Support : Publications : Chronolog Archives : Mar/Apr 2003

From the Experts...

Finding Patent Licensing Information on Dialog

A company can grow its business without extra research and development just by licensing a technology. There are several non-patent databases that provide coverage of licensing agreements, as well as information about patents available for licensing.

Although INPADOC/Family and Legal Status (File 345) may occasionally indicate the existence of a patent licensing agreement, several of Dialog's non-patent databases are a better source for this type of information. Business & Industry™ (File 9), Gale Group PROMT® (Files 16, 160) and Dialog Global Reporter (File 20) often contain articles that provide more details on such licensing arrangements and may give information on agreements not covered by INPADOC. Patent numbers may not be mentioned in the articles, and patent number searching is not supported in these databases. Therefore, strategies using key words and relevant descriptor terms are required to retrieve articles pertaining to licensing agreements.

1. In Business & Industry (File 9), you can locate articles related to patent licensing agreements by restricting your search with the Concept Term (CT=) "patent license." For example, to find articles that discuss licensing agreements involving TiVo, Inc:
   

        ?B 9
        ?S TIVO/CO
        ?S CT=PATENT LICENSE
        ?S S1 AND S2

2. In Gale Group PROMT (Files 16, 160), you can find articles that discuss licensing agreements by restricting your search with the Event Name (EN=) "strategic alliances" and with key words describing the agreement. For example, to find articles that discuss licensing agreements involving influenza vaccines:
   

        ?B 16
        ?S INFLUENZA(W)VACCINE?
        ?S EN=STRATEGIC ALLIANCES AND (LICENS?(1N)(PATENT?
             OR AGREEMENT?))
        ?S S1 AND S2

3. Dialog Global Reporter (File 20) may provide even more comprehensive international coverage of patent licensing agreements than Business & Industry or Gale Group PROMT. You can find these articles by using the "patents licensing & standards" descriptor. For example, to find licensing agreements involving Telefonica SA:
   

        ?B 20
        ?S TELEFONICA(W)SA/CO
        ?S PATENTS LICENSING & STANDARDS/DE
        ?S S1 AND S2

Some Dialog files may provide information regarding patents available for licensing. This information is generally limited to pharmaceutical patents. IMS R& D Focus (Files 445, 955) will allow you to find pharmaceutical patents available for licensing worldwide and in specific countries. To find licensing opportunities for drugs pertaining to a specific disease or condition, search the disease or condition in the Clinical Indication field (/IN) and restrict your results with the limiter Licensing Available field (/AVAIL):

     ?B 445
     ?S CANCER/IN
     ?S S1/AVAIL

To further limit your results to patents available for licensing in a specific country or worldwide, use the Country Available for Licensing field (CL=):

      ?S S2 and CL=JAPAN
      ?S S2 and CL=WORLDWIDE

Susan Forbes, Knowledge Center, USA

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