THE whole point of publishing patents is to make new science and technology more widely available. The world’s patent offices now publish patents on the internet. But, as this magazine has noted, they make them ridiculously difficult to find and read (3 April, p 19).
The European Patent Office in Munich, Germany, told us it was now going to make some changes. And indeed it has. To see for yourself, go to http://ep.espacenet.com/espacenet/ep/en/e_net.htm and click on the big red boast: “Worldwide 30 million documents”. If you follow its example for how to enter a world patent…
