1. Innovation in the Railway Industry
Australia in a Global Market
Mark Pullen
Senior Associate
2. Why a presentation on IP related to Railway technologies?
• From the outside looking in - railway industry appears slow to change
• In reality – nothing could be further from the truth
• Australia in a global market
– technology importer vs technology exporter
• Quantify Australia in a global market
– Look at patent activity
3. Where is the information? (1)
• Patent applications filed around the world
• A variety of national patent offices
• A variety of companies and individuals applying for patents
• International Patent Classification (IPC) system
• Divides all technology into 8 sections with over 70000 subdivisions
4. Where is the information? (2)
IPC sections
• A : Human Necessities
• B: Performing Operations; Transporting
• C: Chemistry; Metallurgy
• D: Textiles; Paper
• E: Fixed Constructions
• F: Mechanical Engineering; Lighting; Heating; Weapons; Blasting
• G: Physics
5. Where is the information? (3)
IPC B61* = Railways
• B61B: Railway systems; equipment therefor not otherwise provided for
• B61C: Locomotives; Motor Railcars
• B61D: Body details or kinds of railway vehicles
• B61F: Rail vehicle suspensions; rail vehicles for use on tracks of different widths;
preventing derailing; obstruction removers
• B61G: Couplings; Draft or Buffing Appliances especially for Rail Vehicles
• B61H: Brakes or other retarding apparatus for rail vehicles
• B61J: Shifting or shunting of rail vehicles
• B61K: Other auxiliary equipment for railways
• B61L: Guiding railway traffic; Ensuring the safety of railway traffic
6. B61* further subdivided
Example
B61L “Guiding railway traffic; Ensuring the safety of railway traffic” includes:
signals
operation of signals and points
interlocking of signals and points
level crossings
devices along the route interacting with trains
9. Patent mapping
IPC B61* identified
Obtain patent data from all major patent authorities
Derwent database
US, WO (PCT), EP, JP, CN, KR, CA, GB, AU, NZ etc.
Most countries are covered by the database
External provider translates foreign language documents into English
10. Patent mapping (2)
Data set mapped by title and keyword similarity
Compares the similarity of keywords, ranks them and then groups them together
Keywords that are common to the majority of patents in the data set are discarded and
not used to rank patents
The more similar a group of patents are (i.e. the more keywords each patent has in
common) the higher a peak or mountain that will occur on a map.
Peaks are formed by the proximity of similar patent peaks to one another (i.e similar
keywords contained in each patent peak) and the amount of patents that the
database has grouped into each peak
17. Where do they come from?
Priority Country
16000
13784
14000
12000
10000
8416
8000
6350
6000
4648
4000
2000 1615
779 658
380 308 203 180 119 113 101
0
JP DE US EP FR GB AT IT CH SE CA AU NL ES
18. SI
EM
EN
S
AK
TI
EN
GE
SE
L LS
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
CH
AF
NI HI T
PP TA
1342
ON CH
MI SI IL
TS GN TD
UB
AL
914
IS
HI CO
EL LT
EC D
So who is filing them?
TR
452
IC
W CO
ES RP
TI
381
NG
HO
DA US
KN
IFU E
KU
342
OR CO
TO R LT
BR
SH
IB EM D
A
BO CO SE 342
MB RP GM
AR /T BH
DI OS
329
ER HI
TR BA
KA AN KK
W SP
323
AS OR
RA AK TA
IL W IH IO
NI AY EA N
PP VY
302
TE
ON CH IN
SH NI D
LT
AR CA D
Top Applicant
LR
283
YO
SE ES
IZ IN
O ST
KA
272
KY GE IS
ZH OS NE HA
TE AN LT
TS EL
RA
LE D
UD
267
O EC LE
HI SO TR CT
GA IC RI
SH GO MF C
IN GI G
267
IP JU CO
PO TS
DA N U LT
D
IM RY KE
248
LE OK NK
R YA YU
CH KU SH
RY TE O
SL
227
TS
ER UD
/D E
EA AI KK
ST ML
210
JA ER
PA BE
N NZ
RA
171
DE IL W
UT AY
SC CO
HE
161
MU BA
RA HN
TA AG
124
MA
CH
LT
D
102
26. W
ES
TI
NG
HO
US
E
AI
R
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
BR
AK
GE E
NE CO
RA
148
LE
LE
CT
RI
AM C
87
ST
ED
IN
D
IN
BO C
MB
72
AR SI
DI EM
ER EN
PL TR S
AS AN AG
56
SE SP
R OR
BA TG
HN
BA MB
UM H 54
AS
CH
FR
AN
AB Z
B
52
DA
IM AL
LE ST
R RO
BE M
NZ
51
KN /C
OR HR
R YS
LE
BR
EM R
48
SE
SY
Top Applicant (AU)
IN ST
NO EM
VA E
38
NE PA
W TE
YO NT
RK GM
AI BH
R
37
BR
AK
E
VA CO
E RP
AG
37
/V
AE
GM
BH
37
UN HI
IO TA
N CH
SW IL
IT TD
CH
&
36
SI
W GN
AB AL
TE IN
C C
HO
35
QU LD
AN IN
TU G
M CO
EN RP
GI
29
NE
ER
IN
G
IN
C
21
27. Australia 1990 to present
2,463 – total from top ten filers = 1,625 AU patents of 21 or less per applicant from
around the world i.e. not necessarily AU originating
Suggests few applications by many companies
Priority Country
16000
13784
14000
12000
10000
8416
8000
6350
6000
4648
4000
2000 1615
779 658
380 308 203 180 119 113 101
0
JP DE US EP FR GB AT IT CH SE CA AU NL ES
34. Top 4 AU applicants – technology field
Applicant Colour
Westinghouse Air
Brake Co
General Electric
Amsted
Siemens
35. So what does all this mean for Australia ?
Globally a small but significant railway industry market
Bigger companies, such as Westinghouse, GE and Siemens patent here
Patent applications in rail technology into Australia tend to be in core areas
brakes
suspension and wheels
couplers/bolsters, structure
locomotive/train control
sensors/detection (preventative)
Local (AU) originating patents concentrate on similar areas
Suggests either foreign companies have local subsidiaries creating technology and/or
there is an emerging independent AU railway technology industry
Exactly which Australian companies are patenting now and for what specific technology –
we can save for another day !
