Bessen/Hunt technique
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bessen/Hunt technique is a way of identifying software patents within the patent database of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) by using keyword searching. It was proposed by James Bessen and Robert M. Hunt in a 2004 working paper discussing the impact of software patents on research and development.[1]
Bessen and Hunt's working paper was published in 2004[1] while the debate in Europe concerning the proposed directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions was ongoing and received attention from various commentators.[2][3][4]
The completed paper was published in 2007[5] but has not received the same attention.
Details
The technique proposed by Bessen and Hunt involves conducting a keyword search within the USPTO patent database Archived 2020-11-28 at the Wayback Machine as follows:
- (("software" in specification) OR ("computer" AND "program" in specification))
- AND (utility patent excluding reissues)
- ANDNOT ("chip" OR "semiconductor" OR "bus" OR "circuit" OR "circuitry" in title)
- ANDNOT ("antigen" OR "antigenic" OR "chromatography" in specification)
An actual query that may be submitted to the USPTO database Archived 2020-11-28 at the Wayback Machine to retrieve patents granted in 2005 is as follows:[6]
- ISD/(1/1/2005->1/1/2006)
- AND SPEC/(software OR (computer AND program))
- AND APT/1
- ANDNOT TTL/(chip OR semiconductor OR bus OR circuit OR circuitry)
- ANDNOT SPEC/(antigen or antigenic OR chromatography)
