[Updated with the renewal of J-PlatPat on May 2019, 5]

In the previous column, I explained that "technical information" and "rights information" can be read from "patent information".
So how can you actually search for that information?
If you have a contracted paid database, it is useful to use it.However, if you do not have such a contract, you can search using services on the Internet for free even if you cannot use a paid database, such as when you want to search a little on the go.
This time, we will introduce such a "free and easy way to search for patents".

XNUMX. XNUMX.Where can I search?

There is "Google Patents" provided by Google in famous places.However, since the interface is in English, some people may feel that they are not good at it.
As an easy-to-use patent information platform for such people, this time, the Japan Patent Office provides the patent information platform "INPIT" in cooperation with the National Center for Industrial Property Information and Training (INPIT).J-PlatPatWill introduce

XNUMX. XNUMX.How to search? (J-PlatPatHow to use)

XNUMX-①.Search by number

・ Simple search

The top page of "J-PlatPat" is a screen called "Simple Search" (Fig. XNUMX).If it is a Japanese patent, you can immediately search by number on this screen.

If you want to do multiple searches, you can do an "OR" search by separating them with a space.
If you enter the number and press the search button on the left, a list of results as shown in Fig. XNUMX will be returned at the bottom of the screen in Fig. XNUMX, so you can check the information of the relevant gazette by clicking the number of the gazette you want to see. ..

In the case of the example in Fig. 2000, the number was entered as "Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 000001-2000", but the number of digits can be omitted and the number can be searched by itself. Figure 1 shows what you typed "XNUMX-XNUMX".
In Fig. 5, 1 cases were applicable for patents / utility models, 1 case was applicable for designs, and XNUMX case was applicable for trademarks.This is because there are other applicable numbers in addition to the one in Fig. XNUMX because it does not matter what type of search is performed using only numbers.

The five applicable patents and utility models in Fig. 5 are searched for with the application number and publication number.
No. 5 patent does not have the corresponding number in the list, but if you check the details, the international publication number is "2000-1", and various types of numbers are searched.

・ Patent / utility model number inquiry / OPD

With simple search, you can easily search for numbers if it is a Japanese patent,Patent / utility model number inquiry / OPDYou can search not only Japanese patents but also foreign patents in.

Figure XNUMXTop pageClick the "Patent / Utility Model Number Inquiry / OPD" tab from the "Patent / Utility Model" menu at the top left of the screen to open the menu shown in Fig. XNUMX.

Select the country in the "Country / Region / Issuing Institution" column on the left and the "Number Type" in the middle from the pull-down menu, and enter the number you want to search for in the "Number" column (text box) on the right.For example, when searching for a gazette with the number "Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-000001", Japan (JP) is in the left column, "Public / Published Patent Gazette (A)" is in the number type, and "2000-000001" is in the right column. Enter the.If you want to search for multiple numbers in one field, enter them separated by spaces.

When you have finished entering the information, press the introduction button at the bottom center of the screen, and a list of relevant publications will be displayed at the bottom of the screen shown in Fig. XNUMX, just like a simple search.
In addition to Japan, the countries are the United States (US), EPO (EP), WIPO (WO), China (CN), South Korea (KR), United Kingdom (GB), Germany (DE), France (FR), Switzerland (CH), You can search for Canada (CA).

* About "number type"
The "number type" is also described in the official gazette, but it can also be grasped as follows.
In the case of Japanese patents, it can be grasped from the combination of letters (below) at the beginning of the number.
"Special": patent, "actual": utility model
"Request": application, "open": public, "table": public, "public": public notice, "WO": republish
"No.-": Registration (Patent Gazette)
(Example: "Japanese Patent Application No. 00-000" is the application number of the patent, "Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 00-000" is the publication number of the patent, and "Patent No. 0000" is the registration number of the patent.)
If the era name such as Heisei (Heisei), Akira (Showa), or Taisho (Taisho) is written before the number, it is necessary to convert it to the Christian era or to alphabetic characters.
"Flat": H, "Akira": S, "Large": T (lowercase letters are also accepted)
For example, in the case of "Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-987654", "1999-987654" or "H11-987654" is the number to be entered.

In the case of foreign patents, you can basically judge by the alphabet after the number.For example, "A" is the publication number, "B" is the patent number, etc., and it is easy to distinguish because it is also written as "public number (A)", "patent number B", etc. in the number type menu.However, the United States (US) and South Korea (KR) may not have an alphabet, in which case they can be distinguished by the number format.

In the case of the United States (US), the year number separated by a slash (/) (for example, 2019/0000001) is the publication number, and the number consisting of consecutive numbers is the patent number.By the way, the slash (/) cannot be used on the screen shown in Fig. XNUMX, and you need to enter it with a hyphen (-) or abbreviation.
韓国(KR)の場合、先頭が10から始まっている場合は特許、20から始まっている場合は実用新案となります。さらに、10もしくは20の後にハイフンで区切られた番号が、さらに西暦とハイフンで区切られたもの（例えば10-2019-00、10-19-00）は公開番号、連続した数字からなるもの(例えば10-00)は登録番号となります。
However, the number format of China (CN) and South Korea (KR) is different when they are older.For details, see J-PlatPatNumber inquiry helpPlease verify.

