The European Patent Office (EPO), the Patent granting authority for Europe, bases its coreactivity on its Patent Examiners who are specialists in specific technical domains, as well ason its tremendous database of patent and non-patent documents from all over the world(EPODOC). This documentation is primarily used to retrieve prior art documents related tothe claimed inventions in patent applications. Apart from the technical information, furthercollateral information can be retrieved from the EPODOC database which can be useful toindustrial policy makers and patent applicants. A full exploitation of the EPODOC databasecan also reveal innovation trends of technologies related to Intelligent Transport Systems(ITS).
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