The role of ONLINE and CD-ROM within the framework of the European patent information policy

Abstract

In 1988 the foundations for a European Patent Information Policy were laid by a decision of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation. Cooperation between the national patent offices of the Member States of the European Patent Organisation and the European Patent Office in the field of patent information policy offers Europe opportunities unequalled by anything that Japan and the United States have to offer. A number of projects for the further development of the publication system of the European Patent Office within the next four to five years will create new information media. These projects refer to the building-up and improvement of data collections and their processing. To dam up the flood of paper, patent information is offered and passed on with priority in electronic form. This is done in the form of online databases as well as in the form of CD-ROMs. At present, a situation of competition between these two media cannot be recognised; however, a kind of combination of the advantages of both might be possible.