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The European Patent Office will soon make its full database of patent
specifications available on the Internet. Ingo Kober, the EPO’s president, says:
“We in Europe have been lagging behind.” The US Patent Office already posts
abstracts of patents on the Internet. Japan also plans to make brief synopses in
English available within the next 12 months. Although the British Patent Office
is marking Britain’s presidency of the European Union with a conference in
London next week, it is not planning to post its full patents on the Net. It is
only considering making abstracts available.