United States Patent And Trademark Office Research Articles

Drone-Assisted Particulate Matter Measurement in Air Monitoring: A Patent Review

Air pollution is caused by the presence of polluting elements. Ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter (PM) are the most controlled gasses because they can be released into the atmosphere naturally or as a result of human activity, which affects air quality and causes disease and premature death in exposed people. Depending on the substance being measured, ambient air monitors have different types of air quality sensors. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in designing drones as mobile sensors for monitoring air pollution. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive patent review to gain insight into the proprietary technologies currently used in drones used to monitor outdoor air pollution. Patent searches were conducted using three different patent search engines: Google Patents, WIPO’s Patentscope, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The analysis of each patent consists of extracting data that supply information regarding the type of drone, sensor, or equipment for measuring PM, the lack or presence of a cyclone separator, and the ability to process the turbulence generated by the drone’s propellers. A total of 1473 patent documents were retrieved using the search engine. However, only 13 met the inclusion criteria, including patent documents reporting drone designs for outdoor air pollution monitoring. Therefore, was found that most patents fall under class G01N (measurement; testing) according to the International Patents Classification, where the most common sensors and devices are infrared or visible light cameras, cleaning devices, and GPS tracking devices. The most common tasks performed by drones are air pollution monitoring, assessment, and control. These categories cover different aspects of the air pollution management cycle and are essential to effectively address this environmental problem.

Large-scale text analysis using generative language models: A case study in discovering public value expressions in AI patents

Abstract We put forward a novel approach using a generative language model (GPT-4) to produce labels and rationales for large-scale text analysis. The approach is used to discover public value expressions in patents. Using text (5.4 million sentences) for 154,934 US AI patent documents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), we design a semi-automated, human-supervised framework for identifying and labeling public value expressions in these sentences. A GPT-4 prompt is developed that includes definitions, guidelines, examples, and rationales for text classification. We evaluate the labels and rationales produced by GPT-4 using BLEU scores and topic modeling, finding that they are accurate, diverse, and faithful. GPT-4 achieved an advanced recognition of public value expressions from our framework, which it also uses to discover unseen public value expressions. The GPT-produced labels are used to train BERT-based classifiers and predict sentences on the entire database, achieving high F1 scores for the 3-class (0.85) and 2-class classification (0.91) tasks. We discuss the implications of our approach for conducting large-scale text analyses with complex and abstract concepts. With careful framework design and interactive human oversight, we suggest that generative language models can offer significant assistance in producing labels and rationales.

Cross-industry vs. same-industry acquisitions: unveiling their differential impacts on innovation in the smartphone industry

ABSTRACT Firm acquisitions have emerged as a pivotal driver of innovation, particularly in the smartphone industry. This study investigates the effects of different acquisition strategies – same-industry and cross-industry – on innovation. By analysing data from 84 acquisitions by smartphone firms between 2007 and 2022, along with United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent records, it is evident that cross-industry acquisitions significantly enhance innovation. By contrast, same-industry acquisitions do not impact firm innovation. This trend is also consistent with breakthrough innovations examined through patent citations. The findings underscore the crucial role of cross-industry acquisitions in stimulating substantial innovation and provide key insights for strategic economic decision-making, particularly for firms that consider diverse acquisition strategies.

A current review on P2X7 receptor antagonist patents in the treatment of neuroinflammatory disorders: a patent review on antagonists.

