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　The number of patent applications filed with ASEAN countries is on the rise due to the growing interest and attention to ASEAN countries.On the other hand, in many countries, the legislation is inadequate, and it may not be possible to obtain sufficient results in patent searches when applying for patents or implementing projects.
　Based on the above, we will organize information on the current situation and precautions in patent searches in ASEAN countries.

Precautions when using the database

　Points to note when conducting a patent search in ASEAN countries include "(XNUMX) mistranslation", "(XNUMX) data recording status", and "(XNUMX) data citation source" of the database used for the search.

① Mistranslation

　First of all, (XNUMX) Mistranslations can be searched in English in many databases, but Singapore and the Philippines are the only countries in the ASEAN countries that use English as their official language, and Singapore is the only language for application. , Philippines can be selected from English or Filipino.As you may know if you have searched for other non-English publications, there are many mistranslations of local language publications that are machine translated into English.Therefore, for countries where applications are filed in languages ​​other than English, it may be necessary to select an appropriate classification to cover mistranslations or search in the local language.

② Data recording status

　Next, with regard to (XNUMX) the data collection situation, since there are differences in the recording institutions and the number of records depending on the type of database, it is necessary to select an appropriate database according to the target country.Please refer to the "industrial property database search report" issued by JETRO for a comparison of the number of records in major free databases.In addition, we can expect to improve comprehensiveness by searching multiple databases and compensating for excesses and deficiencies.

③ Data source

　Finally (XNUMX) Regarding the source of data citations, commercial databases and some free databases often obtain DOCDB-derived gazettes, so even if the population searched in multiple databases is integrated, search without omission. Is difficult.It is necessary to select the database to be used for the search after confirming the data citation source of each database.

Database status

　Regarding the data recording status shown in (XNUMX) above, the types of each database and the number of recorded data are shown in the table below. There are free databases operated by public institutions and paid commercial databases as means for searching patent information of ASEAN countries.

　Looking at the data shown in the table by country, we can see that there is a large difference in the number of records recorded in both the free database and the commercial database depending on the target country.Myanmar, for example, is currently unable to search for patents using any database.This is probably because the IP-related law was passed in 2019, which is a short time.Laos, Cambodia, and Brunei also have few databases that can be used, and cannot be searched on the JPO homepages of each country, making it difficult to search for patents.On the contrary, Singapore has a large number of records in both free and commercial databases, and you can also search in English on the Singapore Patent Office website.Furthermore, Singapore, the Philippines, and Malaysia can be said to be relatively easy to search for patents, as they can be searched using the foreign patent information service "FOPICER" operated by the Japan Patent Office.

Differences by database

　Next, if you look at the data shown in the table above for each database, you can see that there is a difference in the number of records recorded.Taking Indonesia as an example, there is no big difference in the number of records recorded in ASEAN PATENTSCOPE, PAETNTSCOPE, and Shareresearch, but in Malaysia, there is a difference of about XNUMX times between ASEAN PATENTSCOPE, PAETNTSCOPE and other commercial databases.In the Philippines, it can be seen that commercial databases have more records than free databases.

　There are various types of free databases and commercial databases, and the free databases ASEAN PATENTSCOPE and PATENTSCOPE and the search pages of each country's patent office have the advantage of having a large number of records.However, there are problems such as the search page of each country's patent office can only be used in the local language, the results of multiple search formulas cannot be merged, and the population list cannot be downloaded.On the other hand, if you want ease of search and design of the population, we encourage you to use a commercial database.Please note that for commercial databases, you may need to apply for a separate option to search for ASEAN countries.

　We hope that the current status and problems of each database shown above will be utilized in future ASEAN patent search design to further improve the quality of the search.

Research Division Takemoto

【reference】
JETRO report Search report of industrial property database in each country
・ Indonesia (2018 version)
https://www.jetro.go.jp/ext_images/world/asia/idn/ip/pdf/search_ip_communique2018.pdf
・ Singapore (2017 version)
https://www.jetro.go.jp/ext_images/world/asia/sg/ip/pdf/search_ip_communique2016.pdf
・ Thailand (2017 version)
https://www.jetro.go.jp/ext_images/world/asia/th/ip/pdf/search_ip_communique2017.pdf
・ Philippines (2017 version)
https://www.jetro.go.jp/ext_images/world/asia/ph/ip/pdf/search_ip_communique2017.pdf
・ Malaysia (2017 version)
https://www.jetro.go.jp/ext_images/world/asia/my/ip/pdf/search_ip_communique2017.pdf
・ Vietnam (2017 version)
https://www.jetro.go.jp/ext_images/world/asia/vn/ip/pdf / search_ip_communique2017.pdf