Hague Express Structured Search Help

Database Content

The Hague Express Database includes bibliographical data and, as far as international registrations governed exclusively or partly by the 1999 and/or by the 1960 Act(s) of the Hague Agreement are concerned, reproductions of industrial designs relating to international registrations that have been recorded in the International Register and published in the International Designs Bulletin as of issue No. 1/1999. The data presented on Hague Express are in accordance with the situation of the International Register of Industrial Designs as at . While every effort is made to ensure that this information accurately reflects the data recorded in the International Register, the only official publication remains the Bulletin and the only official statements by the International Bureau regarding the contents of the International Register for a given international registration remain the certified extracts from the Register established on request by the International Bureau.

Structured Search Functionality

The Structured Search page provides a simple interface to the database for fielded term searches only. There are 5 steps to using the structured search page:

1. Choose how you want the results ranked by selecting either the Chronologically or the By Relevance Radio button.
2. Enter your search term or terms into the input box to the right of the field you are interested in searching.
3. Select an operator from menus to the left of the field or fields you are searching.
4. Select your preferred display formats using the Display Options: link.
5. Hit the Search button.

Some things to note:

• If you want to search for a single term or all the terms together, you can leave the operator at its default value (AND).
• The search is case-insensitive. Searching for Needle and searching for needle will produce the same results.
• The Start At box allows you to enter a number to skip to in your search results list. For long search results lists, entering '250' in the Start At box is easier than hitting the 'Next 50 Hits' button 5 times.

Search Features

Field Searching

The Structured Search page allows you to search within the individual fields found within the documents. The search page contains one text entry box for each searchable field. Also, you can select any field you want to search from the selection menu. This is useful to search for more than one term in a particular field. To narrow your search to hits occurring within a single field, just enter the term into the appropriate box, or select the desired field from the menu.

Phrase Searching

Using the structured search page, it is not necessary to surround your term with quotation marks ("). The system will automatically search for your terms occurring together as a phrase. If you wish to specify more than one term in a particular field, you should use multiple term entry boxes.

Proximity Searching

The Structured search page allows you to search for terms that occur near one another (currently, within 5 words).

Example

Right Truncation

The Structured Search page supports right truncation in queries. This allows you to use a wildcard on the right side of a search term, to match words that start with a certain string.

Example

Simple Boolean Expressions

You can use the Structured search page to compose multiple term boolean queries with simple, easy-to-use tools. A boolean query is simply one where you specify that a specific relationship must exist between any two terms you provide. You can specify that either both must be true (the AND operator) at least one must be true (the OR operator), the first must be true and the second false (the ANDNOT operator), that at least one must be true, but not both (the XOR operator) or that the two terms must occur near (within 5 words of) each other (the NEAR operator). To apply an operator to a pair of terms, select the operator to the left of the second term in the pair. An example will help clarify.

Example

If you entered "phillip morris" in the Holder box, cigarette in the Indication of Products box and selected AND from the menu to the left of Indication of Products, you'd receive back a list of all documents which contain the phrase "phillip morris" in the Holder field, and the word cigarette in the Indication of Products field.

Date Range Searching

You can specify a range of dates you are interested in searching in, rather than having to specify a certain day or month to narrow your search. This feature is only available in date fields, such as Publication Date. This is done by using the -> operator between two dates.

Both dates in your query must be properly formatted for your search to work. Valid formats include:

• YYYYMMDD (for example, 19981201)
• DD.MM.YY or DD.MM.YYYY (for example, 1.12.97 or 1.12.1997)
• DD/MM/YY or DD/MM/YYYY (for example, 1/12/97 or 1/12/1997)
• DD-MM-YY or DD/MM/YYYY (for example, 1/12/97 or 1/12/1997)

Adjustable Display Format

The Display Options link at the bottom of the Structured Search page allows the user to select how the the results of a search should appear.

• A drop down menu allows you to select how many results to show on one results page. You can always use the 'Next X' and 'Previous X' hits button to move through all your results.
• A checkbox labeled 'Show pages in separate window' allows you to have the individual documents from your result list displayed in a separate window from your list, allowing you to keep an overview while reading.
• Check boxes labeled with field names Locarno Classification and International Registration Date allow you to select which items will be displayed on a search results page.

Interactive Search Query History

For users who create an account, a history is kept of the last 20 searches performed using the Hague database. Each history entry is assigned a number, listed along with a brief summary in the History frame, at the bottom of the page. History entries allow the user to click on the number next to a search and bring the results of that search up in the results window.
Four buttons below your list of history entries will allow you to update and maintain your historical list:

• Pressing the Delete Entries button will permanently remove any entries you've checked off on your list. If an entry is marked Save it will not be removed.
• Pressing the Mark Entries: Save button will set the Save mark on any entries you've checked off on your list. An entry marked Save will not be automatically deleted when you run out of room in your history list. Note: If all of your entries have been marked as saved, and you attempt to add another entry, it will be lost.
• Pressing the Mark Entries: Update button will set the Update mark on any entries you've checked off on your list. An entry marked Update will be updated to reflect any changes that have been made to the database since the original search was performed whenever you push the Update Entries button.
• Pressing the Update Entries button will update any entries marked Update to reflect any changes that have been made to the database since the original search was performed.

Search Statistics

Detailed information about your results are available by clicking on the 'Search Summary' link at the top of each search results page. This will show how many times each of your terms occurred in how many documents, and the intermediate results of applying all of your specified boolean operators. Also, the total time required to conduct the search is listed. This information should assist you in refining your search.