Version One of new STN® -- the foundation for the future of patent searching

COLUMBUS, Ohio and KARLSRUHE, Germany, Dec. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The STN partners, Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) and FIZ Karlsruhe, are pleased to announce that Version One of the new STN platform is now available in beta for fixed fee customers. This is the first major milestone in a multi-year initiative to create the next generation of STN, the choice of patent experts.

The focus of this first version has been on developing the core search and retrieval system for new STN. This release combines the complete CAS REGISTRY^SM and Chemical Abstracts content along with Thomson Reuters' Derwent World Patents Index^® and powerful new search features to support preliminary searches in these key areas:

• Chemistry and general technology research
• Intellectual property, such as basic novelty and prior art
• Due diligence
• First pass freedom to operate.

A new approach for STN is to allow organization of work in projects for easy management of search queries and results. New technologies are designed to process broad and complex searches with industry-leading performance. This is vital for patent searchers to keep pace with the continued increase of disclosed research and patent information from around the world.

The new workflow integrates the power of command line with an intuitive user interaction that enables professionals to leverage their expertise and realize instantaneous results. For the first time, text and structures can be combined in a single query to simplify searching for chemical information.

The STN Partners will incorporate additional content and functionality in the new architecture with ongoing versions. Full text patent content will be added throughout 2013.

"In October 2011, we announced that a new STN platform was under development and that a completely new STN will be phased into the market beginning in 2012. Consistent with the long tradition of STN keeping promises to customers, we are pleased to achieve this milestone of beta availability of the first version to our customers around the world who use STN on a fixed fee basis," said Bob Massie, President of CAS.

"We are confident that patent search professionals will be very pleased with the industry-leading power and precision that we have built into the new STN," said Sabine Brunger-Weilandt, President and CEO of FIZ Karlsruhe. "Our global advisory council has been instrumental in providing guidance and identifying how STN can meet needs not met by other search services."

The STN Advisory Council members have been assisting in this large development effort, and confirm that CAS and FIZ Karlsruhe are building a state-of-the-art product for professionals:

"It has been amazing to see the new STN develop over the last two years - from a concept through the alpha version to the present beta version. This new STN will have important new features: No system limits! Simultaneous searching of Registry and Chemical Abstracts! Quick previews of references retrieved! I am looking forward to using new STN to increase my productivity and enhance management of my search projects."            -- Gayenel Rice, 3M

The current STN system, including STN Express^® and the other STN products will continue to be available and fully supported throughout the development of the new platform.

Related links
http://www.cas.org/products/stn
http://www.stn-international.de

About STN
The choice of patent experts, only STN^® offers access to trusted scientific and technical information including the authoritative chemistry content from CAS and patent content from Thomson Reuters' Derwent World Patents Index^®. Intellectual property professionals and patent examiners at the world's major patent offices and research organizations rely on STN for their information needs. STN is operated jointly by CAS and FIZ Karlsruhe worldwide.

About CAS
Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), a division of the American Chemical Society, is the world's authority for chemical information. CAS is the only organization in the world whose objective is to find, collect and organize all publicly disclosed chemical substance information. A team of scientists worldwide curates and controls the quality of our databases, which are recognized as the most comprehensive and authoritative by chemical and pharmaceutical companies, universities, government organizations and patent offices around the world. By combining these databases with advanced search and analysis technologies (SciFinder^® and STN^®), CAS delivers the most current, complete, secure and interlinked digital information environment for scientific discovery. Learn more at www.cas.org.

About FIZ Karlsruhe
FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure (www.fiz-karlsruhe.de) is a not-for-profit limited liability company and one of the largest non-academic information infrastructure institutions in Germany. As such, its public mission is to develop and provide products and services for an information infrastructure to science, research, and industry. FIZ Karlsruhe strives to strengthen the transfer of knowledge in Germany and abroad and to support the promotion of innovation.

Our business areas:

• STN International – the world's leading online service for research and patent information in science and technology
• KnowEsis – innovative e-Science solutions to support the process of research in all its stages (e.g., research data management), and throughout all scientific disciplines
• Databases and Information Services – Databases and science portals in mathematics, computer science, crystallography, chemistry, and energy technology

FIZ Karlsruhe is a member of the Leibniz Association which consists of more than 80 institutions conducting knowledge-driven and applied basic research, maintaining scientific infrastructure and providing research-based services.

SOURCE Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS)