IPairs

From Intellogist

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iPairs, the Indian Patent Information Retrieval System, is a free search portal launched by the Indian Patent Office. iPairs includes:^[1]

• Full specifications of Indian patents (HTML for more recent publications, and PDF for older publications)
• Legal status and register information (in a beta phase as of the 2010 release; users are advised to check with the issuing patent office for official status)
• Copies of the weekly "Patent Office Journal" issued by the IPO (copies may be downloaded in PDF format; an archive of older issues is available)
• An "application status" search function, which was expanded in September 2010 to provide access to examination reports, specifically the "first examination report" or "FER" which is sent to the applicant following examination. As of September 2010, the system contained FERs back through January 2009, and the gradual addition of older reports is planned.^[2]

After the addition of the examination reports to the iPairs legal status, the system can now be used to obtain information equivalent to a full file wrapper for Indian patent documents, including bibliographic information, abstracts, full specifications, and legal status data.^[2]

Major Recent Updates

April 2012 - IPAIRS Version 2.0 was recently released, and the new interface includes the following features, according to the "All about Patents" Blog:^[3]

The new search fields that have been added to expand the functionalities of the database are “Applicant Address”, “Inventor Address”, Journal Number (U/S 43(2)), PCT Application number and International classification. Similar to the integrated view of Espacenet, IPAIRS Version 2.0 allows one to view not only the complete specification of a specific patent but also valuable information of the patent on eRegister, Prosecution history and controller decision in a single window.

The new interface includes four available search tabs:

• Granted Patents - Select any bibliographic field from a drop-down menu, choose how the selected field corresponds to a keyword/phrase (equal to, containing, having phrase as, not equal to, not containing), and enter a keyword/phrase in an adjacent text box. Enter up to 13 field-specific keywords/phrases, combined by Boolean operators (AND/OR).
• Published Application - Select any bibliographic field from a drop-down menu, choose how the selected field corresponds to a keyword/phrase (equal to, containing, having phrase as, not equal to, not containing), and enter a keyword/phrase in an adjacent text box. Enter up to 11 field-specific keywords/phrases, combined by Boolean operators (AND/OR).
• Application Status - Enter an application number to search for the available status. Use the application number search formats described for each office, listed below the search form. If details for an application/published document are available, the system will list bibliographic details on the application, the current application status, and options to print the page, view the complete specification, view the E-register, view examination reports, view orders/decisions, and view documents.
• Agent Register - Search by agent number, agent name, or agent city/state. Results are listed in a grid below the search form, including the prefix, agent number, agent name, agent city/state, and expiration date of certification for each result. Select the "Details" option for the result to view the full record.

After conducting a search for granted patents or applications, up to 1,000 results may be displayed at one time in a grid (listing 15 results per page) that includes the application number, patent number, title of invention, and date of filing (for granted patents) and application number, publication number, title, filing date, and priority country (for applications). Select the patent number/application number in the grid to view the full record for that result. Application records include bibliographic data and the record abstract. Granted patent records include bibliographic details, the abstract, a link to the eRegister, a link to orders/decisions, a link to view documents, and the option to view the complete specification in HTML format.

Access

iPairs may be accessed from the Intellectual Property India homepage, where the user must select the link from the vertical menu on the left side of the page to view "Status of Patents."

An alternate interface for a search of granted patents is available at this URL. This search interface is not accessible through the Intellectual Property India homepage. The interface divides the granted patents into four different groups, based on patent number:

• 1-80,000
• 80,001-153,697
• 153,698 -169,500
• New Records

The search results found through this interface aren't available in a full record format. If a user selects a particular result to view from the list of search results, an error message will appear. It's possible that this search interface is an outdated version of the current search interface found on iPairs, since full records are accessible only through the the interface at the Indian Patent Information Retrieval System homepage.

Sources

1. ↑ "iPairs – the gateway to Indian patent information." Patent Information News, issue 2/2010, page 9. EPO website, http://www.epo.org/about-us/publications/patent-information/news/2010.html. Accessed on September 21, 2010.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} "First examination reports now on iPairs." EPO Patent Information News, volume 3/2010, page 7. EPO website, http://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/E705CBD8288EFB5CC12577A500365084/$File/Patentinfo_News_1003_en.pdf. Accessed September 21, 2010.
3. ↑ "The wait is over! - IPAIRS Version 2.0 Launched." All about Patents Blog, http://patentsind.blogspot.com/2012/04/wait-is-over-ipairs-version-20-launched.html. Accessed June 18, 2012.