ADVERTORIAL FEATURE: MINESOFT
the digital divide Bridging
Patents are a hugely important source of knowledge, but the information can only become knowledge when users are able to access it. Katy Wood of Minesoft reports on a WIPO initiative that is empowering developing countries to exploit information from patents.
I
n today’s global knowledge economy, patent information plays a vital role in technological and economic development.
It is, in the words of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) director general Francis Gurry, a “critical source of knowledge and insight for researchers and innovators, legal professionals, entrepreneurs and policy makers across the globe”. Ostensibly a form of legal protection, a patent
represents a rich and oſt en unique source of not only legal but also business and technical information, with WIPO estimating that up to 70% of technical information found within patent documents is not published anywhere else. If innovation is one of the main drivers of growth, then patent information is a key part of what feeds it. In a digital age, access to electronic patent data is valuable currency.
Exploiting patent information T e volume of patent data published by patent offi ces worldwide and publicly
increases year on year. According to the WIPO Intellectual Property Indicators Report 2013, intellectual property fi ling activity is growing at unprecedented levels. T e number of patents granted worldwide in 2012 exceeded the one million mark for the fi rst time, representing the strongest rate of growth in nearly two decades. Online patent databases such as PatBase— created by IP soſt ware
solutions company
Minesoſt and search and translation fi rm RWS Group—enable researchers and innovators to tap into and exploit
valuable information and stimulate innovation in their fi elds. Patent information service providers collate
available
global patent data and package it into user- friendly online databases. T ey have a range of additional features such as keyword highlighting or integrated visualisation tools, and are designed to make it easier for users to retrieve what they are looking for and interpret it. However, understanding and accessing patent information can be a challenge outside
66 World Intellectual Property Review Annual 2015 World Intellectual Property Review November/December 2014 this vast quantity of
of industrialised nations. T e ‘digital divide’— the gap between populations that have access to modern information and communications technology and those that have limited or no access—is an inescapable issue in the fi eld of patent information. It presents a barrier to innovation in developing and less developed countries, whose industrial property offi ces and academic and research institutions may lack the knowledge, resources and infrastructure to use tools such as PatBase to foster innovation, and support research and development activities. In September 2012, WIPO launched the
Access to Specialized Patent Information (ASPI) programme with the aim of starting to bridge this divide. In cooperation with Minesoſt and other commercial providers of patent
information,
such as T omson Reuters, the programme aims to support developing countries to more fully exploit
their innovative potential. It provides
free or heavily discounted access (dependent on the eligibility grouping of the country) to professional patent information resources.
www.worldipreview.com
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