Standardization and Accuracy of Japanese Patent Applicant Names

While numerous researchers can access current large patent databases, the presence of numerous non-standard applicant names presents a huge obstacle to their effective use. This paper explains the characteristics of Japanese patent applicant names and offers a potential solution to current difficulties in the form of a standardized Japanese patent applicant name database. To achieve name-matching accuracy, this process utilized manual procedures that did not require use of computers. Furthermore, we investigated the accuracy of these standardized applicant names by comparing them with official Japan Patent Office survey listings