PATENT INFORMATION AND ELECTRONICS

Patenting as well as uses of patent documents as important technology information tools are well known for strategic planning in global R&D and their commercialisation. The latest electronics and information te chnologies like CD-ROMs, On-line databases and Internet have made sea changes in organisations handling patent information, their storage, s earch, retrieval etc. These have facilitated rapid query-based search and retrieval of vast technical information and their timely availabil ity; thus further multiplying their utilisation. This article presents an impact analysis of CD-ROMs, Online databases and Internet on Paten ts Information as a whole. Sources of Patent information - commercial online, CD-ROM based and public domain patent databases from Internet, their contents and their synergistic role are also covered, Two case studies are presented to demonstrate the role patent information analy sis plays in determining: i) strategies for national technology planni ng as well as ii) inputs for corporate planning of a large company. It is followed by an analysis of patent information for technology monit oring, technology and market forecast, pointers to competitor's streng th etc, in electronics sector by carrying-out CD-ROM search of patents in 1994. The effectiveness of this methodology for these purposes is amply demonstrated. Responding to the needs, subject-specific CD-ROMs of patents have also started appearing in the market. While retrospect ive storage, search and retrieval of full, patent documents may contin ue to be done by national agencies dealing with patent information ser vices, it Is now feasible to set-up subject-specific Technology Alert Patent Search System (TAPS) to provide inputs for strategic planning b ased on the analysis of current patents filed globally.