Survey of patent documentation from the Pacific Rim Countries

Pergamon World Patent Information, Vol. 17, No. 1, 48-61, 1995 pp.

Elsevier Science Ltd Copyright 0 1995 CECWIPO

Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0172-2190/95 $9.50 + 0.00

01722190(94)ooo64-6

Survey of Patent Documentation from the Pacific Rim Countries

Stephen Adams, Patent Information Specialist, ZENECA Agrochemicals, Bracknell, Berkshire, U.K.

Summary

The patent documents issued by a number of the Pacific Rim Countries (Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam) and their coverage by the major secondary sources of patent information (INPADOC/EPIDOS, Derwent WPI, CAS, EDOC, JAPIO, CHINAPATS and PATOLIS) are reviewed; difficulties which searchers of these sources may experience are pointed out.*

Background

The Pacific Rim countries are increasingly being regarded as both major potential markets and major competitors to the Western industrialized nations. This survey is designed to give an overview of the information available concerning patents in these countries. The major secondary services are reviewed in terms of their coverage, timeliness and usefulness for retrieval of information, with particular reference to coverage of chemical inventions.

A substantial number of these countries are not yet covered by any Western commercial abstracting or indexing organisation. For information on these countries, directories are available+3) which outline the patenting procedure and enable the patent information specialist to derive some indication of the document types published by each country. The guide by van Dulken(4) is recommended for an overview of the major countries.

*After submission of this article, the following new information has been announced:

1. Singapore has deposited an instrument of accession to the Paris Convention, which will enter into force on 23 February 1995;

2. Derwent Information Ltd announced their intention to enhance the coverage of Pacific Rim countries in their World Patent Index file during 1995. Japanese coverage will be extended to include ail subject matter for JP-A (Kokai) documents. Coverage of the People’s Republic of China (CN) will be extended to include examined documents. New coverage will be commenced for patents from Singapore (SG) and the Philippines (PH).

48

Both printed and online sources were used in the survey, and they were compared with the primary data where available. A number of potential pitfalls to the online searcher are highlighted.

Introduction to document types

Sources of information

The major sources of patent information in the Western world are World Patents Index (WPI) from Derwent Information, INPADOC produced by the European Patent Office’s EPIDOS division and, in the field of chemistry, Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) from the American Chemical Society, Columbus, OH. All three of these sources cover a number of the Pacific Rim countries, and are available in a variety of hard copy and online forms. The EDOC online file available on Orbit-Questel is a further multi-country source, but no hard copy equivalent is commercially available.

In addition, individual sources are available which cover patents from Japan (JAPIO and PATOLIS, both from the Japan Patent Information Organiza- tion) and China (CHINAPATS produced in cooperation between the Chinese Patent Office and EPIDOS).

Table 1 summarizes the extent of coverage of Pacific Rim countries by these sources. In the case of CAS, the printed edition dates back to 1907, but the first patent number index is only available from 1937; prior to that date, access is by inventor or subject matter only. The date of earliest coverage given in the table refers to any document type from that country; multiple document types may not all be covered. The same table also indicates the level of indexing applied by Derwent (if applicable).

Table 2 shows the status of the major countries with respect to the Paris Convention and the Patent Cooperation Treaty, with joining dates where available.

Survey of Patent Documentation 49

Table 1. Summary of secondary service coverage

Earliest Earliest Major or Chemical

Country printed Printed online Online Derwent minor Manual coding/ INPADOC EDOC

code coverage source coverage source WPI start country Abstracts codes WPIM start start

AU 1929 CN 1985 HK 1976 JP 1918 KR 1978 MN 1972 MY 1953 NZ 1978 PH 1975 SG 1983 TW 1993 VN 1984

CAS All Inpadoc CAS Inpadoc Inpadoc Inpadoc

Inpadoc Inpadoc WPI Inpadoc

1963 WPI 1985 All 1976 Inpadoc 1955 Patolis 1978 Inpadoc 1972 Inpadoc 1953 Inpadoc 1960’s ? EDOC 1975 Inpadoc 1983 Inpadoc 1993 WPI 1984 Inpadoc

1963 1985 None 1963 1986 None None 1992 None None 1993 None

Major Major nla Major Minor n/a n/a Major nia n/a Major n/a

Basics None n/a Basics Basics nla n/a Basics n/a n/a Basics n/a

Yes Yes n/a Yes Yes n/a n/a Yes n/a n/a Yes n/a

Yes 1973 No 1985 n/a 1976 Yes 1973 No 1978 n/a 1972 n/a 1953 Yes 1978 nla 1975 n/a. 1983 Yes None n/a 1984

1971 1985 None 1973 None None None 196Os? None None None None

Table 2. Treaty status

Country Paris Convention Date PCT Date

Australia China Hong Kong Indonesia Japan Korea (North) Korea (South) Mongolia Malaysia New Zealand Philippines Singapore Taiwan Vietnam

Y Y Y* Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N N Y

10 October 1925 19 March 1985 16 November 1977 20 December 1979 15 July 1899 10 October 1980 4 May 1980 21 April 1985 1 January 1989 20 June 1984 27 September 1965

8 March 1949

Y Y Y* N Y Y Y Y N Y N N N Y

31 March 1980 1 January 1994 15 April 1981

1 October 1978 8 July 1980 10 August 1984 27 May 1991

1 December 1992

10 March 1993

*By virtue of United Kingdom legislation.

