Patent Assignment Data Map
Types of patent assignments
Patent assignments (events) include the following types
i) Transfer of ownership: Change of patent holder through patent transactions (purchase/sale), transfer of patents through M&A, and other (change of part of the owner, transfer of ownership shares)
ii) Setting and releasing the right of enforcement (licence) : There are two types of enforcement rights: exclusive enforcement right and non-exclusive enforcement right. When setting an enforcement right, the assignor is the right holder, and when releasing it, the assignor is the licensee.
iii) Setting and releasing security rights: When setting security rights, the assignor is the right holder, and when releasing security rights, the assignor is the security holder.
iv) Name change/address change of right holder, etc.
Patent assignment data processing process
Utilization of patent assignment data in PatentPia
GoldenCompass Analysis Service
PatentPia GoldenCompass provides patent transactions/purchased patents contents by patent set criteria. Patent set criteria has patent sets corresponding to i) company, ii) keyword, iii) technology field/patent classification, iv) researcher , v) keyword/technology field/patent classification of company, vi) keyword/technology field/patent classification of researchers, etc.
Analytics Service(coming soon)
PatentPia Analytics provides more than 10 different analysis contents that utilise either the input patentsets or the patents that constitute the citation-forward citations of the input patentsets for which transactions have occurred.
The contents of Analytics that utilize patent transactions/purchases data include
i) Purchase/transaction trends
ii) Technology/patent business opportunities
iii) Patent risk analysis, etc.
Search Service
In PatentPia Search, it contains function of processing criteria-matched
i) General patent search/Events(transactions/litigations/trials etc.) patent search
ii) Events(transactions/litigation/trials, etc.) search
as entering No. of assigned patents or the recorded date of the assignment for search criteria.
Other services
Special features of US assignment data : countervailing requirements
The difference of legal status of assignment registrations between nations
In the US, an assignment is effective upon execution of an assignment agreement without registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The assignment agreement alone causes the transfer of ownership. However, if it is not registered within three months after the date of the assignment agreement (transaction execution date), it will not be enforceable against a third party who has registered. In other words, in the event of a double assignment (more than one assignee) for the same patents, the assignee who contracts first will be the right holder within three months. However, even if you contract first, the assignee who registers with the intellectual property office first becomes the right holder after the last three months following the day of the contract.
However, in countries other than the US, an assignment agreement that is not registered with the intellectual property office is not effective. In other words, in Korea and other countries, an assignment agreement alone does not result in the transfer of patent rights, but must be registered with the intellectual property office to be effective.
As a result, it is very common in the US to not register with the intellectual property office after signing an assignment agreement.
Missing assignment history in the US
In the US, patent assignments are valid without registration with the intellectual property office, which makes it difficult to determine the current right holder of the patent. Unlike the US, in other countries such as KR, it is easy to determine the current right holder of a patent by following the history of registration with the intellectual property office.