Patents and published patent applications are an invaluable source of information about new developments in all areas of technology and indicate the level of activity in particular markets and technological fields.
Granted patents and published applications for patents are a unique source of technical information. More than 120,000 applications for patents are filed in the European Patent Office every year. In Japan and the U.S.A. the corresponding annual numbers of patent applications are substantially higher.
Over 90% of the world's patent applications are filed in the European, Japanese and U.S. Patent Offices or as International applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.
Searches through patent literature can be conducted for a number of different reasons, the principal purposes being as follows:
Further Information On Searches
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