July 25, 2018 Thimphu: The ThimphuTechPark in collaboration with Department of Intellectual Property, MoEA has organized a day long workshop on Patent Searching at the ThimphuTechPark Ltd. on July 25, 2018.

The objective of the workshop is to introduce to the patent system and the global free patent databases, demonstrate basic search techniques to mine inventions from these databases. Some of the freely accessible major international patent databases are World Intellectual Property Organization’s Patentscope (http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/en/ )and European Patent Office’s Espacenet (https://worldwide.espacenet.com/) Other big patent offices such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Japan Patent Office (JPO), etc. also make available their national patent databases for public access. The instantly accessible Google Patent search system is also a useful site. Collectively, these free patent databases make available 90 million plus inventions in the form of published patent applications. The main components of a patent application are the title of the invention, abstract (summery), detailed description, claims and the drawings.

There are multipurpose for carrying out the patent searches but some practical goals of search are to avoid reinventing the wheel by avoiding duplication of efforts such as researching solutions on technical problems already solved by others, inventing products already launched in markets and also to check if the invention (or a similar technology) the searcher is presently working on is or has been already invented by others anywhere in the world. After going through the relevant search results, the users can determine if they are interested to pursue further and may choose to put their efforts in developing incremental innovations to the prior inventions. Users also have the freedom to customize and reproduce the whole invention for commercialization if they are not protected in the country through registration with the DoIP.  The workshop conducted basic search exercises for inventions in all the mentioned databases.

The workshop was organized in ThimphuTechPark Pvt. Ltd. as it is one of the three Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISCs) established in the country. The other two TISCs are located in College of Science and Technology, Chhukha and Jigme Namgyel Engineering College, SamdrupJongkhar. The Agreements for establishing these TISCs were signed on 20 June 2018 between the Department of Intellectual Property (DoIP) and the three TISC host institutions. Some of the services offered by TISCs include access to online patent and non-patent (scientific and technical) resources and IP-related publications, assistance in searching and retrieving technology information and training in database search.

The participants comprised of aspiring entrepreneurs, startups, business person, civil servant, high school and college students and other interested individuals.