List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Series Editor's Foreword -- Preface to Second Edition -- Preface to Third Edition -- Part I: Patent processes and documentation -- 1 Principles of patenting -- Legal Processes -- Defining a patent -- The concept of priority -- The historical examination process for patents -- The development of deferred examination and early publication -- A typical sequence in modern patent examination -- Patents as Information Tools -- Language of publication -- Patents as accessible documents -- Patent families -- Bibliographic Standards and the Form of a Patent Document -- Special Document Types -- Alternative forms of intellectual property (IP) rights -- Patent amendments and corrections -- Patent-related protection mechanisms -- References -- 2 The European Patent system -- EP Patent Documents - Centralised and Nationalised Procedures -- Formal examination and search report -- Unexamined publication -- Grant publication -- Post-grant publications -- Post-grant translations and the London Agreement -- Other post-grant events -- European Classification -- Databases and Database-Specific Aspects -- Relationships with the European Union -- The effect of European Regulations and Directives -- The Community Patent -- References -- 3 The United States patent system -- Historical Aspects -- Recent Law Changes -- US Patent Documents -- Application procedure -- Examination, early publication and grant -- Post-grant activities -- Databases and Database-Specific Aspects -- The US Patent Classification -- References -- 4 The Japanese patent system -- History of Japanese Patents -- Japanese Patent Documentation and Recent Law Changes -- Normal progress to grant -- Japanese B1 publications -- The importance of utility models -- Databases and Database-Specific Aspects.

The Japanese Patent Classification and Indexing Systems -- References -- 5 The Patent Co-operation Treaty -- Background to the PCT System -- PCT Documentation -- Databases Covering the PCT System -- References -- 6 National patent systems of the G7 countries -- Introduction -- Canada -- Historical aspects and current law -- National patent documentation -- Databases and database-specific aspects -- France -- Historical aspects and current law -- National patent documentation -- Databases and database-specific aspects -- Germany -- Historical aspects and current law -- National patent documentation -- Databases and database-specific aspects -- Italy -- Historical aspects and current law -- National patent documentation -- Databases and database-specific aspects -- United Kingdom -- Historical aspects and current law -- National patent documentation -- Databases and database-specific aspects -- References -- 7 The BRIC nations, Asia and regional patent systems -- Introduction -- Brazil -- Historical aspects and current law -- National patent documentation -- Databases and database-specific aspects -- Russian Federation -- Historical aspects and current law -- National patent documentation -- Databases and database-specific aspects -- India -- Historical aspects and current law -- National patent documentation -- Databases and database-specific aspects -- China -- Historical aspects and current law -- National patent documentation -- Databases and database-specific aspects -- Other Asian Countries -- South Korea -- Taiwan -- Regional Patent Systems -- The Eurasian Patent Office -- Africa - ARIPO and OAPI -- The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) -- Future developments in regional patent systems -- References -- Part II - Databases and search techniques -- 8 Patent guides and libraries.

General Directories and Reference Works -- United Kingdom Patent Libraries -- United States Patent Libraries -- German Patent Libraries -- The European PATLIB Network -- Japanese Patent Libraries -- Chinese Patent Libraries -- References -- 9 National and international patent information sources -- Paper Sources -- Optical Disk (CD-ROM, DVD) -- Integrated Disk-Internet Products Via Mimosa -- Proprietary Electronic Databases -- Derwent World Patent Index (DWPI) (Thomson-Reuters) -- Patent Citation Index (PCI) (Thomson-Reuters) -- PlusPat, FamPat (Questel) -- API Encompass and WPAM (Questel) -- INPADOC PFS and Open Patent Services (EPO) -- Pharm (Questel) -- Other Thomson-Reuters products -- IMS Patent Focus (IMS Health) -- GeneSeq (DGENE) -- Chemical Abstracts / Marpat (CAS) -- MMS (Questel) -- SureChem (Macmillan) -- Public Internet Sources -- National patent office websites -- Patent Office portal sites -- Controlled-Access Internet -- Password- or account-based systems -- Encrypted systems -- References -- 10 The non-patent literature for the patent searcher -- Legal Background to Non-Patent Literature Use -- Open-Access Journals -- Internet Disclosures -- Reference Guides -- Source Indexes -- Special Library Sources -- Subject Guides -- Reviews -- Tertiary Literature -- Other Forms Of Literature -- Grey literature -- Theses -- Traditional Knowledge (TK) -- Conference literature and technical standards -- Technical disclosure bulletins -- Conclusion -- References -- 11 Common search types (I) - Alerting searches -- Standard Bulletins -- In-House Strategies -- Specialist Suppliers -- 12 Common search types (II) - Patentability and freedom-to-operate searches -- The Patentability Search -- The Infringement Search -- References.

13 Common search types (III) - Portfolio and legal proceedings searching -- The Portfolio Search -- Validity and Opposition Searching -- References -- 14 Sources for legal status searching -- What is 'Legal Status'? -- Services from patent offices -- Multi-country coverage sources -- Commercial sources for legal status -- References -- 15 Commercial intelligence search and analysis -- State-of-the-Art Searches -- Patent Analysis Tools and Techniques -- References -- 16 Specialist techniques -- Searching of Citations -- Patent Classification -- The International Patent Classification and its derivatives -- The US Patent Classification -- Japanese F-term indexing -- The IP5 CHC project and the US-EP CPC -- Additional Non-Word Elements -- References -- 17 Future developments -- The Impact of the World Trade Organisation and WIPO -- The TRIPS Agreement -- The Patent Law Treaty (PLT) -- The Trilateral Offices and the IP5 -- The Future of Patent Searching? -- References -- Annex A: USPTO classification (current at 2011.02) -- Annex B: Historical JPO classification -- Annex C: Classes of the IPC (Edition dated 2011.01) -- Annex D: The theme groups of the Japanese F-term system -- Appendix 1: Glossary of patenting terms -- Appendix 2: Contact list for major database producers, hosts and libraries -- Appendix 3: Index of abbreviations -- Index.