Patent analysis: a look at the innovative nature of plant-based cosmetics

Abstract

The use of plants have become a important trend in cosmetic market, with a crescent number of patent applications.Despite various herbal-based ingredients have been described in scientific literature, most of them are restricted to patent databases.In this work we analyze the innovative use of plants and its derivatives in cosmetic technologies, based on patent analysis.The investigation was conducted using Derwent World Patents Index (Thomson Reuters Scientific, USA) from 1995 to 2015.The search was carried out to evaluate the number of patent deposits, the patent depositors profiles, the countries with most patent applications, the International Patent Classification (IPC) and the main plant families using in cosmetics.Patent analysis revealed an increase number of applications involving cosmetic containing plants components, with a higher number of deposits related to anti-ageing and whitening skin treatment.Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Rosaceae, Lamiaceae, Poaceae, Rutaceae, Lilliacae and Apiaceae were the key plant families used in cosmetic formulations for skin care treatment.Comparison between scientific and technological data pointed out divergences between patents deposits and aid-based scientific reports.The use of patent analysis in combination with scientific data opens up wider aspects of knowledge and enables a better rationalization of innovative works.

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