A substantial number of the Pacific countries are not covered by any secondary service; these include Brunei Darussalam (BN), Fiji (FJ), Indonesia (ID), Kampuchea (KH), Kiribati (KI), North Korea (KP), Laos (LA), Myanmar (MM), Macao (MO), Nauru (NR), Papua New Guinea (PG), Thailand (TH), Tonga (TO), Vanuatu (VU) and Western Samoa (WS). Patents from Vietnam (VN) are covered by INPADOC, but the information is only received very irregularly, and this cannot be regarded as a reliable source.

Application and publication number formats; printed and online

The conventions for numbering of priority documents and published specifications vary widely. The major secondary services such as INPADOC, WPI and CAS have standardized formats for their printed and online products, but the commercial hosts have implemented these in different ways, such that the same database on two different hosts will apparently have different standards of numbering.

For ease of reference in the following country-by- country survey, numbers and letters are used to denote the different standard formats (Table 3).

The standards have been deduced from printed and online records; information about countries not covered by the major secondary services has been gathered from an examination of the Official Gazettes of the country, if available.

Table 4 illustrates the known formats for countries covered by one or more of the secondary services.

Field coverage

The coverage of individual bibliographic elements has important implications for the ability to cross- file references during an online search. Table 5 summarizes the field availability for the major databases and fields. An entry in the table does not imply that the field in question has been available for that document type for its entire coverage; for example, WPI only added inventors from 1978 and they are not included at all for Japanese applications, whereas CAS has included inventors prior to this period. The inventor field is a particularly poor one to try to cross-file, since differing transliteration standards frequently render the same inventor in different ways. Western inventors named on Convention filings are double

50 S. Adams

Table 3. (i) Application number formats

Format number Description Example

1 Closed series, restarting at 1 123456 beyond a set limit

2 Annual series with year suffix, 1234194 or 1234511994 variable length

3 Annual series with year and 94100123 document kind prefix, fixed length (zero-filled)

4 Annual series with year prefix, 94-123456 variable length

5 Annual series with year prefix, 9400123 fixed length (zero-filled)

(ii) Publication number formats

Format type

A B

C

D

E

F

G

Description

Closed series, variable length Closed series identical to application number format 1 Annual series with year prefix, variable length Annual series identical to application number format 2 Annual series identical to application number format 5 Annual series identical to application number format 3 Closed series incorporating kind of document code prefix

Example

123456 123456

94-12345

12345194

9400123

94100123

103c001

Table 4. Number formats

Country Application number Publication number format(s) format(s)

Australia

China

Hong Kong Japan

South Korea

Mongolia Malaysia

New Zealand Philippines Singapore Taiwan Vietnam

1 - provisional applications 2 - complete applications 3 - separate series for patents

4 - separate series for

and utility models

patents, utility models, PCT transfers and SPCs.

2

4 - separate series for patents and utilitv models

2 - GB re-registrations 5 - national patents 1 1 2 3

D - unexamined OPI A - examined/granted F - 1985 to 1988

C - unexamined/examined OPI.

G - 1988 to date

A - grant certificates C

D

A D - GB re-registrations A - national patents B A D A A

Table 5. Field availability for major databases

Country Patent numbers Priority details

Australia IDCE IDCE China IDCEN IDCEN Hong Kong I I Japan IDCEJP IDCEJP South Korea ID ID Mongolia I I Malaysia New Zealand : D (E) : D (E) Philippines I I Singapore I I Taiwan D D Vietnam I I

Title in English Inventors IPCIECLA codes

IDC IDC IDCE IDCN IDCN IDCN I I I IDCJP ICJP IDCJP ID ID ID I I I I I I ID ID ID I I I I None I D D D I I I

Key: I = INPADOC; D = Derwent World Patent Index; C = CAS, E = EDOC; J = JAPIO; N = CHINAPATS; P = PATOLIS; (E) = incomplete coverage in EDOC.


Table 6. Timeliness of addition of records to secondary services. The following table summarizes the time lag in weeks between the date of publication of a document and its appearance in the major secondary services. The data are based upon a snap-shot in late 1993, and are intended to convey a general impression, not precise comparisons. The timeliness of a given source will vary during the year and even from one host service to another. Note that the CAS Previews file, only available on SIN, was not used in the survey - comparisons citing CAS as the source refer to the main bibliographic file.

Country Kind INPADOC WPI EDOC CAS JAPIO CNPATS

AU AU AU CN CN CN HK JP JP JP JP JP KR KR KR KR MN MY NZ PH SG TW VN

A0 Al B2 A B U A A2 B4 C U Y Bl B2 Yl Y2

8 3 3

18 18 18 8 3 8

7 10 6

14 irregular irregular

2 12 56

irregular

10 6

50 50

10

16 7

32 40 32

10 17 60

32 *

46 18 *

16 33 *

7

* = second publication stage; no meaningful data available. - = document type not covered.

transliterated before entering the INPADOC file, and are thus not a useful search field.

Country-by-country survey

In the following sections, the country coverage and document types are surveyed in turn. In the case of CAS, discussions of coverage assume reference to chemical patents only; other subject limitations are mentioned individually. The CAS policy of only abstracting a single member of each patent family means that details of all equivalents, including second or subsequent publication stages from the same country, are available only in the printed Patent Index and not in the online file.

Table 6 summarizes the timeliness of the secondary services for each country, using a snapshot from late 1993 in the online files.

