Statistical analysis of patents applied to a separation process

Abstract

The statistical use of patents to determine the trend of research fields in an industry, country or firm is based on the postulate that there is a correlation between research and patents, and that patents can be considered as a valid indicator of technology. The truth, however, may disprove this postulate. A company may have gained such an advance in a given field that it prefers to keep its knowledge secret rather than risking, by applying for patents, to reveal a significant portion to its leading competitors. A company may, on the other hand, apply first for patents to cover technologies and products that it intends to promote, and then for ‘smoke-screen’ patents to camouflage its true choices. As such the survey analyst must crosscheck information coming from different sources so as to give the data acquired their true position.