Developments in Patents Documentation in Europe during the Last Decade

The professional patent searcher needs to understand the legal procedures underlying patent publications, to obtain maximum benefit from available information sources. The political upheavals in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall have resulted in substantial changes to national patent laws and procedures, in parallel with trends toward more regional filing methods. The response of the commercial database producers to new country coverage is discussed, together with aspects of new document types such as supplementary protection certificates for pharmaceuticals and the increasing popularity of utility model patents.