Update Schedule

Overview

The CLAIMS Global Patent Database data is delivered as a separate record for each patent publication, with data merged from multiple sources. The sources include the following:

• DocDB and legal status from the EPO
• Bibliographic and full text files from national patent offices
• Assignment information for US 
• Data from national registers for AU and EP
• Extensions and associated drug names for AU and US

New raw data is loaded as soon as published and includes both new records as well as changes.

Because of the unpredictable, large amount of updated records delivered by DocDB (which can cause delays in processing national office data), we are more selective in processing DocDB data by effectively spreading the weekly loads over a full week instead of processing the data when it is received. Doing so allows us to make sure that files covering newly published documents are processed in a timely manner.

The data we receive from patent offices may differ from what is available through their portals as they are separate products with different maintenance procedures and schedules. As a result, it may be helpful to consult the /legalstatus service if a more current source is needed.

In the following sections, we include information about data volumes and frequency of updates for the main raw data sources.

Weekly Updates

Data Volume and Type Per Delivery

The following table shows the average volume of records processed in each data delivery from the main raw data sources. It also indicates some of the elements that are commonly processed.

A: all first publications contain this element (excludes corrections, search reports, WO equivalents/republications, etc.)

S: some publications contain this element, data is loaded when available

DocDB Amended Records

DocDB Amended Records (percentage of documents having updated elements for the given fields)

Non-Weekly Updates