Patent literature in chemical sciences: an analytical study of selected countries

Abstract

Patent is basically a technical and legal document expressing the agreement between the state (National Govt.) and individual / inventor, in which the state grants the inventor, a monopoly for a certain period of time during which the inventor has the sole rights to commercially exploit the inventions. The patent system owes its origin to the 15th century. First it was initiated in Italy by awarding inventors with Open Letters. Later the statutes on patents were developed in various other countries. Patent system was amended with the onset of industrial revolution, advancement of S and T, international trade practices and setting up of Patent Convention Treaty. The internationalization of commerce in late 19th century developed patent application filing process. Patents were being filed in all sectors however the chemical sciences are leading. Patent as an Intellectual Property plays an important role in economic, industrial, social and cultural development of a nation. Patent literature is more preferred form of information resource used by scientific community. This is because, it contains nascent information. Access to patent literature is made easy to encourage the innovative activities. In the contemporary context the chemical sciences occupy a unique position among the different disciplines in sciences. The versatility of chemistry lies in its inter disciplinary nature where it overlaps with other disciplines such as medicine, physics, engineering and others. The growth of R and D activities in chemical sciences has been spectacular in the last century. Considering the growth of patents in chemical sciences, an analytical study of patents filed in some of the selected countries is being investigated here. The purpose of this investigation is to assess the trends in chemical patents using patent literature analysis covering the period 1997 to 2007.