This seems to clutter the system, and i didn't see a given rationale in the FAQ.
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1Searchability seems to be the big one (ideally Prior Art Patent # should bring up a post here on the patent)– ZeldaCommented Sep 20, 2012 at 21:49
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Agree with both, the USXXXXXXX tags will eventually be pushed down in the popular tag listings for more general tags. But using the patent number as a tag seems like the simplest way to quickly access the patent for those one-off searches given the SE DB schema.– aosikCommented Sep 20, 2012 at 21:59
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@BenBrocka hmm creating a tag requires 300 rep on most SE sites. Should there be special rules for [US*] after it patents.se leaves beta. As an aside you cannot do a US* search but you can create a favorite tag [us*]– Conrad FrixCommented Sep 21, 2012 at 21:48
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@ConradFrix IMO yes, you really should be able to make patent tags with 1 rep and single-use tags should persist forever, otherwise this site's tagging won't work for new users.– ZeldaCommented Sep 23, 2012 at 20:10
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@BenBrocka I opened a new feature request for this– Conrad FrixCommented Sep 24, 2012 at 0:24
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Pages on Google Patents also links to Ask Patents via "Discuss" link that points to the patent-ID-tag.– dimo414Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 6:06
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2 Answers
The rationale for the patent numbers is in fact in a Stack Exchange blog post: A Stack Exchange To Prevent Bad Patents
Ben Brocka is pretty much right that searchability is the big thing.
In particular, this allows for interested parties, like say... patent examiners, to instantly check to see if a patent they're reviewing has any prior art or other information here without having to sort through other things.
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Since patent numbers are in a well-defined format and are fairly lengthy numbers, wouldn't they be just as searchable with a normal full-text search instead of being used as a tag? Do search engines optimize differently for stack exchange tags vs text content?– btaCommented Sep 21, 2012 at 20:54
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1@bta they're easy to find from Google (...kinda) by text, but not inside SE. It's easier to just look for the tag for the patent and there's all your results. Also the most popular tag gets added to the site's
titleattribute, which IS significant for SEO.– ZeldaCommented Sep 23, 2012 at 20:13
Also, giving the patent number allows review to see if there is art here listed that is earlier than the patent. Say an examiner or defense attorney has a nice reference patent to cite as prior art, except that it's NOT PRIOR. Searching here on that patent number might surface some prior art uncited in the patent but listed here. Could be key in the right case and might be missed without that number.
