I can comment on the "uniqueness" factoid ("70-90% unique info in patents").
I had a question about this some years ago and after some inquiries traced
it to a study done at Derwent by Michael Dixon. A number to this effect
appeared at one time in Derwent marketing material. Michael worked at
Derwent for many years and left the company around 1992. I haven't heard
from him in about 5 years. He told me that he developed the number that
about 75% of information in patents is unique and not published elsewhere,
but I don't know what the study methods were.
There was a real number generated in 1991 by Intelligenetics, then under
contract with Derwent to produce the first complete version of GeneSeq. They
were able to analyze the entrire backfile of nucleic acid sequences in
patents from 1981 to 1991 and compare it to GenBank, which at that time had
no patent information at all (GenBank has patent info nowadays). The result
was that 54% of the sequences in GenSeq were unique and not in GenBank.
Unfortunately, this number was not formally published, but I think I have a
written report on this from the people at Intelligenetics.
Andy Berks
> ----------
> From: Bill Murray[SMTP:billmurray2@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, June 26, 2000 10:01 AM
> To: piug-l@derwent.tecc.co.uk
> Subject: FWD: Patent Factoids
>
> non-member submission from "Richard Poynder" <rich_p@dial.pipex.com>
>
> Hi,
>
> Over the years we have all got used to using a number of factoids about
> the
> patent system, and patent information. Tracing back the origins of many of
> these "well known facts" often proves more troublesome however.
> Nevertheless, it would really help me in the articles I write not only to
> be
> able to use specific facts like these, but to be able to provide the
> source
> too, and I wondered if members of PIUG might be able to help.
>
> Two immediate such factoids that come to mind are the following:
>
> -- 70-90% of the information contained within patents is never published
> anywhere else
>
> -- Last year the European Patent Office had a factoid on its web site
> saying
> that around $20,000 million a year is wasted in Europe as a result of
> duplicated research, and that
> "only 59,000 companies in Europe have made use of the patent system in
> the last five years, leaving another 111,000 companies that should have
> used
> the patent system."
>
> The latter has I believe now been taken down as no one could establish
> where
> the figures came from!
>
> Does anyone know the origins of the facts above, or have any other such
> facts they can offer up that would help to make important points about
> patenting and patent information -- along with a source?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
> Richard Poynder
> Freelance Journalist
> Tel: +44 1844 215646
> Fax: +44 1844 215646
> Mobile: 0793-202-4032
> E-mail: richard.poynder@journalist.co.uk
> Web: www.richardpoynder.com
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
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>
>
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