Chronic inflammation is defined by an activated microglial state linked to all neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a motor neuron disease that affects the brain and spinal cord). P2X7 receptors (P2X7R) are ATP-activated ion-gated channels present on microglial surfaces. Prolonged ATP release under pathological settings results in sustained P2X7R activation, which leads to inflammasome development and cytokine release. P2X7R and its enabling roles have recently been linked to neurodegenerative diseases, making it a potential research subject. This research provides an overview of current patents for chemicals, biologics, and medicinal applications. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), European Patent Office (EPO, Espacenet), and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) databases were searched for patents using the keywords "P2X7R and Neuroinflammation." During the study period from 2015 to 2021, 103 patents were examined. The countries that protected these innovations were the United States, PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty states), Europe, Canada, Australia, and India. Janssen Pharmaceutica NV had the most applications, followed by Acetelion Pharmaceuticals LTD., Renovis Inc., Kelly Michael G, Kincaid Jhon, Merck Patent GMBH, H Lundbeck A/S, and many more. The P2X7R is a possible diagnostic and therapeutic target for cancer, pain disorders, and inflammation. For P2X7 R, several compounds have been discovered and are presently the subject of clinical trial investigations. This study featured patents for P2X7R antagonists, which help treat conditions including neuroinflammation.

Building knowledge graphs from technical documents using named entity recognition and edge weight updating neural network with triplet loss for entity normalization

Attempts to express information from various documents in graph form are rapidly increasing. The speed and volume in which these documents are being generated call for an automated process, based on machine learning techniques, for cost-effective and timely analysis. Past studies responded to such needs by building knowledge graphs or technology trees from the bibliographic information of documents, or by relying on text mining techniques in order to extract keywords and/or phrases. While these approaches provide an intuitive glance into the technological hotspots or the key features of the select field, there still is room for improvement, especially in terms of recognizing the same entities appearing in different forms so as to interconnect closely related technological concepts properly. In this paper, we propose to build a patent knowledge network using the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent filings for the semiconductor device sector by fine-tuning Huggingface’s named entity recognition (NER) model with our novel edge weight updating neural network. For the named entity normalization, we employ edge weight updating neural network with positive and negative candidates that are chosen by substring matching techniques. Experiment results show that our proposed approach performs very competitively against the conventional keyword extraction models frequently employed in patent analysis, especially for the named entity normalization (NEN) and document retrieval tasks. By grouping entities with named entity normalization model, the resulting knowledge graph achieves higher scores in retrieval tasks. We also show that our model is robust to the out-of-vocabulary problem by employing the fine-tuned BERT NER model.

The US government customer concentration and the firm innovation

PurposeThis study examines the impact of the US government customer concentration and product innovation in supplier firms. The US government customer concentration is defined as the proportion of sales made by a supplier firm to the US government as a major customer. To measure product innovation, the author uses two key metrics: the number of patents and the novelty of the patents. The results indicate that a supplier firm’s relationship with the US government, as measured by the tenure of the relationship, has a significant impact on product innovation. Furthermore, the author shows that changes in the composition of the US government, Senate can also affect the level of innovation in supplier firms.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs the Compustat’s Segment Customer database and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Patent Citation database to gather information regarding patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The author also incorporates data from US Congressional committees from the 96th to 115th Congresses to assess the effect of changes in seniority of US senators on influential committees on the firm’s innovation. For a robustness test, the author utilizes a propensity score matched analysis.FindingsThe author demonstrates that a firm’s dependence on the US government as a customer channel for an extended period negatively impacts the firm’s innovation efficiency, as measured by the number of patents, citations and novelty of the patents. In addition, the author provides evidence that changes in the seniority of US senators on influential committees have a significant impact on firms located in the same state as the new senior senators. These firms decrease innovative efforts due to the political connections, resulting in lower levels of innovation. These findings are robust after controlling the endogeneity issues. In conclusion, this study contributes to the existing literature by offering insight into the relationship between customer concentration and firm innovation. The findings highlight the importance of considering the relationship between firms and their customer base in determining innovation outcomes.Originality/valueThis study demonstrates that a heavy reliance on the US government as a customer channel has a detrimental impact on a firm’s innovation efficiency. Furthermore, the author analyzes the exogenous shock of changes in the seniority of US senators on the relationship between customer dependence and innovation. By utilizing a propensity matched sample, the author addresses endogeneity concerns and provides robust evidence for empirical findings. In conclusion, this study sheds light on the complex relationship between customer dependence and firm innovation, particularly in the context of the US government as a sales channel.

