ONE of the rallying cries of the Internet is that 鈥渋nformation wants to
be free鈥�. But the British Patent Office has found there is a price to be paid
for putting data online鈥攅veryone on the Internet can look at it and
criticise.
The Patent Office may say its Web site (http://www.patent. gov.uk) is 鈥渇ull
of useful information鈥�, but professional patent searchers have been quick to
point out numerous shortcomings in the Web site and its attendant publicity.
A case in point is the Focus section, which tells the story of widgets, the
now-familiar gadgets that make canned beers froth. 鈥淕uinness鈥檚 first patent on
the subject, published in 1972, is GB 2 183 592鈥�, says the Patent Office. Not
so, say the searchers. This patent was filed in 1985 and published in 1987, but
it builds on an earlier patent by Guinness, number 1 266 351, which was first
filed in 1969.
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The BPO Web site also lacks a database of patents granted over the last 20
years. And while the US Patent Office Web site has a database the public can
search for free, the BPO says anyone wanting to search its database must pay
them hundreds of pounds.
