Las patentes como fuente de información para la innovación en entornos competitivos

bibliographical review on patents as a source of information for innovation in competitive environments, as well as a description of the advantages and limitations of their use as a source of information. the possible applications in the technical, scientific, commercial and legal fields are indentified and classified. it refers to the work of the librarian related to the patents because its treatment requires knowledge of the profession. it is concluded that patents should be considered invaluable source of relevant information for competitiveness in organizations. however, their use has not been promoted accurately in developing countries like ours. this tendency should be corrected in order to make use of this resource for the development and innovation of our region. it covers the material published from 1977 until september, 2009, of latin america and spain.