Patent archivesthe silent threat
This article draws attention to the existing and potential problems arising from an increasing reliance on internet patent databases, many of which are incomplete, and from a tendency for existing paper-based collections to be destroyed. Examples of gaps in existing collections are provided. The author argues that an agreed policy is urgently needed to ensure that the 45 million or more published patent specifications are digitized, before often unique paper collections are disposed of, and that searchable, full text versions be produced of the 30 million specifications currently available only in image format.
internet patent databases paper-based collections prior art searching digitized patent archive incomplete archive searchable full text