French patent information - gratuit!
The IPKat has recently noticed, via Laurent Teyssedre's excellent blog du droit europeen des brevets, that the French patent office (commonly known as INPI) has announced that as from 3 April 2009 all sorts of useful patent information will be available online, apparently for free. INPI say:
"A partir du 3 avril 2009, le nouveau service de recherche de l'INPI sur le statut légal des brevets vous permettra d'accéder gratuitement aux informations légales des demandes de brevets français et européens délivrés, désignant la France. Il s'agit d'une première version qui sera enrichie au cours du second semestre 2009.The IPKat, who has found it a little frustrating (not to say expensive) to find French patent status information, unlike information available from the UK and German offices here and here, is very much looking forward to making use of this new service.
Ce service vient compléter fr.espacenet.com qui donne déjà un accès libre et gratuit à plus de 4 millions de demandes de brevets français, européens et internationaux PCT publiées depuis 1978"
Merpel wonders whether the service will be available with an English user interface. Don't be silly, says Tufty, that would be making things too easy.
