File Name: CNpub_basedat

Observations: 3,587,849

Unique Index: app_numfix

Description: The file contains basic information for each Chinese patent published over the years 1985 to 2012. The data contains all invention and utility patents posted at the SIPO (State Intellectual Property Office) web site that were available through a search of the various publication years. The English translations are the ones given by SIPO. Design patents are not available in English translations, and are therefore not included in this data.

The data set is sorted by app_numfix. This variable is the application number that has been adjusted in order to have a consistent format across all publication years. Specifically, before 2003, the application number was in 8-digit format with the first two digits specifying the year, i.e. a patent published in 2002 would have “02” in the first two digits. In later years, the application number has a 12-digit format, with the first four characters giving the publication year. The variable app_numfix has a consistent 12-digit format across all years.

Variables

Variable	Type	Len	Columns in Ascii File	Description
title	Char	150	1-150	Title of the patent
application_num	Char	20	151-170	Application number of patent
application_date	Char	8	171-178	Application date of patent (month, day, year in ascii file)
publication_num	Char	20	179-198	Publication number of patent
publication_date	Char	8	199-206	Publication date of patent (monty, day, year in ascii file)
applicant_name	Char	80	207-286	Name of the applicant
app_numfix	Char	12	287-298	Adjusted application number to have a consistent format across years. See discussion above.
patent_code	Char	1	299-299	This one digit code is the 3^rd character of application_num when application_num is in 8-digit format, and the 5^th character when application_num is in 12-digit format. If patent_code equals 1 or 8, then the patent type is “Invention.” If patent_code equals 2 or 9, then the patent type is “Utlity.” If patent_code equals 8 or 9, then the patent is an international application filing through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), and the application in China is the Chinese national phase of the PCT process.
for_priority	Char	1	300-300	=0 if no foreign priority claim. =1 if at least one foreign priority claim.
type	Char	8	301-308	=”Invent” if patent_code equals 1 or 8 =”Utility” if patent_code equals 2 or 9
PCT	Char	1	309-309	Before 2000, this is missing After 2000, this equals 1 if patent_code equals 8 or 9, and is 0 otherwise.
gyear	Num	8	310-317	Publication year.