Jul 7, 2013

Article of the Week (AoW) - Identifying Core / Important Patents using Patent Indicators

'Study on indicator system for core patent document evaluation' by Xian Zhang et. al. (Chengdu Library of The Chinese Academy of Sciences) presents a technique, or, rather, a method, to effectively judge the importance of a patent document.

The method is based on three attributes of the patent, namely:
1. Technical attributes
2. Market attributes
3. Legal attributes

Technical attributes include indicators derived from citation data, claims, classifications, etc., such as

  • Number of IPC 
  • Number of Claims
  • Technology Dependence
  • Technology Cycle Time 
  • Science linkage 
  • Science Cycle Time 
  • Science Impact 
  • Standardization Impact 
  • Standardization Scope

The market attributes include other indicators directly or indirectly based on commercialization aspect of the patent, such as:

  • Patent Family size 
  • Share of the Triad
  • Human Resource Input 
  • Collaboration Intensity 
  • Self-commer. or licensing 
  • Impawn or collateral loan 
  • Patent Assignment 

Moreover. the legal attributes include:

  • Patent Validity Years 
  • Extended 
  • Survived from patent Opposition Claims 
  • Survived from patent Annulment Claims 
  • Granted
  • Stability of Legal Status

Based on all these attributes, the importance of a patent can be assessed; These attributes have been dealt with in detail in this presentation, a  PDF copy of which can be accessed here.