Comparative analysis on R&D internationalization under economy-level technological disparities and ownership-specific technological differences

PurposeThis study aims to investigate whether there are disparities in research and development (R&D) internationalization between latecomers from economy-level technological disparities and firms with ownership-specific technological capability differences in the wind turbine industry.Design/methodology/approachEmploying econometric analysis based on patent indicators, the authors examine the patent data assigned by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to the technologically advanced economy and the technologically emerging economy.FindingsThis study finds that latecomers from technologically advanced economies behave with no difference from early leaders in terms of international co-invention (INCO) but do show differences in another indicator – native ownership of foreign inventors (NOFIs). Additionally, latecomers from economy-level technological disparity show significant differences both in both INCO and NOFI. These results indicate that the latecomers from technologically advanced economies not only possess the nature of latecomers which motivates them to seek knowledge from foreign economies but also benefit from their advanced home base, thereby prompting them to internationalize and access cost-effective R&D resources. Moreover, the results demonstrate that latecomers from technologically emerging economies are more prone to engage in R&D internationalization to augment their own home base compared with firms from advanced economy.Originality/valueThis study extends the literature on R&D internationalization by introducing novel perspectives. It distinguishes some apparent distinctions of the tendency of R&D internationalization between latecomers under economy-level technological disparity as well as firms from ownership-specific technological capabilities differences. Additionally, this study disaggregates R&D internationalization into twin key dimensions: INCO and NOFI. These findings allow for a comprehensive understanding of the differences in the firm's R&D internationalization under economy-level technological disparities and ownership-specific technological differences. These findings offer valuable insights for decision-makers in navigating global innovation activities by highlighting the diverse economy-level technological advantages as well as ownership-specific advantages.

Recent Advances in Pyrazole-based Protein Kinase Inhibitors as Emerging Therapeutic Targets.

Pyrazole-scaffold protein kinase inhibitors (PKIs) have emerged as promising therapeutic agents for the treatment of various diseases, such as cancer, inflammatory disorders, and neurological diseases. This review article provides an overview of the pharmacological properties of pyrazole-scaffold PKIs, including their mechanism of action, selectivity, potency, and toxicity. The article also summarizes the recent developments in the design and synthesis of pyrazole-scaffold PKIs, highlighting the structural features and modifications that contribute to their pharmacological activity. In addition, the article discusses the preclinical and clinical studies of pyrazole-scaffold PKIs, including their efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetic properties. A comprehensive search has been conducted on several online patent databases, including the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The search was conducted using pyrazole as the keyword. The search was limited to patents filed between 2015 and 2022. Patents were included if they involved articles in the fields of protein kinase inhibitors, and included literature on some pyrazoles and their pharmacological activities. Data were extracted from each included patent on the following variables: patent title, patent number, inventors, assignee, filing date, publication date, patent type, and field of invention. Data were extracted from each patent using a standardized form to ensure consistency and accuracy. The design and pharmacological evaluation of organic compounds containing pyrazole structure as biologically active substances have been done, and the key structures from the pharmacological data obtained as protein kinase inhibitors have been addressed in detail. The review concludes with a discussion on the current challenges and future directions for the development of pyrazole-scaffold PKIs as therapeutic agents. Overall, this review article provides a comprehensive summary of the pharmacological properties of pyrazole-scaffold PKIs, which will be of interest to researchers and clinicians in the field of drug discovery and development.

Classifying the Main Technology Clusters and Assignees of Home Automation Networks Using Patent Classifications

Home automation technologies are a vital part of humanity, as they provide convenience in otherwise mundane and repetitive tasks. In recent years, given the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors, these technologies have seen a tremendous rise, both in the methodologies utilized and in their industrial impact. Hence, many organizations and companies are securing commercial rights by patenting such technologies. In this study, we employ an analysis of 8482 home automation patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to extract thematic clusters and distinguish those that drive the market and those that have declined over the course of time. Moreover, we identify prevalent competitors per cluster and analyze the results under the spectrum of their market impact and objectives. The key findings indicate that home automation networks encompass a variety of technological areas and organizations with diverse interests.

