| Monty Hyams (1918-2013): Patent Information Pioneer | home | intro | derwent | personal | downloads | links |
Why Belgium was the breakthrough
If you filed a patent application in most countries, it took two or three years to be accepted, during which the text remained unpublished. But in Belgium, publication was almost immediate. Moreover the number of filings was high – around 200 per week – and mostly in the chemical area.
However this wasn't publication in the usual sense of the word. Only a single copy of each patent was made available, and this could only be inspected at the Patent Office in Brussels during a short working day. So....valuable advance information – the first news anywhere in the world potentially – but very hard to come by...a great opportunity!In 1955 I started to visit Brussels fortnightly to make abstracts of chemical patents taken from the French or Flemish originals. I had to be selective, since I could only process 12 in an average day – opening times were just three hours before lunch and three after.
The sales pitch was hard at first; people wondered, 'why Belgium'?” Naturally I sent samples to companies with patents reported in the current issue. But I also sent to their competitors. -- for example to Kodak if there was a Gevaert patent. This might well be the first they had heard of their rival’s new work.
My approach was just beginning to bear fruit when outside events took over and speeded my way. The first patents appeared for 'Ziegler’ processes, enabling the commercial manufacture of plastics. As word spread this was reckoned sensational. By providing news of this breakthrough, my reports became cited in the specialist journals and even some of the national press started to take notice.
Greatly assisted by such free publicity, my Belgian patents reports acquired 800 subscribers within two years.
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