Visualizing patent statistics by means of social network analysis tools

The present paper reviews the literature on social network analysis with applications to bibliometric data, and in particular, patent information. Several approaches of network analysis are conducted in the field of optoelectronics to exemplify the power of network analysis tools. Cooperation networks between inventors and applicants are illustrated, emphasizing bibliometric measures such as activity, citation frequency, etc. as well as network theoretical measures, e.g. centrality or betweenness. In this context it is found that inventors who serve as interfaces or links between different inventor groups apply for technologically broader patents, hence, benefiting from their access to different knowledge through their position. Furthermore, citation networks of patent documents as well as patent applicants were drawn. Here, patent thickets could be identified. The position of applicants within citation networks seems to be useful in explaining behaviour of the applicants in the marketplace, such as cooperation or patent infringement trials.