Australia

The Australian patenting procedure allows for an Australian national or resident to file a provisional application followed by a complete application within 12 months. Non-nationals may only file a complete application. Since 1970, provisional applications have been given a format 1 number, comprising six characters, two letters and four digits, running PA OOOl-PA 9999 followed by PB OOOl-PB 9999 etc. The current series, covering priorities filed in mid-1993, is PM.

Provisional applications may be used to claim a foreign priority, but the two-letter prefix is frequently dropped from INID field 31 on the subsequent documents and in many Official Gazette entries and corresponding database records. Alterna- tively, a corresponding complete application, claiming priority from the provisional application, may be filed. This is allocated a seven digit number (format 2) from a multi-annual series restarting at 10,000 and incorporating the year of filing of the complete application, for example, 26479/84.

The first publication laid OPI around 18 months after priority is usually the A document, which carries the same number as the corresponding complete application, with an additional Kind of Document code. Note that the year portion of the publication number still corresponds to the year of application, for example, publication AU-A-81985187 is based upon application 81985/87 filed in September 1987, but was published in June 1988.

After substantive examination, abridgements of the patent are republished with the same number but carrying a B code, for example, AU-B-81985/87. The final acceptance number (INID code 10) is a separate 6-digit number with a B suffix, currently in the 600,000 range.

The complete sequence may be illustrated by the following case (details are fictitious):

52 S. Adams

Printed format Derwent format INPADOC format EDOC format

PF 9189 26479184 AU-A-26479184 AU-B-26479184 AU 563292 B

83AU-009189 84AU-026479 AU8426479 A not covered AU-563292 B

AU 9189183-A AU 26479184-A AU 26479/84-Al not covered AU 563292-B2

AUPF918983 AU2647984 A AU2647984 D not covered AU563292 B

Note that the unexamined OPI publication is becomes 91WO-AU0396. The corresponding EDOC allocated a Kind of Document code D in the format is WOAU9100396 W and for INPADOC is EDOC file. WO 91000396/91 (AU)-W.

In some cases, there is no AU-A publication and the filing proceeds directly from complete application to grant; application number 33728/93 of 24 February, 1993, claimed a priority from Japan of 22 November, 1992, and would have been expected to publish as AU-A-33728/93 in March 1994. However, the first publication recorded by Derwent is the granted specification AU-646195 B published in February 1994, only some 17 months from priority. INPADOC record this as document type Bl.

The extent to which filing details of the provisional application are recorded varies widely. Some patent office Official Gazettes record both a provisional number and the complete application number, whilst others only retain the complete application numbers. Online sources are similarly inconsistent. Since it appears that either or both of the provisional application and its corresponding complete application may be used in claiming priority for Convention filings, this means that family details may be incomplete unless both series can be identified and tied together.

Applications originating from the PCT which transfer into the Australian national phase are allocated an application number in the same format as other filings, and in due course an AU-A publication is announced. However, these are not translated documents; the WO published application stands in place of a formal Australian publication, and remains in the same language as the original. Hence, certain AU-A publications may be in German, Japanese or any of the other official publication languages of the PCT. The Derwent format for PCT applications using the Australian receiving office retains both letters of the country code, for example, PCT/AU91/00396

Statistics concerning the rate of publication in Australia have been reported by Dwyer.@)

Peoples Republic of China

Applications filed at the Chinese Patent Office are allocated an 8-digit application number in format 3, which incorporates the kind of document code at the third position; patents carry a 1, utility models a 2. The first two digits correspond to the year of application. The series is annual, restarting at YYlOOOOl for patents each year.

Kind of Document coverage: Australia

A0 Patent application received (bibliographic details only)

INPADOC from week 9423

Al Specification laid OPI INPADOC from 1973 WPI from 196>1969 and 1983 to date CAS from 1929-1978 (old Act) EDOC from 1973

Bl Application accepted (no Al) INPADOC from 1973 WPI from week 9308 CAS from 1979 (new Act) EDOC from 1973

B2 Application accepted (after Al) INPADOC from 1973 WPI from week 9308 CAS from 1979 (new Act) EDOC from 1973

B3 Petty patent INPADOC from 1979 CAS from 1979


For the period 1985-1988, the publication number of unexamined documents was the same as the corresponding application number, for example, application number 85100005 was published and laid OPI as document CN 85100005 A (format F). Due to the restrictions on field length in the Derwent system at the time, the Kind of Document digit in the publication number was dropped, hence CN 85100005 A became CN8500005-A. Since Derwent does not cover utility models, there is no chance of confusion with the corresponding CN 85200005 U. Since applications may take a variable amount of time between filing and publication, the publication number series of the unexamined specifications is discontinuous, i.e. the publication number of a given CN-A document is no guarantee that all the CN-A documents with lower numbers have also been published. Publication must take place within 18 months of priority, but can be brought forward on request. Since the PCT entered into force in China on 1 January, 1994, there is no indication at the time of writing of the corresponding formats for applications filed at the Chinese receiving office; it is assumed that initially the volume of

In the Official Gazette, the Kind of Document codes are not used; instead, abbreviations of the Chinese designation are added to the document number. Published application numbers (CN-A) are prefixed by GK (Gong Kui), examined applications (CN-B) by SD (Shen Ding) and granted patents by ZL (Zhuan Li). CAS uses the plain language designation Faming Zhuanli Shenqing Gongkai Shuomingshu to indicate unexamined (CN-A) documents in their printed abstracts and indexes.

