Online Web Research Services & Data Research, Data mining

Patents are not new, their presence was noted long back during 16th Centaury. In U.S. at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, a federal patent power was proposed by James Madison and Charles Pinckney and was adopted without debate as Article 1, Sec. 8, clause 8. The history of Patent Law began all the way back with the Constitution of the United States which was specific about providing protection for those who invent new and unique products. But after the TRIPS, intellectual property rights and patents gained importance to the business communities and industries. The retrieval of the patent information was made easy by internet and access to different patent databases. Patent are the source of the technological innovation and detailed mining of patent literature is proven to be useful of the Completive Intelligence.

This article attempts to analyze importance and methods for the patent data mining and their future use in the competitive intelligence. The key issues discussed in this article are:

a. Importance of the patent data mining;

b. Using patent data for competitive intelligence

Data Mining is a process of discovering meaningful new correlations, patterns and trends by sifting through large amounts of data stored in repositories, using statistical, data analysis and mathematical techniques. Patents are the most valuable and comprehensive source of the technological information and thus are very crucial for the industries. A very strong patent portfolio and IPR system is needed for a industry to compete the global market. An organization’s patent portfolio forms a critical part of its IP holdings alongside its designs, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Much of the value from a portfolio can only be realized through its effective management. In turn, that requires tools and techniques to help understand portfolio content, how and where this fits in with the organization’s competencies and what the market opportunities are for exploiting the technology owned.

There is also a need to identify gaps where complementary technology can be licensed in and identify non-core technology where know-how can be licensed out or divested for financial return. This is the province of patent mining. A clear and effective IP strategy critically incorporates a clear and effective strategy for managing an organization’s patent portfolio.

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