届满专利与无效专利的施引特征对比及其情报学意义

Comparison Analysis on Backward Citations from Expired Patents and Invalidated Patents and Its Significance to Information Science

统计了中国发明专利中的全部届满专利6337条及其施引信息1030条，全部无效专利8116条及其施引信息23173条，分八大部类对比了届满专利和无效专利的施引特征，发现了显著的差异：届满专利的施引频次稳定在0～1次，峰值集中在0次，而无效专利的施引频次波动在2～25次之间，峰值集中在5次。通过研究和解读专利法，发现了差异产生的原因：专利施引的法定功能是提供对比文件作为判断发明的新颖性、创造性以及限定授权范围的依据，施引少则意味着可对比的前人技术少，即专利的原创性相对较高、可授权范围也相对较广，因而能成为届满专利；反之则反。本文的研究结论是：“施引”即参考文献的数量不是科学引文分析的评价指标；但专利施引具有重要的法定功能和评价意义，应当成为专利引文分析的评价指标。

This paper counted the 1030 backward citations from the 6337 expired Chinese patents and the 23 173 backward citations from the 8116 invalidated ones, compared the two in 8 categories respectively, discovered the distinguished difference： the number of backward citations from the expired patents is stably distributed between 0 - 1 and the peak is 1, while the number of backward citations from the invalidated ones vary from 2 to 25 and the peak vary from 5 to 9. The interpretation is based on the related content of Patent Law which regulates the patent citations： the legal functions of patent citations is to provide comparing file which acts as the evidence for judging the patentablity and limiting the patent right scope, so the fewer the backward citations the higher the patentablity and the longer the patent life would be. The conclusion is that the number of backward citations from patents could be used as indicator for predicting patent＇s life time and value.