Now let's look at the patent search, because it may come in handy.
The preparation for the patent search is exactly the same.
This is a preparation for a patent search.
Except that patent databases contain patent classification.
This is important to realize.
Because patents as such ....
At the beginning I will say that there will be ...
We will hold an extra seminar in our cycle -
about patents and intellectual property etc.
So they will maybe repeat some things there,
but we will be more focused on the subject there.
I will show you the search technique here
in those patent databases.
It's good to remember
that there exists something called patent classification.
The patents are so specific
that they are described in a very special way.
Because you have to make those things public.
But at the same time, you don't want anyone to find them,
to pay you fees.
So ...
And classification can help you.
Because yeah, you come up with a question,
you search it in those abstracts
and then you will have there, I don't know, ten thousand different things.
And you can actually limit the subject through classification.
Well and how would you figure out the classification?
There are two main sources
where to search for patents -
Espacenet and Patentscope.
Patentscope started out as a world patent database,
Espacenet as a European one,
but it gradually shifted into a world database.
So I'm going on Espacenet.
Classification search is here and patent classification is here.
And I can find the subject I need here.
So here we have textile, here I just something from -
from mechanical finishing of yarns.
Here we have this.
And here I can ... here I can find the symbols.
It's like ...
The classification isn't intuitive, because it's old.
So don't focus too much on the particular symbols, rather focus on the areas.
For example not D02H 5/00,
but rather D02.
Because you actually combine it with the query,
that you enter into the form.
And it will limit your search beautifully.
So what you should remember when searching for patents is
that patent classification exists,
which actually helps you do the search,
and that you can find the symbols here.
You can go to the database of our patent office, as a Czech.
But it seems to me that ...
The classification is done in a better way here.
It´s not really up to date there.
So look for patents in Espacenet or Patentscope.
And now I'll show you some of the things that aren't in those normal databases
but are in patent databases.
I'll turn on advanced search here.
Here's the form,
but they combined it with a graphic superstructure here.
Which like ... you have to look at it for a while,
to actually understand what it means.
But it's logically correct, the graphical expression.
Actually here are the building blocks,
they are connected with an AND.
And here's like a big AND for different categories.
It's not entirely intuitive at first glance,
but if you get used to it, you can work with it.
So like everywhere else, I have these things ready.
So I'll just ...
I'll search for this.
I'm going to search in the patents.
Espacenet is good.
That I'm actually here ... here are the fields.
I click here, in what I want to search in.
Here are some text fields, dates, names, numbers, etc.
I want a text field.
The claims are the things you are interested in.
Because that's the only thing that must be okay with that patent.
It actually determines
what the person gets paid for.
You can put almost anything into the title and the abstract.
But this, the claims, they must be there.
So maybe you're looking for a ball-bearing
and it's called a 'friction reducing agent'
and there is neither a “ball” nor a “bearing” and so on.
And in the abstract it says:
cool thing that reduces the cost of running the engine and stuff.
Like I said, well, it's because you actually have to,
or you don't have to, but you actually want to confuse those people who do patent searches
so that the person that files the patent misses something.
And then you get the licence fees.
Therefore, I choose either the claims themselves,
when I get back a lot of results ...
If I choose only the claims themselves, the search is narrower.
At the beginning, it is better to choose the combination than the thing selected as default.
They offer a combination of title + abstract + claims.
And that's the best to start with, it's the best way to start.
I'll search for this.
And I'll put there this.
And I will add one more field, so we have it.., to make it more interesting.
I'll add the fibers here, too.
Another improvement they have prepared for us in Espacenet is
that it doesn't support operators.
Because the operators are defined here by this.
I want any of terms or all terms or some proximity.
I have OR there, so I just need one term from these.
So you have to remember that.
Because if you put it there with the operator,
which, the databases support, generally,
and put it in Espacanet, then it won't give you any results.
And you won't know why.
And it is because the operator is represented here by the sliding menu.
It may happen that you come across a database that has it similarly.
So just remember
that some providers do it this way.
In an effort to get even closer to the people,
to not have to deal with any Boolean logic at all.
So I'm going to delete all the things here.
I will do a basic research, in the abstract and claims.
Yeah right, I got ALL here.
You see, I made a mistake down here.
Here I have the terms for the fibers and I put them all there.
So it was trying to find patents,
where all these three words are.
Which is nonsense.
Because the author writes in some way and he thinks that the fiber is called somehow
and uses a synonym of that.