From 1 January, 1989, the numbering system changed. Application numbers still follow the same format, but publication numbers now follow format G, with a Kind of Document prefix (1 for patents, 2 for utility models, 3 for designs) and no year element - the new series is continuous instead of annual. Unexamined patent applications (CN-A) started at CN 1030001 A (30,000 series), rising through CN 1039999 to CN 1040000 and so on. Examined patent applications number from CN 1003001 B (3,000 series). Similarly, unexamined utility models number from CN 2030001 U. The corresponding formats are:


90106493 CN 1062446 A CN 1021101 B

90CN-106493 CN1062446 not covered

90106493190-A CN90106493 A CN 1062446-A CN1062446 A CN 1021101-B CN1021101 B

applications will be fairly low and that Derwent will retain both letters of the country code in their format for the application numbers, for example, PCT/CN94/00001 will appear as 94WO-CNOOOl.

After publication of the CN-A document, cases proceed to substantive examination, which appears to be very short, less than six months in some cases. Substantive examination must be requested within three years of priority, otherwise the application is deemed to have lapsed. The corresponding examined document is republished as a CN-B series, again using the same number as the original application. Following an opposition period of three months, the patent was granted and announced in the Official Gazette some three months later. The whole sequence can be displayed thus (details are fictitious):

As with the Japanese system, the unexamined and examined series run in parallel, so that the examined document corresponding to an earlier published unexamined one will have a quite different number, as well as the different status letter. However, unlike the Japanese, a very high proportion of applications appear to be proceeding through substantive examination. When combined with the high rate of publication, there is a danger that the number series for the examined documents will soon overtake that for the unexamined documents; the current range is at least 23,000 (i.e. CN 1023000 B) and rapidly approaching the 30,000 starting point for the A series documents. When this happens, it will become vital to be able to cite the Kind of Document code in order to distinguish between document types.


87107457 87CN-107457 87107457187-A CN87107457 A CN 87 1 07457 A CN8707457 CN 87107457-A CN87107457 A CN 87 1 07457 B not covered CN 87107457-B CN87107457 B

54 S. Adams

Kind of Document coverage: China

A Unexamined OPI patent INPADOC from 1985 WPI from 8701: backlog to 1985 also loaded CAS from 1985 EDOC from 1985 (equivalents only) CHINAPATS from 1985

B Examined OPI patent INPADOC from 1985 CAS from 1985 (printed indexes only)

C Granted patent not covered

U Unexamined OPI utility model INPADOC from 1985 EDOC from 1993 (?) - equivalents only?

Under an amendment to the Chinese Patent Act,(h) the three-month opposition period after publication of the CN-B has been replaced by a system whereby publication of the CN-B and grant are simultaneous, and are followed by a six-month revocation period.

The CHINAPATS database is produced by the Chinese Patent Office and is made available on Orbit-Questel and Dialog, and covers CN-A documents only. English-language abstracts are included for all cases filed by Chinese national applicants. For Convention filings, it is assumed that an English (or at least, a Western language) abstract will appear elsewhere in the secondary literature, so bibliographic details only are provided. However, these are still useful as a supplement to the corresponding details in INPADOC or WPI, as they sometimes contain more detailed information on applicants and inventors. CHINAPATS also contains some family information; this is compiled by INPADOC at the time of creating the record and is not updated, so cannot be considered comprehensive. However, due to the time lag in creation of the records, family members with a publication date after that of the CN-A document can be found in the listings.

A substantial proportion of cases published as CN-A documents are non-Convention filings. Due to the Derwent policy, this means that the country code for China appears in the priority field as well as the application number field. Searching for records claiming a Chinese priority is not therefore equivalent to searching for inventions originating within China; a substantial part of the recall will be cases claiming a non-Convention foreign priority, filed by non-Chinese companies.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong does not grant any patents of its own, but re-registers granted GB patents or European Patents designating GB. Any Hong Kong application granted in this way will expire with the parent patent. Further information on intellectual property in Hong Kong is provided by Ha1stead.V)

A complete application must be lodged within five years of the date of grant of the parent patent. Once lodged, the application is allocated a number in format 2, which becomes the publication number on acceptance, in format D.

Approximately 1000-1500 applications are lodged each year. Processing time is difficult to gauge - some authorities cite a period of up to three months between application and grant of a certificate, but a snapshot from INPADOC indicates that periods of 7-14 days are not unusual between the entry in the application date and publication date fields. However, examination of the printed “Hong Kong Government Gazette” shows that the former date refers to the date of registration of the certificate, rather than the date on which a request for certification was filed. The “publication date” corresponds to the cover date of the corresponding Gazette.

Although not covered by Derwent, Hong Kong publication numbers occurring in INPADOC on Orbit-Questel are processed through the normal algorithm into “Derwent format”, which places the year of application as a two-digit prefix and zero-fills the remainder of the number, for example:

Printed format Derwent format INPADOC format

Application number Publication number

not cited no. 587 of 1994

94HK-000587 587194-A” HK9400587 HK 587/94-A

*note - no country code


Coverage by INPADOC commenced in 1976. The time lag between publication of the certificate and appearance in INPADOC varies from six to eight weeks. The Patents Registry in Hong Kong provides copies of the front pages of corresponding GB or EP patents to INPADOC, to assist in establishing family links.

