INPADOC

INPADOC, which stands for International Patent Documentation,[1][notes 1] is an international patent collection. The database is produced and maintained by the European Patent Office (EPO). It contains patent families and legal status information, and is updated weekly.

INPADOC was founded by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the government of Austria under an agreement on May 2, 1972.[2] A little less than twenty years later, in 1991,[3] it was integrated into the European Patent Office. An EPO sub-office was then created in Vienna, Austria.[4]

The INPADOC database, which is publicly accessible, provides information about patent families, i.e. corresponding patent applications, i.e., patent applications in different countries which claim the same priority and which normally disclose the same invention. It also provides information concerning the legal status of patent applications and patents in those countries which report status changes.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Prior to 2014, it was the International Patent Documentation Center.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "What's in a name?". Patent Information News (European Patent Office) (4/2014): 4. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Vertrag zwischen der Republik Österreich und der Weltorganisation für geistiges Eigentum in Genf über die Errichtung eines Internationalen Patentdokumentationszentrums / Agreement between the Republic of Austria and the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva Concerning the Establishment of an International Patent Documentation Center (signed on May 2, 1972)". Bundesgesetzblatt für die Republik Österreich (Austrian Federal Law Gazette) (in German, English, French) (Vienna) 93 (1973): 2015–2020. 17 August 1973. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  3. ↑ "36 years in patent information" in Patent Information News 2, June 2010, page 12.
  4. ↑ "Agreement between the Republic of Austria and the European Patent Organization concerning the integration of the International Patent Documentation Center (INPADOC) into the European Patent Office". Bundesgesetzblatt für die Republik Österreich (Austrian Federal Law Gazette) (in German, English, French) (Vienna) 263 (1990): 4059–4065. 6 November 1990. Retrieved January 9, 2015.

External links