Patent Analysis as a Tool for Research Planning: Case Study

The availability and ready access to computerized patent databases makes it possible to discover trends and relationships in research. Not all research gets published in papers and a lot of information is made available to the public through patents, a detailed analysis of patents granted on a particular area of research can provide some missing information. By analysing the patents and studying the prior art, the research gaps can be identified and the research work to be taken up can be focused. The main aim of the work presented in this paper is the application of patent analysis in research planning. For this purpose, tea, which has gained importance over the years for its medicinal properties, has been taken as a case study. Studying the synthesis and accumulation of catechins is the focus of research not only in India but also worldwide. Hence, a complete analysis of the patents granted on the work related to research on the steps of metabolic pathway of catechin was done and the results are presented in this paper. The analysis has been done using various criteria, like the patenting trend over the years, a comparison of the assignees playing a major role, a comparison of the technology used in different patents and the patenting activity across the groups