Zndonesia

Since the 1989 Act came into force in August 1991, a number of published documents which claim priority from Indonesia have appeared in the secondary services. No commercial secondary service yet covers the national documents, so conclusions on the documentation are limited at this stage.

The application number format appears to follow format 2 in some cases, but may be format 1. In some instances, a single letter appears to form part of the field, for example, priority P-004539 claimed by WO 94/03267 and priority S-000066 claimed by WO 94110437. The variation in format and unfamiliar country has led to confusion and some errors in the Derwent and INPADOC databases, for example:

under an amendment to the law in 1985; no new filings were allowed after 1 November, 1985. Applications for patents and for utility models have a separate numbering scheme, running in parallel, both in format 4. The serial number portion is indicative of the document type; the main sequence runs from 1 to 499,999 each year but numbers in the 500,000 series are allocated to patent applications derived from PCT transfer to the national phase, 600,000 denotes utility model applications filed via the PCT route and claiming Japanese priority, whilst the 700,000 series is used for supplementary protection certificates (SPCs). The year portion of the application number uses the Imperial year, which currently corresponds to the Gregorian year minus 88 i.e. 1989 = year 1, 1990 = year 2 etc. Fortunately, the year is reset at 1 January rather than one calendar year after the accession of the new Emperor, so that year 1 of Emperor Akihoto’s reign covered the period from 8 January, 1989 to 31 December, 1989. For the previous Emperor Hirohito, who came to the throne in 1926, the corresponding calculation is Gregorian year minus 25; the last year of his reign was year 64, comprising the period 1 January 1989 to 8 January 1989.

Printed format Derwent format INPADOC format Family member

ID 338192

ID 291

ID 3381/92-A ID 338192/92-A

IN 2191-A [sic] IN 291/91-A [sic]

92ID-003381 92ID-338192

91IN-000002 91IN-000291

AU-A-39922193 EP 576063 Al

CN 1069319 A EP 525945 Al

From the scant data available, it appears as if the application number sequence may be a closed series running across several years, but with a year suffix:

Application month/year Application number

August 1991 2 December 1991 1099 January 1992 1447 June 1992 3381 September 1992 4658 October 1992 66

Japan

A useful summary of Japanese documentation is provided by Vacek.(9) Japan adopted a deferred examination patent law in 1970, coming into force on 1 January 1971. Patents of addition were abolished

All applications are published unexamined (Kokai Tokkyo Koho) around 18 months from the earliest priority date. Over the last few years, since the introduction of electronic filing by the Japanese Patent Office, there is some evidence that JP-A documents have been delayed by several months beyond this date. The publication number format for both patents and utility models is format C. The year portion of the publication is also the Imperial year. On the printed documents,. this portion is not made up to two digits, although many printed and online secondary sources add an extra zero. The country code is not always used; an abbreviation representative of the Imperial Era may be substituted in some references. For Hirohito (Showa era), publication number JP 63-123456 A may be rendered as Sho. 63-123456 A; similarly for the present Emperor (Heisei era), publication number 4-123456 A becomes Hei. 4-123456 A.

A request for substantive examination must be made within seven years of the priority date, otherwise

56 S. Adams

Kind of Document coverage: Japan

A

A2

I34

C

Old Act examined patent application WPI 1963-1971 CAS 1918-1971 (residents applications only) PATOLIS 1955-1971 APIPAT 19641971

Unexamined OPI patent application INPADOC from 1973 WPI from 1971 EDOC from 1973 CAS from 1971 (all applications from 1975) JAPIO from 1976 PATOLIS from 1971 APIPAT from 1971

Examined OPI patent application INPADOC from 1973 WPI from 1971 EDOC from 1973 CAS from 1971 PATOLIS from 1971

Certificate of grant EDOC from ?

the application is deemed withdrawn. Accelerated examination is possible but not common. After examination, the specification is republished as a Tokkyo Koho document, again with a format C number and document code B, for example, JP 5- 123456 B. Unlike the European, British and German systems wherein the unexamined and examined documents retain the same publication number and differentiate the stages merely by the status letter, the Japanese system resets publication number series at the beginning of each year. Consequently, an unexamined document and its corresponding examined specification will have entirely different publication numbers, for example, JP 2-17130 A published in 1990 was published examined as JP 4- 43890 B in 1992.

now appears as a registration a few months after filing, and are numbered in a totally new sequence commencing at JP 3000001 U. Applications filed before the new system came into force will apparently be processed under the old dual publication procedure, creating a JP-U and JP-Y document.

Number formats are a particular problem with Japan, as they are open to considerable variation. The following table illustrates the different formats used for the publication number of a JP-A2 document on a range of hosts and databases; the example used is document number 17130 from year 2 (western year 1990). A similar variation exists for the application number formats.

I INPADOC WPI EDOC CAS JAPIO

Orbit Dialog Questel SIN

JP 2017130 JP 2017130 n/a JP 2017130

JPO2017130 JP 2017130 JO2017130 JPO2017130

n/a nla JP2017130 nla

JPO2017130 JP 9017130 JP9017130 JP 02017130

JP 02-17130 JP 2017130 JP2017130 n/a

After publication of the B document, the specification is open to opposition for a period of three months, after which a further certificate is issued if the grant is allowed. These certificates are allocated a third six-digit number, in format A, currently in the range approximately l,BOO,OOO. These documents are indexed by the EDOC database and allocated the status letter C, for example, JP 18OOOOO C.

