by claiming the priority based on their first filing dates.
As per European Patent Office (EPO)- A Patent Family is a set of either patent applications or publications taken in multiple countries to protect a single invention by a common inventor(s) and then patented in more than one country.
Patent family grouping rule is defined by Databases not by any national or international laws.
There are few database provider who define patent family differently.
- FAMPAT by Questel
- World Patent Index (WPI) by Thomson Reuters
- The International Patent Documentation Centre (INPADOC) by the European Patent Office
- CAS by Chemical Abstract Services
Simple Family
All patent documents have exactly the same priority date or combination of priority dates. It is of same invention, certain improvements of invention by Divisional Patent & continuation in part is admissible.
- Very Precise
- Highly accurate for Invention-based Prior-Art Searching
Extended Family
All patent documents are linked by one or more priority dates directly or indirectly belong to one patent family. In an INPADOC family, all documents share at least one priority. This also allows for additional connectors to link other than common priority date. These include divisional application, continuation and continuation-in-part, publication from countries that have not under the Paris Convention.
- Linked by priorities; Directly or Indirectly linked
- Excellent for finding all family members that are even remotely related
- Much too broad and can make it difficult to find the exact relationship of one patent to the other
FAMPAT-Questel
FAMPAT represents a significant breakthrough in patent family databases and exclusive to Questel. . In FamPat, a single family record combines together all publication stages of the family. Biblio content from 100 patenting authorities, full text from 22 patent authorities, post issuance legal status from 50 countries and US Reassignment data are incorporated in a single FamPat record.
Each patent is unique in the FamPat database. No single patent number may appear in two distinct families
- FamPat is a combination of EPO’s strict family rule with additional rules like aplications falling outside the 12 month filing limit, Links between EP and PCT publications, Combining US Provisionals that share the same priority with US Published Applications.
- FamPat’s family definitions also incorporate different patenting authorities’ definitions of an invention, particularly useful with Japanese publication searching.
- FamPat family definition – invention based family definition
- One family record = one invention
- All family members in FamPat record must have same priority information!
Benefit of FAMPAT Family
- Searching will generate both more precise and comprehensive results Because families are grouped by single inventions
- Duplicate-free invention based family records further add advantage of quicker scanning and understanding the patent.
- As living assets and rights, patents constantly evolve and change. FamPat families follow this principle and are fully dynamic, making sure that additional family members
- The structure of the FamPat family allows to see quickly the impact of patent law in some countries that would not be visible in a “strict” family.
- FamPat families can be grouped by extended families. Such extended families are split by single inventions (FamPat records), highlighting significant technical nuances.
- The FamPat database aggregates patent records from many Patent Offices across the world. Patents containing bad priority or application numbers supplied by such Patent Offices can lead to bad family grouping. Thanks to customers’ feedback the Questel editorial team is able to fix reported errors in real time, making FamPat the cleanest patent family database available.