XNUMX-②.Search by keyword

・ Simple search

You can search by entering keywords in the box on the "Simple Search" screen, which is the same as searching by number.You can search for "AND" by using multiple keywords separated by spaces.Searching only by number is an "OR" search,If you specify a keyword, it will be an "AND" search.Please be careful.
The simple search searches from "invention name," "summary / abstract," "claims," ​​"applicant name," and "inventor name" in the gazette.
When the search is completed, the list of search results is displayed below (Fig. XNUMX), which is the same as the search by number, but the display contents are different, and in the keyword search, bibliographic information other than the reference number is also displayed.Regarding these display contents, XNUMX.What is the content of the search results?I will explain it again.

If the number of cases is large (893 for patents and utility models in Fig. XNUMX), it is possible to narrow down the number by year or classification in the search list option at the top.

・ Search for patents and utility models

The simple search could only search for the specified part in the publication.If you want to search the full text of the publication, or if you want to specify the search location yourself, select "Patent / Utility Model" menu on the top page.Search for patents and utility modelsProceed to. (Fig. XNUMX)

As a keyword, you can select whether to search using Japanese or English (Fig. XNUMX).

In addition, domestic literature (all) is selected as the literature type on the initial screen of Fig. XNUMX.Foreign literature can also be selected here, and in addition to Japan, the countries are the United States (US), EPO (EP), WIPO (WO), China (CN), South Korea (KR), United Kingdom (GB), Germany (DE). , France (FR), Switzerland (CH), Canada (CA) can be searched.
You can set the type and country individually by clicking the detailed settings on the upper right. (Fig. XNUMX)

There are two tabs, "Selection input" and "Logical expression input", at the upper left of the "Patent / utility model search" screen. (Fig. XNUMX)

Since "logical expression input" requires understanding of search commands, here we will explain "selective input" that can be easily used.Figure XNUMX shows the keyword input screen for "selective input".

To use it, simply select which part of the publication you want to search from the "Search item" menu on the left, enter the keyword in the "Keyword" box on the right, and click the "Search" button.
If you use multiple keywords separated by spaces, the simple search was "AND", butSearch for "OR" in patent / utility model searchPlease note that. If you want to search for "AND", you can search by entering one keyword in each box.
You can also search here by specifying two keywords that are close to (near) the text. If you click on the neighborhood search to the right of the "Keywords" box, the input screen shown in Fig. XNUMX will be displayed, allowing you to specify the two "keywords", the "distance" between the keywords, and the "order" in which the keywords are used. I can do it.

The same screen as the simple search is displayed for the search results.
As a result of keyword search, if the number of hits is too large or XNUMX, try searching several times by changing the specified conditions.

XNUMX. XNUMX.What is the content of the search results?

From here, we will introduce what kind of contents of the hit patent documents can be confirmed.
As mentioned above, the list of search results by number (Figs. XNUMX and XNUMX) only displays the list of numbers, but the list of search results by keyword (Fig. XNUMX) shows not only the document number but also the filing date and publicity. I was able to read the date (publication date), registration date, title of invention, applicant, and granted patent classification.

You can check the contents of the publication by clicking the reference number from the list.The same content is displayed from both the search result list by number and keyword.

When checking the contents of this gazette, if you are searching by keyword, the keyword you used is displayed as a highlighted character string.
The statement is displayed on the left side of the screen, and the "drawing (specified figure)" is displayed on the right side.At the top of the screen, there are the following links where you can check various information about the displayed publication (varies depending on the displayed publication).

• "Extension application": Information on extension of the term of patent right
• "Related gazettes": public gazettes, registration gazettes, public notice gazettes, full-text details of utility models
• "Document unit PDF" ・ ・ ・ PDF of the displayed document
• "Progress information" ・ ・ ・ Progress information
• "OPD" ...Regarding examinationOne Portal Dosier Information
• "Open patent DB": Information on rights with the intention of opening
• "Search key": Information on the latest classifications and examiner free words given
• "URL": Fixed URL of the relevant document that can be used when sharing information

XNUMX.Precautions for searching

We have explained the search methods so far, but please note that this is just a simple search and not all of the desired patent information can be searched by these methods.
First, each search service has a range of data.This recording range refers to the searchable data range of which type of publication data contains the publications from when to when.Therefore, if you want to obtain data that is out of the recording range, you have no choice but to consider another method.
Second, keyword searches do not mean that others are using the same keywords that you specify.For example, in the case of "car", others use "passenger car", "four-wheeled vehicle", "vehicle", or simply "car", or use higher-level keywords such as "mobile". It may be.Therefore, you must be careful about how you choose these keywords and how you use them when searching.

XNUMX. Conclusion

I explained using "J-PlatPat" how to easily search for patent information for those who have never searched for patents or who do not understand.
However, the above method is just the usage at the moment. The functional improvements of "J-PlatPat" have just been updated on May 2019, 5, but they are still under consideration and there is a possibility that the usage may change.In addition, paid search services are also diversified so that various things can be done.One of the skills in patent search is to understand each characteristic and precautions for such changes in information retrieval services and to use them according to the purpose.
In addition, it can be said that the search introduced this time is not sufficient when actually filing a patent application, using it as a basic material for research policy, or when fully grasping whether or not it infringes the patent of another person. ..In that case, please consult with your company's intellectual property department or patent research company.

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Reference HP
Patent Information Platform J-PlatPat
https://www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/

Research Division Nagaoka