Scholarly publications have always been the first choice for keeping track of ground-breaking research in academia. These kinds of sources such as scientific journals are generally labeled as non-patent literature (NPL) in the context of IP. NPL is used as a valuable source for competitive intelligence and prior art for invalidity or novelty searches. Any NPL that is closely related to the subject matter covered in a patent application is cited within the document by the inventor or examiner.
For example, the inventor or examiner cites any NPL that is closely linked to the subject matter in a patent application. Several competitive intelligence workflows also use NPL citations to gain insights on the extent of a patenting entity’s research.
Kinds of NPL and their sources
NPL can be broadly categorised into non-journal references and journal references.
What role does NPL play in IP processes?
A) Invalidation search or novelty search
In addition to patents, NPL can also be used as valid prior art for invalidity or novelty searches. NPL is published before patents (which take 12–24 months from the filing date to publication), so it should be included in your prior art searches particularly for projects with high future investments, where it’s necessary to restrict expenditure on inventions that may not obtain patent protection.
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B) Competitive intelligence & technology analysis
NPL holds a lot of potential for competitive intelligence activities. Prominent CI activities include:
- Finding open innovation or licensing partners — Literature research can help in finding the right partner for open innovation or licensing. If a company has already started work on a technology, they can use literature references to find partners that are working in the same industry to accelerate the development of the technology and launch it in the market before others do so.
- Accelerating the innovation cycle — A thorough study of NPL along with patents helps accelerate the innovation cycle from ideation to commercialization. As universities initially publish only a fraction of their research in patents, no technology landscape or problem-solution analysis is complete without looking at non-patent literature.
Read the full article — Why is Non-Patent Literature Vital for Patent Research? to learn more about the uses of NPL for competitive intelligence.
