Experience of the European Patent Office in producing patent information on CD-ROM and its dissemination policy

Abstract

The author discusses the reasons for the selection of CD-ROM as the carrier for patent information and describes the benefits that have accrued not only in the reduction of production, distribution and storage costs, but also in the development of a search database. The forthcoming developments in both the JPO and USPTO are outlined and, in addition, the author comments on the potential life of CD-ROM as a carrier medium.