The SPTO always renewing its service offer of patent technological information

Very useful for innovative firms and research public bodies

From its beginnings, the SPTO has been accomplishing a vital task assigned to the Office by the legal system: ‘The effective spread, on a regular basis, of the technological information subject of registration...’ (Real Decreto 1270/1997, de 24 de julio, por el que se regula la Oficina Española de Patentes y Marcas, O.A.).

At first, the technological information services had been just to provide paper copies of the Spanish and foreign documents of the SPTO archives at a reasonable price. Later on, these services were extended to provide patent search and professional analysis of the searching results (Patent Technological Reports). Nowadays, with free patent databases available on internet what allows you to obtain electronic copies of the patent leaflets directly, the copy supply service loses its sense, although it is still offered to whom cannot find a specific patent on internet.

Today, the technological information services provided by the SPTO and freely available have been extended again: beyond the possibility of searching on databases both Spanish (INVENES) and foreign ones (ESPACENET, PATENSCOPE…) there are other free services with added value such as the Technology Watch Bulletins and the Technology Alerts whose information can be found at the website. Currently, there are Technology Watch Bulletins for around 15 technical sectors and about 22 Technology Alerts for specific technological items, even though these figures are constantly increasing at the request of users.

In brief, the technological services that the SPTO offers nowadays are:

Free services:

• Technology Alerts
• Technology Watch Bulletins

Payment services:

• Patent Technological Reports
• Retrospective Searches
• Custom Technology Watch Reports

Current services of technological information are vital to:

• avoid research and development efforts duplication
  Before starting a R&D project, a thorough state of the art study should be done to avoid redundant investigations. This study should not only consider books and scientific journals, but also patent documents.
• determine the possible patentability of an invention
  During an R&D project, and also at its ending, patent information is essential to weather third parties investigations, stating which results could be patented and writing a good patent request.
• avoid the infraction of other inventors patents
  Firms and individuals interested in using certain technology (with the aim of manufacturing, selling, importing, etc.) should identify possible patent rights of their competitors and other market players before any industrial or commercial use of that technology. A patent information search made by a specialist together with a legal analysis of relevant patents and patent requests could help to identify blocking patents, if any, and avoid the infringement of third-party rights (freedom of operation).
• calculate the value of own patents or other inventors patents
• know and exploit free-use technologies described on patent requests that have never been granted and in those patents that are not valid in certain countries or whose validity has expired
• know more about innovative activities and future paths of rivals
• extract, analyse and examine the main trends on certain technology sectors, especially those of public interest and those related to health and environmental issues with the aim, for example, of drafting investment strategies or public policies.

All the above shows the great utility of the information that patents provide for innovative firms and public bodies. This is the reason why, from the eighties the SPTO has been making a clear bet to spread the use of patents as an information source, by expanding, diversifying and improving its service offer of technological information.