From July 1994, utility models started to be published in an amended form.@) The application

The status letters used by the different secondary services also vary. WPI uses the letters A and B for Kokai Tokkyo Koho and Tokkyo Koho documents respectively, whereas both INPADOC and CAS use A2 and B4 for the same types. Applications transferring into the Japanese national phase from the PCT are allocated Kind of Document code T by EDOC and T2 by INPADOC. Derwent have available four different codes, depending upon the country of origin and whether the PCT application is converted to a utility model application in Japan; W and X indicate applications


for patents claiming non-Japanese priority and Japanese priority, respectively, Y and Z indicate applications converted into utility models, claiming non-Japanese or Japanese priority, respectively.

None of the secondary services routinely covers the utility model series, but INPADOC and Derwent allow for the possibility of a patent application which claims priority from such a document. In the case of WPI, this required some manipulation of the application number format. In order to distinguish between utility model and patent applications and to allow for the greater range of numbers, a letter prefix is used at the first place of the serial number instead of a leading digit. Utility model application numbers from 1 to 99,999 are prefixed by a letter U, giving the format YYJP-UNNNNN. For numbers from 100,000 to 199,999, the leading “1” is replaced by a letter V, giving YYJP-VNNNNN, and the range from 200,000 upwards replaces the leading “2” by W, giving YYJP-WNNNNN.

Japanese patent applications filed near the end of the year may be allocated a serial number from the following year’s sequence. Derwent will input the priority using the year of application number and not the true priority year, but are distinguished by the use of “00” as the month of application. For example, an application filed on 31 December, 1970 and allocated number 123/71 will be recorded as 71JP-000123 with priority date 31.00.71.

Derwent also manipulates the publication numbers in order to distinguish between A and B documents. The former retain the original Imperial year, but the latter have the corresponding Gregorian year in place. Thus, JP05123456 corresponds to JP 5- 123456 A whilst JP93123456 refers to JP 5-123456 B. Since deferred examination was adopted in 1971. Derwent format numbers with year prefixes in the range 46-64 and 01-06 are clearly Imperial years and refer to JP-A documents, whereas numbers in the range from 71 upwards can only be Gregorian years and refer to JP-B documents.

South Korea

The present South Korean law is an early publication, deferred examination type similar to Japan, and leads to similar document types.

For older documents (pre-1962)) the year component of any serial numbers was calculated according to the Tanki calendar, which commenced with the legendary founding of Korea by Tan-Kwan in 2333 B.C. Prior to 1962, documents could bear dates in either Tanki or Seki (Gregorian)

equivalents; year T. 4295 corresponds to year S. 1962. Since 1962, all years have been in Seki.(i@

Up to 1984, patent applications were published once, at grant, as Tukho Kongbo documents, designated A. Similarly, examined utility models (Shilyon Shinan Kongbo) were designated U. The current system provides for early publication of unexamined applications, followed by substantive examination on request. After examination, the specification is published a second time, for a two-month opposition period, followed by issue of Letters Patent.

Application numbers for domestic filings or Con- vention filings apart from via the PCT are allocated a number in format 4. Filings via the PCT route are allocated numbers in a separate series, again in format 4 but commencing at 700,001, for example, 93-703914. The corresponding early published applications have numbers in format C, with a Kind of Document code A. Specifications are published in groups in the Official Gazette. In addition to the publication number (INID code ll), each specification carries a prominent three or four-digit number in the top right corner of the front page; this is the issue number of the Gazette in which it appeared, and should not be used for ordering purposes. Western readers may find it helpful to note that the plain language designation of document type (INID code 12) comprises six Korean characters for the A documents and only four for the B documents. Unexamined documents which claim priority via the PCT route use a separate series of publication numbers, again starting at 700,001, for example, KR 94-701556 A. Approximately 24,000 unexamined documents were published in 1993.

If an application proceeds through substantive examination, which typically takes 211~-31/2 years, it is republished with a separate serial number, also in format C, with Kind of Document code Bl or B2. In some cases, an application for substantive examination can be filed before the A document is published, in which case no A document appears and the examined document is designated B2. The majority of cases publish after a corresponding A document and are designated Bl. Approximately 12,000 B documents were published in 1993. As with the A documents, specifications are grouped into a single issue of the Official Gazette.

The process for utility models appears to be identical to that for patents, leading to U, Yl and Y2 document types by analogy.

The complete sequence for patents is thus:

58 S. Adams

Printed INPADOC format Derwent format

Application number 92-15638 9215638192-A 92KR-015638 OPI Publication number KR 94-10805 A not covered not covered Examined number KR 94-5377 91 KR 9405377-91 KR 9405377

Kind of Document coverage: South Korea

A Old Act examined patents INPADOC from 1978

A New Act unexamined patents None

91192 New Act examined patents INPADOC from 1984 Derwent from 1986

U

U

Yl/Y2

Old Act examined utility models

New Act unexamined utility models

New Act examined utility models

INPADOC from 1978

None

INPADOC from 1984

Although coverage of South Korea commenced in 1986 by Derwent, no manual coding was added until

week 9001.

Mongolia

Coverage of Mongolian patents has been included in INPADOC since 1972, but since that time only some 230 documents have appeared, so it is somewhat difficult to conclude any pattern.

