Retrieving Patents: An Overview for Pharmaceutical Industry

Abstract

Patent system worldwide, as known today, is about two hundred years old and existed in some format least about four hundred years ago in parts of Europe. However, over the last twenty years the volumeof patents has grown phenomenally with interdisciplinary and complex subjects and the existence of internetmakes most of the information available in some form or the other and has thus made the searchers’ questmore difficult. Thus, patent search has attained much greater significance as it is always interlinked withcommercial gains. India too has observed a quantum leap in patent applications in the last decade. Organisationsare attaching greater importance to patent filing and thus for patent searching too. Patent search, as aprofession has attained a significant position in the area of intellectual property .There has been severalattempts to simplify and make the patent search more efficient and effective. The present paper provides anoverview of the same.