Patentee Name Harmonisation - ecoom.be
Patentee Name Harmonisation - ecoom.be
Patentee Name Harmonisation - ecoom.be
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" GMBH & CO. KG " 191 GMBH Replace with " & COMPANY "<br />
" GMBH & CO.K.G. " 0 GMBH Replace with " & COMPANY "<br />
" GMBH & CO.KG " 15 GMBH Replace with " & COMPANY "<br />
" GMBH & CO KG " 18 GMBH Replace with " & COMPANY "<br />
" GMBH + CO. KG " 13 GMBH Replace with " & COMPANY "<br />
" GMBH & CO. " 612 GMBH Replace with " & COMPANY "<br />
" GMBH & CO " 65 GMBH Replace with " & COMPANY "<br />
" GMBH & CO.," 77 GMBH Replace with " & COMPANY "<br />
" GMBH & CO," 8 GMBH Replace with " & COMPANY "<br />
" GMBH + CO. " 28 GMBH Replace with " & COMPANY "<br />
" GMBH + CO " 6 GMBH Replace with " & COMPANY "<br />
" GMBH + CO.," 1 GMBH Replace with " & COMPANY "<br />
" GMBH + CO," 1 GMBH Replace with " & COMPANY "<br />
" GMBH," 173 GMBH Remove<br />
" GMBH " 1,648 GMBH Remove<br />
Implementation<br />
The more complex the analysis (identification of legal forms, identification of spelling variations,<br />
validation), the simpler the implementation.<br />
All identified and validated spelling variations of legal form indications are transferred to search<br />
and replace statements or rules as in Table 15 and Table 18. This results in 1,060 rules or<br />
statements to remove legal form indications at the end of names, one rule or statement to<br />
remove legal form indications at the <strong>be</strong>ginning of names, and 17 rules or statements to remove<br />
legal form indications anywhere in the name.<br />
Every statement or rule contains the spelling variation to identify and the harmonized string to<br />
substitute. In most cases, legal form indications are simply removed and not replaced with<br />
anything; replacement is used if legal form indication is preceded or followed by general<br />
company words that can <strong>be</strong> harmonized (e.g. harmonize “ + CO.” to “ & COMPANY”).<br />
Every statement or rule also includes the harmonized legal form. This is used to update a new<br />
field with the harmonized legal form. The legal form indications are not deleted completely but<br />
instead removed from the name field and moved in a harmonized format to a different field.<br />
All identified and validated occurrences of legal form indications are removed by executing a<br />
program that reads the search and replace statements or rules, and executes an update query<br />
on the data to replace the given keyword (spelling variation of legal form indication) with a<br />
given string (mostly replaced with nothing to simply remove the legal form indication) while, at<br />
the same time, updating a new field to contain the harmonized legal form of the organization.<br />
The search and replace statements were executed in three groups: firstly, a group of 1,060<br />
statements to remove legal forms at the end of a name (see Appendix 2); then a group of 1<br />
statement to remove legal forms at the <strong>be</strong>ginning of a name (remove 1216 occurrences of<br />
“KABUSHIKI KAISHA” at the <strong>be</strong>ginning of a name); and finally, a group of 17 statements to<br />
remove legal forms anywhere in a name (see Table 18).<br />
In a group, all search and replace statements are executed in a singular and not a cumulative<br />
approach. This means that if a name is updated <strong>be</strong>cause of a search and replace statement, it<br />
cannot <strong>be</strong> updated again in a subsequent search and replace statement. This is to prevent a<br />
cascade of replacements within one name leading to unexpected results (with consequent<br />
difficulties for checking and validating). The list of search and replace statements is constructed<br />
<strong>be</strong>aring this important implementation consideration in mind (e.g. first replace " + CO. AG" with<br />
“ & COMPANY” <strong>be</strong>fore removing “ AG”).<br />
If a name contains a legal form indication at the <strong>be</strong>ginning and the end of a name, or anywhere<br />
in the name, only the legal form indication occurring at the end of the name is harmonized and<br />
moved to a different field.<br />
Not all search and replace functions are concerned with legal form indications removal. Some<br />
words, commonly used in a company context, appearing as last words were also harmonized,<br />
such as “CO” and “CORP” (see analysis for more details).<br />
As the replacements and removals in the search and replace statements can lead to names<br />
ending with irregular punctuation characters, all occurrences of “-”; “;“; “:”; “,” and “&” are<br />
removed at the end of a name by executing an update query on the data.<br />
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