So here I give it, that I want any.
Here I can leave it set to all, there is only one word there. And I'll start it again.
Well, see, it's better now.
It shows me a lot of results.
Is it written somewhere in here how many there are?
-murmur-
Is there only one result? I don't think so.
Oh my god!
Why does it show me only one result? This is a nonsense.
So I'll give this a try.
Well, that's just ... I wanted to see the number here.
Zotero also cooperates with patent databases.
I mark it here.
Here I can choose what I want to see:
bibliographic data, description, claims, etc.
If you want to find out what the patent is all about,
so yeah, sometimes they have well-described abstracts.
But, for example here, there is no abstract.
And it's worth it to into the claims for a coarser orientation.
And if you really want to know
what it is, the nub, the invention,
here's the description.
But the descriptions are wordy.
So it is not worth searching in the description.
As I say, it is best to search for the claims,
eventually in the others, in the abstract and in the title.
You will see the difference in results.
If you search via the claims and it gives you a lot of results,
it's then good to think about
whether to search only in the abstracts.
It just narrows down your search, as I say
but it should give you more results that will be more useful to you.
Because when it's in the abstract,
then it is clear that the patent will be about that.
Another interesting thing is to realize
the patents are being published
in what I would describe as groups.
You can see it beautifully here.
Here's one patent,
specifically this is an application.
And here it is written that it was published as:
here are other applications.
This B is patented,
this C is another specification and so on.
All these documents are actually about one thing.
And the second database that I will show you - Patentscope doesn't differentiate between this.
So it gives you more results,
but it's the same shown several times.
Espacenet is going to group it like that
and what is it useful for?
If you have a Chinese patent,
it has some translator built-in.
So you can have it translated.
And it's not like it's completely useless,
to find out what the patent is all about.
But of course sometimes the translations are funny, from Chinese.
It's worth to have a look
if the same patent was not published in the US - in English.
Because they ... when you want to publish a patent in a foreign country,
you have to translate it.
And it needs to be translated by a translator who understands it.
So this is an American patent,
but it was also accepted in Germany.
And it has a German name, etc.
If I wanted this thing in German,
I would click that I want the German patent
and I would save it in Zotero.
And it's done, I have it saved.
You just see the metadata here, maybe there wasn't an abstract.
I would wonder if I should try some other variant of the publication,
that would have the abstract, so I can save it.
This is useful when ...
Mostly you want it the other way around, from some other language to English.
If they are, for example, world patents or European patents, that way.
So remember,
that if you find a patent,
that he has or can have other language mutations.
And that's how you get to them.
Espacenet is good for this,
that it offers you the foreign-language variants.
Patentscope ...
I probably have it open here ...
Well, it also has a new interface now.
But here's just the ...
Here are two. There is advanced search here and field combination as well.
The combination of fields is the form.
But you would find that out when you'd click it.
Patentscope is good,
cause it then allows some analytical tools to be applied to those results.
It will show you some graphics there,
what has ever been published by whom and in what country it is being published
and when this industry got more prominent and all that.
So if you'd ever need something analytical,
the WIPO Patentscope can do it.
Play a little bit with it once,
and you'll figure it out.
But as I say, it returns more results.
Espacenet and Patentscope, together,
don't cover everything,
that has ever been published or patented,
but they cover enough.
So for the basic search - for orientation,
that should be enough.
These two databases.
Of course, if you will want to submit a patent,
you'll need a professional search
at the Industrial Property Office.
But we'll talk about that later.
But yeah, it's great if you have a thought,
to see if the direction of your research is promising
or if somebody else already made it,
these two databases are great for it.
Then our Czech database is there.
There are not many things there, but you can look into it.
The database is similar to the previous.
It also has a form,
it will also show you some results,
classification is also there.
As I say, the same things are everywhere,
but they look different in different places.
You can understand it all with practice.
The more you use these things,
the less you will be disoriented.
Especially the patent stuff,
there are just these two world databases, which doesn't change much.
So the first step when looking for the patents,
are Espacenet and Patentscope.
Another useful thing is
Google Patents.
It has exactly the same advantages and disadvantages as Google Scholar.
It goes through everything,
but the questions you can ask it are not as detailed.
What makes Google Patents good is
when you find a patent
and you can't find the fulltext.
You can put the name into Google Patents
Because, again, as I said, it indexes anything.
So that's another interesting source.
That's all in terms of the patent searches.