15 June 1985, with no intervening publication numbers. A similar gap from MN 377 Al to MN 416 Al bridges March 1987-March 1989. It would appear possible that publication numbers may recommence at the next 100 at the new year, but this is by no means certain from the data available. The sequence of publication dates

would also suggest that the T and Al series were parallel overlapping sequences in the early 198Os, rather than one following the other.

Printed

Application number ” Publication number ?

Kind of Document coverage: Mongolia

Al Patent/Inventor’s Certificate

T Inventor’s Certificate

INPADOC format Derwent format

854188-A 88MN-000854 MN 465.Al MN----465

INPADOC from 1984

INPADOC from 1972 - approx. 1984

It appears that application numbers are in format 1; the oldest application listed on INPADOC is number 4/72 from May 1972, and the sequence appears not to have repeated up to the present, with application number 854/88 of May 1988.

Mongolia publishes only a single document, at grant, designated Al. Inventor’s Certificates were designated T, but are no longer issued. Some cases are present in the INPADOC database where identical priority details have apparently led to both an Al and a T document with the same serial number, for example MN 200-Al and MN 200-T.

Publication numbers in format A are unrelated to the corresponding application number series, but have substantial gaps in the sequence which occur across calendar years; for example, MN 254 Al published 10 May 1984 is followed by MN 325 Al published

Malaysia

A new Patent Act came into force in Malaysia during 1986, with complex transitional arrangements for applications filed in the periods before and after

the Act came into force.

Prior to 1 October, 1986, patent protection was obtained by the re-registration of United Kingdom patents. The application number series follows format 2 and the publication numbers follow format D. Unlike Hong Kong, the dates recorded in the INPADOC application date and publication date fields are always identical; these dates are not always reliable, as in the absence of any data supplied by the Malaysian data provider, INPADOC insert a dummy date of 31 December of the year of registration. The priority details recorded are those of the corresponding GB granted patent from which the re-registration is derived.


INPADOC format Derwent format

Old Act (re-registration)


New Act

149188-A 88MY-000149 MY 149188-A MY8800149


8700290187-A 87MY-000290 MY 100020-Al MY-100020

Although coverage of the new Act documents has commenced, the latest entries in the online INPADOC file at the time of writing were published in early 1989. However, the Official Gazette of Brunei, which allows for re-registration of Malaysian patents, indicates that patents have been granted up to at least June 1992; BN 77/93 of 6 October, 1993, is claimed as a re-registration of granted patent MY 102491 granted 30 June, 1992. The new application number format is type 5 and publication numbers are type A, commencing at 100001 in 1988. The Kind of Document code is Al, to distinguish these from the earlier re-registration documents.

The prosecution time appears to be approximately two years, but it is impossible to estimate the timeliness of appearance in secondary services.

Kind of Document coverage: Malaysia

A Reregistration from G.B.

INPADOC from 19X+-approx. 1988

Al New Act granted patent

INPADOC from 26 October 1988

As with Australia, the provisional specification is only open to national filings or non-Convention cases; if foreign priority is claimed, the first filing must be the complete specification. INPADOC distinguishes between the two application types; applications based upon an earlier provisional application are designated C, all others are type A. Applications received are listed in the Official Gazette approximately six months after the filing date; the Gazette uses the prefixes P and C to denote provisional or complete applications.

There is no early publication allowed for. The only document to appear is the granted patent, which is published two-three years after filing. Acceptance of the patent is announced in the Official Gazette, with an abridgement. An opposition period follows (sources vary as to whether this is three or four months) followed by sealing. The patent term is reckoned from the date of filing of the complete specification.

Publication numbers are identical to the application number, forming format B. These are currently in the 240,000 range, with approximately 4-5,000 new grants per year. Since publication numbers are derived from application numbers, there may be considerable time ranges between the publication date of adjacent patent numbers, depending upon the prosecution time. Specifications are not printed, but a photocopy is available from the Patent Office for a fee. The British Library obtains microfiche copies only.

t

Application number based on provisional Application number based on complete Publication number

INPADOC format

247324193-C 245676193-A NZ 247324-A

Derwent format

93NZ-247324 93NZ-245676 NZ-247324

EDOC format

NZ24732493 NZ24567693 NZ247324-A

New Zealand

Applications filed in New Zealand are allocated a six-digit application number, format 1, which can be a provisional or complete application; provisional applications must be followed by a complete specification within 12 months of first filing.

The coverage by EDOC is not complete, and may initially have been added as part of the family data only. Publications from approximately 1950-1970 are present, and data added during 1993 suggests that systematic coverage has started, but there is no indication whether plans exist to load the missing back-file.

Kind of Document coverage: New Zealand

A Granted patent INPADOC from 1978; IPC added from 1984 Derwent from 1993 EDOC 1950-1970, 1993 to date?

60 S. Adams

Philippines

The Philippines patent legislation is similar to the current United States law, and has a single publication stage on grant with a 17 year term dating from that point. Prosecution typically takes between three and five years. Utility models have an initial life of five years, but can be extended for two further terms of five years each.

Applications filed are allocated a five-digit number, currently in the range around 40,000, in format 1. Applications for utility models are listed in the Official Gazette with a UM prefix, for example, UM-11553. On grant, an abstract is published with a new publication number in a separate series, format A, currently in the range around 26,000. As with application numbers, the utility model publication number runs in a separate range with a UM prefix, for example, UM-7502. Notification of grant appears in the Official Gazette with a cover date approximately eight months later, i.e. patents granted in February are announced in the Gazette for September-October. Approximately 1100 patents are granted each year.

