Presenter:
Stephen Adams, Magister Ltd.

Abstract:
Patentability searches have demanded global coverage for many years, and in many instances novelty-destroying disclosures can be found from amongst the patent documents from the ‘usual suspects’; the IP5 offices, the PCT or a small range of established national offices representing industrialised countries. However, as more FTO work is demanded, there is increasing interest in being able to search for more and more ‘exotic’ countries.  In some cases, it may be difficult to locate even the bare minimum of bibliographic information, let alone detailed legal status, and this paucity of data has hindered the addition of these countries into the coverage of family databases. This often leaves searchers reliant upon national-language registers or local search files without sophisticated retrieval capabilities.  This workshop will discuss some research focused on identifying some countries with increasingly active IP regimes, and to make the case for their inclusion in the worldwide flow of patent information.  Having identified the rising stars, the workshop will review the documentation from each country and assess the impact which their inclusion could have upon value-added search sources.