The Financial Times: tracking innovation evolution using patent insight
May 2007
The Financial Times, one of the world's leading global business newspapers publishes a regular digital business supplement. Patent insight from Thomson Scientific features in a regular slot illustrating the evolution of digital media, and two examples are shown here: media players and the internet and its applications.
Patent information provides unique insight into the evolution of a technology, providing dates, drawings and detailed descriptions of each new innovation, plus information on leading inventors and institutions. Thomson Scientific's Stephen Trotter searches Derwent World Patents Index® to compile his regular contribution to the Financial Times.
Media players
Sony filed one of the earliest patent applications in the field of media players (devices playing audio and/or video data) in 1997. Since 2000 the number of media player applications has risen by more than 300 per cent, with telecommunications being the most patented aspect. Individual inventors have joined large corporations in the rush to protect their ideas to incorporate media players in structures as diverse as cycle helmets, eyeglasses and ironing boards. Japan dominates in media player patents, with Japanese corporations forming half of the top ten assignees.
View the FT feature on media players (PDF)
Patent abstract: audio eyeglasses (PDF)
The internet and its applications
Innovation in internet applications, which include online banking, e-mail, online gaming etc, has shot up by more than 500 per cent since 2000, fuelled by fast downloads and bigger data transfer capacities. This technology area is dominated by Japan and the US: in 2006 the top two assignees were IBM and Microsoft, with seven of the next eight top patent assignees being Japanese companies. Most inventions concern business models, such as online shopping, auctions, e-procurement, advertising and virtual communities.
View the FT feature on the internet (PDF)
Patent abstract: parking space locating system (PDF)
Patent abstract: Virtual world environment (PDF)