Patent literature as a source of information for research and development: an investigation on calcium phosphate-containing biomaterials, Part I.

Abstract

The usefulness of patent literature for research and development is mostly unknown. Therefore a specific patent retrieval has been carried out concerning calcium phosphate-containing biomaterials. This research field includes chemical, medical, and engineering problems and is of importance to the development of bioactive materials for bone replacement. The preliminary work includes information on the characteristics and the availability of patent literature as well as about patent classification systems according to which the documents are filed in patent collections. By reading the non-patent literature searching questions can be formulated. The proper patent retrieval starts with the study of secondary literature especially that in Chemical Abstracts, which report on patents since 1907. The structure of Chemical Abstracts, their indexes and sections help to find relevant patents of chemical or chemical engineering contents fast and inspire to read patents of bordering areas. This retrieval from Chemical Abstracts led to 171 patents disclosed 1975-1985 and to 95 patents disclosed in 1986; the latter are listed in a table. The contents of the abstracts inform on the research activity and help to reduce time and effort for a continuation of the retrieval in a patent collections or database.