Holdup, Knowledge Transferability, and Productivity: Theory and Evidence from Knowledge Workers*

This article studies how firing costs affect the productivity of knowledge workers. We develop a holdup model in which workers are essential to knowledge transfer between firms and show that if the worker's knowledge stock is sufficiently transferable to competing firms, an increase in firing costs inhibits the firm's ability to hold up the worker and thereby leads to higher effort. We consider the passage of the wrongful discharge laws in the US as an exogenous increase in firing costs and test our theory using data on patents filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Knowledge sourcing and national technological development: The weak internationalization of R&D in South Korea

South Korea has developed strong technological capabilities in firms based in the home country rather than through the R&D activities of subsidiaries in foreign countries. Investigating knowledge sourcing patterns in Korean firms offers new insights into cross-border knowledge sourcing in international businesses. Hence, this study investigates how firms in a home country with weak internationalization of R&D source international knowledge. Specifically, using patent data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), this study employs a probit model to examine the impact of Korea’s comparative technological development on the knowledge-sourcing behavior of its firms. The results show that Korea's comparative technological development influences firms' international knowledge sourcing, their technological diversity, and cross-country geography. Our findings have practical applications in developing public policies for emerging market countries to enhance their domestic capacity for international knowledge sourcing and keep up with the advanced technologies available in selected locations worldwide.

Patent citations and knowledge spillovers: an empirical analysis of Indian patents

ABSTRACT This study uses patent citations data to measure knowledge spillovers at three levels: inventor, firm, and technology. We have collected Indian patents data granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and their backward citations from 1990 to 2019. To conduct our empirical analysis, we apply the Negative Binomial (NB) and Generalised Negative Binomial Model (GNBM). To account for other factors influencing knowledge spillovers, we control for patent inventor size, applicant size, patent scope, and claims. Our findings show that US-origin inventors outperform Indian and European inventors in terms of knowledge spillover from patent citations. Similarly, US firms show better knowledge spillover performance than Indian firms, foreign firms, Indian research centres, and other ownership categories. Lastly, the knowledge spillovers in chemistry technology patents are high compared to mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and other technology categories from existing patent stock. The emperical finding of our study suggests that the government can promote knowledge spillovers from patent citations and advance India towards a knowledge-based economy by attracting foreign inventors and firms in the country, investing in domestic R&D, and developing human capital.

The effect of the opioid crisis on patenting

The opioid crisis in the United States has resulted in a dramatic increase in overdose deaths over the last two decades. This crisis has created an economic ripple affecting an important engine of growth: patenting. Using patent data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), we show a negative effect of opioid prescriptions on the amount of patenting that occurs in a county. Despite inventive activities being hampered by the negative economic effects that opioid misuse creates in an area, we also find evidence that the opioid crisis incentivizes inventors to relocate. Similarly, we find a reduction in the number of high-tech firms and STEM graduates. We also show that the opioid crisis dramatically reduces the number of white and non-white inventors.