U.K. The corresponding INPADOC record uses the cover date of the Gazette as a publication date and the date of registration as the filing date. “Date of patent” corresponds not to the earliest priority date but to the date of filing of the GB application or EP application designating GB, whilst “date of sealing” is the date of publication of the B document from which the re-registration is derived. No information concerning applicant or subject matter is published, although priority data, titles, IPCs and patentee name are included in the INPADOC record, derived from the corresponding GB or EP document.

Current publication rates are approximately 1000 certificates per year.

Taiwan

Taiwan operates a single publication stage, following a short prosecution, typically less than one year. Claims and a drawing are published in the Official Gazette. After a three-month opposition period, the patent is granted with a 15 year term dating from the publication date of the application. Utility models are also available.

Printed format

Application number 38026 Publication number PH 25147

Kind of Document coverage: Philippines

INPADOC format

38036189-A PH 25147-A

Derwent format

89PH-038026 PH--2.5147

A Granted patent INPADOC from 1975 (patents only)

Singapore

Singapore re-registers granted GB patents and EP patents designating GB, if the application is filed within three years of the date of grant. The application process varies from three to nine months. Registration is published in the Government Gazette, using a format D publication number. No application number as such is issued.

Application numbers are in format 3. Applications for patents use the document type identifier 1, utility models use 2 and designs 3, followed by a five-digit serial number. Publication numbers are in format A, but Taiwan is characterized in the use of a single common series of publication numbers for all document types. Documents are sorted by type before numeration, so that the Taiwanese patent publication numbers therefore appear in discontinuous batches.

The Gazette entry comprises four elements: number of the Certificate of Registration, date of registration (which can be up to a year prior to the cover date of the Gazette), date of patent and date of sealing in the

Documents added to Derwent have additional data provided in order to tie up the family members, although this does not appear in the Official

Printed format INPADOC format Derwent format


None 408192

408192-A 92SG-COO408 SG 408192-A SG9200408

Kind of Document coverage: Singapore

A Registration Certificate INPADOC from 1983



Patents

Application number 82101322 Publication number 227084

Utility models

Application number 8221675 1 Publication number 227085

Kind of Document coverage: Taiwan

not covered 92TW-101322 not covered TW-227084

not covered not covered not covered not covered

A Granted patent Derwent from 1993

Gazette. Most documents are equivalents, although strictly they should be non-Convention cases. The printed publications use a Taiwanese calendar which equates year 1 with Western year 1912, hence Derwent records are adjusted by 11 years in the application date and publication date fields; year 83 = Western 1994.

Vietnam

Vietnamese patents are covered by INPADOC, but have appeared very irregularly, making it difficult to collect any meaningful data on publication patterns. Following reunification in 1976, a patent law was passed in 1981 with the first documents appearing in 1985. Grant is notified in the Official Gazette following full examination, which must take place within 18 months of filing. Due to secrecy provisions, some inventions are not published. It is not known whether full specifications are automatically published, or whether the Official Gazette record is the only one.

The volume of applications recorded in INPADOC varies between one and nearly 40 per year, in the period 1980-1991. The most recent records (late 1993) in the database relate to publications from 1991; a 1994 Gazette has recently arrived in the British Library. The prosecution time appears to vary between two and three months.

Application numbers appear to be in format 2, with a D prefix for patents and an HI prefix for utility models. Publication numbers are format A, with a separate series for patents and utility models; the latter retain the HI prefix in the printed version.

References (1) G. Reverdin and F. Schlaepfer (eds), Katzarov’s Manual

of Industrial Property, 9th edn, 13th revision, Volume II. Katzarov SA, Geneva (1993).

(2) T. M. S. Hemnes, M. G. DiMambro and M. L. Moore (eds), Intellectual Property World Desk Reference. Kluwer Publishers, Deventer, NL (1992).

(3) J. A. Connors (ed.), Protecting Intellectual Property in Asia-Pacific. Longman Professional Intelligence Reports, London (1984).

(4) S. van Dulken, Guide to Official Industrial Property Publications, 3rd edn. British Library, Science Reference and Information Service, London (1992)

(5) B. Dwyer, Australian Patent Applications 1979-89: an analysis, World Patent Information 14( 1) , 17-20 (1992).

(6) S. Jialian, Some important amendments to the Chinese patent law, World Patent Information 15(4), 230-231 (1993).

(7) R. R. Halstead, Patents and Trademarks in Hong Kong. Longmans, Hong Kong (1989).

(8) S. van Dulken, British Library, Science Reference and Information Service (personal communication).

(9) G. Vacek, Japanese patent information, World Patent Information 16(l), 414.5 (1994).

(10) J. V. Drazil, Guide fo rhe Japanese and Korean Patents and Utility Models. British Library, Science Reference Library, London (1976).


Patents

Application number D 259/90 Publication number 101 A3

Utility models

Application number HI 035/89 Publication number HI-0032/U

Kind of Document coverage: Vietnam

259190-A 9OVN-000259 VN lOl-A3 VN---101

35/89-U 89VN-000035 VN 32-U VN----32

Al Patent (of addition ?) INPADOC from 1985 A3 Patent INPADOC from 1985 U Utility model INPADOC from 1985

The Kind of Document codes Al and A3 appear to run in a single merged series, but their significance is not clear.

Survey of patent documentation from the Pacific Rim Countries

Documents

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