Patent Data Search Free of Charge from 1 July 2008.

　Effective from 1 July 2008, patent search is gratuitous.  Users may quickly retrieve the complete text of the target patented technology, the status of the target application, the ownership change of the target patent and the image file of the complete patent specification.  TIPO said efficient full-text patent search allows businesses to quickly get hold of the patent claims and the state of the relevant art to prevent repeated R&D costs.

　Originally, complete patent search service is provided to members who pay TWD20,000 - TWD600,000 each year.  Partial free search service is available but at low speed and  limited accessibility.

　According to WIPO’s relevant report, 90%~95% of the R&D result is represented in the patent specification, 80% of which is never publicly released in any articles, journals or periodicals.  That is, patent specification is the only material that fully discloses the core information of the patent.  Making the best of the information can save up to 60% of the time and 40% of the cost in R&D.

　The content of the national patent databank reflects the R&D achievements of the country as a whole.  TIPO began active efforts in 2007 to execute the project of building a full-text retrieval patent search operation system followed by the construction of the full-text patent database in 2008 together with the re-establishment of WEBPAT, TIPO’s system for patent search and patent data downloads.  (2008.7)

/EMA