Obsolescence rate of sectors in patents filed in USPTO

The lifetime of a patent is 20 years, but many patents get abandoned before completing this duration. This may be in part due to the high maintenance fee required by United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), lack of demand for licensing, limited scope for workability in dynamic market situation, deficit of investment in taking it forward, change in the priorities of the inventor or emergence of more affordable or frugal competitive products. We have created a knowledge repository of abandoned patents in USPTO which are available for use by the scholars, entrepreneurs and others in the society. This repository has additional open access features compared to the earlier repository by Pearce such as the names of inventors, the country of inventors, date of abandonment along with the status of the patents, assignee history, number of citations, CPC, NBER and WIPO categories of each patent and entity status.In this paper we have analyzed some trends in the rate of abandonment over the years vis a vis non-abandoned or active patents over the years. We have also explored the number of abandoned and non-abandoned patents in different sectors based on the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) of patents. We have created a framework to classify the patents into separate categories based on the filing and abandonment rate. We have taken forward the work on patent lifecycle and used it to understand lifecycle of patent sectors. We have also created a quantitative metric, called as obsolescence rate, to identify the rising and declining sectors. Based on the obsolescence rate, sectors such as Heterocyclic Compounds (CPC category: C07D); Information Storage Based On Relative Movement Between Record Carrier And Transducer (CPC category: G11B); and Apparatus For Physical Training, Gymnastics, Swimming, Climbing, Or Fencing; Ball Games; Training Equipment (CPC category: A63B) and which are to the right of the reference line have a higher obsolescence rate and are hence declining sectors. Similarly, categories such as Computer Systems Based On Specific Computational Models (CPC category: G06 N); Systems For Controlling Or Regulating Non-Electric Variables (CPC category: G05D); and Control Or Regulating Systems In General; Functional Elements Of Such Systems; Monitoring Or Testing Arrangements For Such Systems Or Elements (CPC category: G05B) are on the left of reference line and are hence the rising sectors.

On the Need for Patent Speed

The “Million Milestone” chart found on the website of The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is a timeline of the eleven million patents that the office has granted since 1836: a visual depiction of patenting as expeditious and accelerating. With the chart as the backdrop, the narrative focus of this essay is on the third marker on the timeline, patent 3 million, granted to Kenneth R. Eldredge for “Automatic Reading System” on September 12, 1961. Two overlapping lines of inquiry are pursued. First, looking behind the chart in order to locate the history of patent three million as it happened, which is in conjunction with the 125th anniversary of the 1836 Patent Act, the moment when the “Million Milestone” begins. Second, looking at the chart to unpack how “Automatic Reading System” became part of an evidentiary chain that in 2023 seeks to convince us that accumulation and quantification stand as proof of technological progress. The overall objective of this essay is to show how the patent system synchronizes time and numbers in order to create knowledge about itself as a system, introducing the term tempo-metrics in order to account for the specific intersection of calculation and commemoration where such self-fashioning gains specific momentum.

Legal Protection against Unregistered Marks and Unfair Competition Practices (Comparative Study of Indonesia and the United States)

Business competition cannot be avoided any more if you decide to be involved in the business sector. However, business competition is only sometimes carried out automatically, fair and healthy. There are still many business actors who compete unfairly by justifying any means to be able to maintain their business. One is for brands prone to piracy, which are identification marks of a product/service. Therefore, legal protection of brands needs to be done to obtain legal certainty. The research method used in this paper is normative legal research, which is carried out by studying literature using secondary data to solve existing problems. In Indonesia, legal protection for marks can obtain legal certainty if they are successfully registered with the Director General of Intellectual Property Rights (HKI) using the first-to-file principle regulated in the Law on Trademarks and Geographical Indications. It differs slightly from the US trademark protection system, which uses the principle of use in commerce and requires the trademark owner to register the trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) under the Lanham Act.

Unlocking the Impact of Climate Change Mitigation Policies: A Comprehensive Study of Clean and Dirty Innovation Dynamics

