How to interpret the Families View

How to interpret the data contained within the detailed families view of your report

How do I access the underlying data of my report, also known as the Families View?

The families view is accessed via the three line icon in the top left of your report view. It provides a list of all of the patent families in your report giving you access to detailed information. In this article we will look at each individual data column that you can select to review, and how to interpret the data contained within:

Cipher Family ID

A Cipher Family ID is a reference given to a group of patents, contained within 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. Cipher’s applies the DOCDB EPO definition of a patent family. For more information click here.

Representative Publication

This is a single publication that's chosen to represent the whole family. In this selection, we pick the most significant jurisdiction and also grants are selected over applications. More information on this, can be found here.

Patent Numbers

This column lists out the applications and grants from each of the territories that make up the patent family. (Patent families are a single invention that is protected in a number of different territories).

Organisation

When you search for an organisation in Cipher, results are grouped to show all patents assigned to all entities including subsidiaries, acquired companies, merged companies and companies corrected for erroneous entries in the patent registry. Cipher groups to the ultimate parent that we call "Organisation”. For more information, click here.

Owners

Cipher groups to the owning entity that we call “Owner”. The ultimate parent is also listed in the "Organisation" column. For more information, click here.

Assignees

Cipher groups to the legal owner on record known as “Assignee”. Cipher also groups to the ultimate parent (“Organisation”), and to the owning entity (“Owner”). See above. For more information, click here.

Inventor

The inventor or inventors relating to the family are also listed in the data view. You can also apply a filter to find patent families that relate to a specific inventor or owner for example. Click here to see how you can filter the data whilst in the families view.

Technology

Each Cipher report is broken down into Technologies. These technologies may be derived from custom built classifiers in your account, or if you have access to the UTT (Cipher's Universal Technology Taxonomy) the portfolio can be split into these classes. Alternatively the portfolio can be clustered using Cipher's unsupervised machine learning. For any details about either method please contact the Cipher team.

Primary CPC Code

We pick a representative patent for the family, and if the patent office has assigned a primary CPC code, this is listed in the Primary CPC Code column. If no primary CPC code has been assigned, we select the next most representative patent for the family, and take the primary CPC Code assigned to that. If there are no primary CPC codes assigned to any patents within the family, this data column is left blank. The primary CPC code can be found in the families view, next to each patent family, and is also analysed in the primary CPC code charts found here.

CPC Codes

This column lists each CPC code associated with the individual patents of the family. The description for each can be seen by hovering over the individual CPC Code in the list view.

Status

To account for the fact that a family consists of multiple patent rights in multiple geographies the patent family status is derived as follows:

Here is a summary of each status type, and what this means:

​• 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.

• 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.

For more information on patent family status, click here.

Title

The title of the patent family is listed in this data field.

Abstract

The abstract of the patent family is listed in this data field.

Claims

The claims of the patent family is listed in this data field.

Cost to Date (USD)

This field lists the cost incurred in the lifetime of the patent family (based on the status of pending and granted patents within that family). For more information on how Cipher calculates cost data, click here.

Future Cost projection

This field lists the total future projected costs for the maximum lifetime of each patent family (assuming the status of pending and granted patents within that family remain unchanged). For more information on how Cipher calculates cost data, click here.

Priority Date

The earliest priority date associated with the patent family.

Granted Date

The earliest granted date of the family 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. This will then be the granted date of the family.

Publication Date

The earliest publication date of the family member in a major geography (US, EPO, Germany, UK, Japan, South Korea). If the family does not include a member in a major geography, the publication date will be taken from when the first patent in any geography is published.

Expiry Date

This is the last expiry date of the family member in a major geography (US, EPO, Germany, UK, Japan, South Korea). It will be considered expired when the last patent in a major geography expires. If the family does not include a member in a major geography, it will be considered expired when the last patent in any geography expires. This will then be the expiry date of the family. Patent families can be marked as status expired due to age (the maximum life of a patent is 20 years, with few exceptions) or non payment of renewal fees.

Pending Territories

The listed territories within which the individual patents of the family are status pending. Pending status means the patent is actively being prosecuted, but is not yet granted (is still an application).

Granted Territories

The listed territories within which the individual patents of the family are status granted. Granted status means the patent is granted and in force (i.e. renewal fees have been paid).

Expired Territories

The listed territories within which the individual patents of the family are status expired. Expired status means the patents 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.

First Filing Territory

The territory which grants first within the family. This information can be found in the families view next to each family, and is also analysed in the Geography charts with a focus on first filing territory either by Organisation or Technology, found here. The first filing chart view either by organisation or technology for example, show where they chose to file first which may have a bearing on what you choose to do also. First filing is useful in informing your filing strategy, and for competitive intelligence for example. "What do my competitors do?" or "What is the preference for filing filing territory within this technology?"

Backward Citations

This is a list of the backward citations associated with the family. The backward citation is a reference given in a patent on the prior art. Backward citations can be studied to get an idea about the origin of the technology and its flow over time.

Forward Citations

This is a list of the forward citations associated with the family. The forward citation is a reference to the given patent by another patent. The greater numbers of forward citations can indicate greater value.

PVIX Score

The PVIX score is a strength metric between zero and 100 - zero being low, and 100 high. In the family view, every patent family with at least one granted member is assigned a PVIX score. This is useful if you wish to review or compare patent families, and evaluate individual family strength via an industry recognised score. You can export the list view from Cipher to review these metrics in more detail. Click here to learn how to do this. Alternatively, you can easily review PVIX score at portfolio level via the PVIX charts and datasets in Cipher.

Family Tags

This column shows tags that have been assigned by individual members of your organisation, to each individual family in the list. These tags can be created, assigned and exported by assigned members of your organisation. For more information on the tagging functionality and applications for it, please click here. For a demonstration, please liaise with a member of the Cipher team by email.