Nanotechnology in U.S.

Patents:
Classification,
Searching and Analysis

Charlotte A. Erdmann
Siegesmund Engineering Library
Purdue University

Apples and Oranges:

A Work in Progress
Similarities and Differences

Nanotechnology is emerging area

Multi-faceted and interdisciplinary
Common threads for emerging areas
Basic research is found in journal and
conference literature
Specific facets that have commercial
possibilities are found in patents

Patents --- Global perspective

One must have a patent in a country in

order to have protection in that country

Prior art includes literature from journal
articles, conference papers, patents, etc.

United States Patents

Issued Patents and Pre-Grant Publications

(beginning in 2001) are available

Classification (class/subclass) based on claims.
Classification for issued patents is more
thorough since it is assigned by the examiner.
It may change from date of issue.
Classification for published application is
machine assigned
Keyword searching is an option but it should not
be the only search method

Molecular nanowires from single walled

carbon nanotubes U.S. Patent 7,112,315
Issued September 26, 2006
Inventor: Kiang; Ching-Hwa (Los Angeles, CA)
Assignee: The Regents of the University of California (Oakland, CA)

Appl. No.: 09/354,531

Filed: July 15, 1999

Current U.S. Class:

423/447.1 ; 435/182; 977/702; 977/705; 977/750; 977/762
Current International Class:
D01F 9/12 (20060101); C12N 11/04 (20060101)
Field of Search: 435/176,177,180,182

Molecular nanowires from single walled

carbon nanotubes
US Published Application 20010051367
Inventor: Kiang; Ching-Hwa (Los Angeles, CA)
Serial No.: 354531

Serial Code: 09

Filed: July 15, 1999

Current U.S. Class:

435/182

U.S. Class at Publication:

435/182

International Class:

C12N 11/04

Starting Point
Index to the U.S. Patent Classification System
NanotechnologyClass 977
Manual of Classification
700
NANOSTRUCTURE
701
. Integrated with dissimilar structures on a
common substrate
702
.. Having biological material component
703
... Cellular
704
Nucleic acids (e.g., DNA or RNA, etc.)
705
... Protein or peptide
706
... Carbohydrate

A New Class Starts with a

Classification Order
Members of work team that created the class and when

it was done
Changes from previous classifications
Topics included and excluded
See also classes and/or subclasses to examine and
search. More than 31 other classes are represented for

Nanotechnology

Glossary of terms
Class schedule, i.e. subclasses
Definitions of class and subclasses with see references

Class 977 for Nanotechnology

Created in 2005/2006 as a Cross-Reference Art

Collection
Provides supplemental art collections for
searching and is not used as a basis for
assigning patent applications for examination
purposes
US patents or pre-grant publications can only be
classified in class 977 as Cross-references (XR)
or Secondary (SEC) classification, and not as
Original (OR) or Primary (PRI) classifications.

Class 977 includes:

Nanostructure and chemical compositions of

nanostructure
Device that include at least one nanostructure
Mathematical algorithms, e.g., computer
software, etc., specifically adapted for
modeling configurations or properties of
nanostructure
Methods or apparatus for making, detecting,
analyzing, or treating nanostructure
Specified particular uses of nanostructure

Issued Patent and Pre-grant

Publication
Limited number of patents in Class 977
Used Cassis Patent Bib for statistics from 1970October 2006

4546 Issued Patents

872 Pre-grant Publications

Using Access and Excel, it was possible to get

stats for country and state for the first inventor

Using GIS software, Chris Miller of Purdues
Library tested some mapping capabilities.
International locations caused more errors than
US cities

Even Simple Statistics may not be

meaningful due to small numbers

Issued Patents
US 2603
International - 1770

Pre-Grant Publications
US 500
International - 302

Goal: Acquire meaningful statistics

Add relevant class/subclasses for all

nanotechnology areas
Cleanup Cassis data

Inventor cities and countries for geographic data

Multiple inventors
Multiple assignees

Acquire data from other sources and cleanup as

needed

Alternate searches on esp@cenet,

WIPO, or Commercial Services
International Classification (IPC)
European Classification (ECLA)
Derwent World Patents $$
Questel Orbit INPADOC $$

International Patent Classification

http://www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/en/

PCT published application

http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/
(WO/2005/015579) METHODS OF
FORMING THREE-DIMENSIONAL
NANODOT ARRAYS IN A MATRIX
International Classification
G11B 5/855 (2006.01), H01F 1/00
(2006.01), H01F 41/20 (2006.01), H01F
41/30 (2006.01), H01L 29/12 (2006.01)

ECLA offers some possibilities

Broad Technical Fields Characterised by Dimensional Aspects
Y01
Nanotechnology

YO1N

More than 100,000

Nanobiotechnology

Y01N2

14727

Nanotechnology for Information

Processing, Storage and Transmission

Y01N4

31627

Nanotechnology for Materials and

Surface Science

Y01N8

11622

Nanooptics

Y01N10

19536

Nanomagnetics

Y01N12

16764

Services from European Patent

Office
Esp@cenet web site

http://ep.espacenet.com
Patent family
Legal status

Open download in XML possible from

http://ops.espacenet.com

esp@cenet
International: G11B5/855;

H01F1/00; H01F41/20; H01F41/30;

H01L29/12; G11B5/855; H01F1/00;

H01F41/14; H01L29/02; (IPC1-7):

H01F
European: G11B5/855; H01F1/00E10M;
H01F1/00E12; H01F41/20; H01L29/12W4;
Y01N4/00; Y01N12/00

VantagePoint
Possible access to improved software
used by many patent analysis
specialists and professional searchers

Alan Porter and colleagues at

Search Technology, Inc.
Completed funded research while at Georgia

Tech
Created VantagePoint software and wrote Tech

Mining: Exploiting New Technologies for

Competitive Advantage (2005)

Presented papers on results of research:

Defining the Nanotechnology Domain in a Real Time
Technology Assessment
Mining Patents + Research Publications to Improve
Technology Management: Nano Illustrations

VantagePoint capabilities
Importing
Cleaning
Analyzing
Reporting
Automating

In conclusion
Classification offers several systems that

work with patents

Searching several system is necessary
At the same time, it is going to take a lot
of work to show good patent analysis in
any field