Achieving the Paris Climate Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C to 2 °C by the end of the century will require massive investments in environmental technologies and a drastic shift away from high-carbon technologies. This paper investigates the impact of climate change mitigation policies on clean energy innovation. A statistical evaluation of the impact of public policies on the rate and direction of innovation for a lowcarbon future is complicated by the nature of the data and the absence of benchmarks. In addition, the statistical analysis is further complicated by the spillover effects between clean and dirty innovation and by the lag effects. In this paper, the authors assess the effects of both public policies, such as carbon taxes and green subsidies, and economic and environmental conditions, such as oil prices, large recessions, climate-related disasters, etc., on clean innovation using a nonparametric method based on the copula distribution of clean innovation. The authors collect data from the European Patent Office (EPO) Worldwide Patent Statistical (PATSTAT) Database, both on clean and dirty patents. This database is managed by the EPO and compiles data from patent offices around the world. The emphasis is put on inventions for which a patent application has been submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The inventions are dated based on the date of their first patent application. Clean innovation refers to patents in areas such as renewable energy generation and electric vehicles, while dirty innovation refers to fossil-based energy generation and internal combustion engines. The authors employ a novel nonparametric test against pairwise differences, especially in tail dependence structures, which we measure with tail copulas, thereby avoiding the possibility of parametric misspecification. This method also permits to examine the effects of various interventions and economic conditions on different portions of the distribution, with a particular emphasis on tail dependence. The authors identify nonlinear dependence structures between clean innovation, public policies, and economic determinants like the oil price and recession. By comparing the effects of clean and dirty innovation, we can determine whether the effect on clean innovation is distinct. The findings indicate that the tightening of environmental policies since the early 1990s has statistically and economically contributed to the increase in clean innovation. The findings can bolster public support for green R&D. In addition, they suggest that green policies may be able to increase the knowledge diffusion of clean innovation.

An Empirical Enquiry into Transnational Co-Patent Networks and their Characteristics, Evolution: The Case of Electric Vehicle Technology

Electric vehicle technology is a crucial technology for achieving sustainable energy transformation, which is of great significance to climate change and promotes sustainable development. This paper attempts to study the transnational R&D cooperation of electric vehicles. According to the authorized data of transnational co-patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a social network analysis method is employed, and a detailed study of transnational co-patent networks in electric vehicles is conducted, including the construction of network, the analysis of nationality distribution of co-patent inventors, the analysis of structural characteristics and important nodes of network in different stages from the perspective of inventors and countries. The research results show that the cooperative groups formed by inventors are independent of each other and have not yet formed a large network; the degree of transnational cooperation in developed countries far exceeds that in developing countries; the US and Germany are the dual-core in the transnational co-patent networks; the breadth and intensity of transnational cooperation are strengthening, and the regional borders are less and less restrictive. As for the existing problems, authoritative inventors could organize large international R&D cooperation institutions to gather dispersed inventors together and connect them into a large inventors’ network; developing countries are encouraged to seek partners through the network, actively participate in transnational R&D cooperation, and developed countries are encouraged to hold global technological innovation events.

Comments of Edward Lee and Nelson Rosario to the Non-Fungible Study by the United States Copyright Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

Comments of Edward Lee and Nelson Rosario to the Non-Fungible Study by the United States Copyright Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

Mapping technological trajectories and exploring knowledge sources: A case study of E-payment technologies

Technology trajectory provides valuable information on technological development and its potential impact. This study takes E-Payment technology as an example by presenting the technological development trajectory, and by exploring the contribution of knowledge sources from different regions and various technical fields. In the process of technological trajectory evolution, different trajectory phenomena will appear in different periods, such as convergence, lock-in, and dominance in technological development. To find out the phenomenon of electronic payment technology trajectory, this study uses a patent database of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as a data source. It uses keywords to conduct a patent search, a patent citation data set is established, and the main path analysis (MPA) is performed. According to the research results, the E-payment industry technology is dominated by the United States from the country's patent ownership perspective. The combination of American Qualcomm and Firethorn Mobile has the key technology leading position on the main path of technological development. From the perspective of patentees, VISA and MasterCard have invested the most in technology R&D to show their leading position in future technology development. According to the main path analysis of patents, the research results showed that from the year 1983 to the year 2007, technology had developed diversified, and knowledge flow in related technical fields had already expanded. In the year 2008, technological development changed with technological fusion, and the technology was locked in. After 2013, a patent for “identity verification” on transaction security appeared on the key main path. After the emergence of this core patent technology, a technological explosion occurred. Various technologies developed rapidly during this period and had continued to occur so far. Since 2008, the number of patent announcements has been in a stage of high technological growth so it can be regarded as the growth stage of the technology life cycle. In addition to the main technical analysis, payment security is the core technology of the entire payment industry. Near-field communications (NFC) technology has the most critical development trend among the related technologies developed, followed by cloud computing-related technologies.