Key information to understanding patent families and status
What is a patent family?
Patent families are a single invention that is protected in a number of different territories. They all have a common date that the invention is protected from (the "priority date"). Each family is made up of a number of applications and grants from each of the counties that make up the family.
Classification applies the DOCDB EPO definition of a patent family.
To account for the fact that a family consists of multiple patent rights in multiple geographies the patent family status is derived as follows:
- If the family includes a member in a major geography (US, EPO, Germany, UK, Japan, South Korea), it will be considered granted when the first patent in any major geography grants.
- If the family does not include a member in a major geography, it will be considered granted when the first patent in any geography is granted.
Example cases:
- If a patent family includes a UK and TW member, it will be considered granted when the UK member grants. This is because the UK is part of the major geography
- If a patent family includes members that are not part of a major geography (i.e. TW, BR and CN), the family will considered granted when the first of the family has been granted
- If a family includes UK and TW members and renewal fees for UK is not paid but renewal fees for TW is paid, the family will be considered expired and will show as expired. However, the TW member will still be in force
- If a patent family grants and then is revoked, the status will be considered as expired
Are there any patents not included/tagged in the DOCDB definition of a patent family?
Patent members in India, Russia and Argentina are not currently included in the DOCDB EPO patent family. For this reason, they are currently hidden from Classification reports by default, however they can be easily included in the report data if preferred.
To include in your selected report, go to the territory filter and select the three dots in the top right corner of the drop down menu. Select to 'include ungrouped families':
Similarly, if you would like your default setting to include ungrouped families to every report you run, select the three dots in the top right of your Classification dashboard, and click 'Settings'. Then in the pop up window change the option under 'Ungrouped families are:' to 'included'.
What is Classification's definition for a patent family status?
- Pending – Patent family is actively being prosecuted, but is not yet granted (is still an application).
- Granted – Patent family is granted and in force (i.e. renewal fees have been paid).
- Rejected – Patent applications that have been successfully opposed, rejected by the relevant patent office, or are more than 20 years since their priority date, so could not proceed to grant.
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Expired – Patent families which were granted, but have now expired either due to age (the maximum life of a patent is 20 years, with few exceptions). Or non-payment of renewal fees.
Active - Patent families which are pending or granted - Inactive – Patent family has not yet granted, and has seen no activity on any of the regional or national applications for over five years.
- Other - Examples include: when there is a translation filed but no actual application as yet; or when the patent has a kind code that is not recognised.
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