Re: German patent English equiv & GB maint fees?

Andy Berks (BERKSA@war.wyeth.com)
Wed, 24 Feb 1999 14:13:56 -0500

Regarding item 1 below, I think you will find this to be very difficult, because even though the Paris Convention has been around since 1888, it was not until the mid 1960's that patent offices commonly included priority data on the front page of patents. In US patents for example, patents in the pre priority info days would say something like "This patent claims priority from a German application", with no serial number or filing date. There was a thread on this list last week about German patent numbering (which is complicated) that might be helpful. Your best bet in getting the answer to your question is probably the author index of Chemical Abstracts (assuming this is a chemical patent).

Andy Berks
Wyeth Ayerst Research
Pearl River NY

>>> "Brian W. Rossmann" <bwr@rice.edu> 2/24/99 12:54:05 PM >>>
I have two questions on which I would appreciate any help that the list
may be able to offer:

1. Is there a way to find out if there is an English language equivalent
to a German Patent from '57 (since Derwent's coverage does not extend this
far back)? The patent I have is DE Nr.955891; January 10, 1957;
Blutentnahmeschnepper, to Karl Leibinger, Muhlheim/Donau (Wurtt.).

2. Does the British Patent Office publish a list of patents for which
the maintenance fees have not been paid (as USPTO does)? I need to find
out if the maintenance fees have been paid for GB 2239664A (published
10.07.1991.)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

*******************************************************
Brian W. Rossmann
South Central Intellectual Property Partnership at Rice
The Fondren Library, MS 220
Rice University
P.O. Box 1892
Houston, TX 77251-1892.
713.285.5196 phone
713.524.1163 fax
bwr@rice.edu
http://www.rice.edu/Fondren/SCIPPR/