Wednesday, September 24, 2008
2008 R&D 100 Winner
Information is critical to business professionals as they strive to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. Intellectual property research is necessary for the decision-making process, but depth and scope of worldwide patent data is daunting.
Thomson Innovation, developed by Thomson Reuters, Cary, N.C., was designed with the collaboration of more than 1,800 customers to bring together widely varied databases of patent information under an umbrella of a user-friendly, feature-rich browser-based software tool. U.S. patents dating to 1836 are joined by European, Asian, and global IP databases, as well as the 15 million inventions under the Derwent World Patents Index. Thomason Innovation is the only resource to feature a library of Japanese full-text to English patents. Extensive citation indexes are complemented by mapping, charting, and analysis features to help make sense of widely varied search results. A primary advantage of the system is the time it saves. Finding access to legitimate non-patent prior art is no longer necessary. The need to search separate sources for patents, literature and business data is eliminated as well.
Technology
Browser-based software tool
Developer
Thomson Reuters
