Chemists have long recognized the value of patents as a source of chemical information. In a speech on the importance of patents to the chemical industry delivered before the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) in December 1912, Dr Leo Baekeland, inventor of Bakelite, one of the first commercially successful synthetic plastics, stated: “Whoever desires to get posted on the modern literature pertaining to any industrial chemical processes will find that available text-books are many years behind in information as far as novelty and accuracy are concerned; for this reason alone, it is absolutely indispensable to get acquainted with all recent patent literature.”