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EAS 349: Ideas to Assets - Patent Searching Guide

What are patents, trademarks, service marks, and copyright?


USPTO Guide (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/whatis.htm)

Additional Information

  • Patents (http://www.uspto.gov/main/patents.htm)
  • Design Patents (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/design/desfaq.html)
  • Trademarks (http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm)
  • Copyright (http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html)

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Resources

Search U.S. Issued Patents and Patent Applications (http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html)

Search the public Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system for information on the status of issued or published appliactions. You can search by patent, application, or publication number.

U.S. Patent Manual of Classification (http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/) A hierarchical list of classes and subclasses by number.

Overview of the Classification System (PDF) (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/opc/documents/overview_dec02.pdf)

Patent Classification FAQs (http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/help.htm)

U.S. Patent Classification Index (http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/uspcindex/indextouspc.htm)
An alphabetical list of terms cross referenced to the specific classes and subclasses used to categorize patents.
Note: Browsing is more effective than searching
Index to the U.S. Patent Classification (Print)
Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks
T223 .F411

Patent Images Plug-in Information - Contains a link to download the TIFF Viewer (http://www.uspto.gov/patft/help/images.htm#not) required to view images

Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office - Patents
A numerical listing of the patents granted that week. Only contains one drawing and one representative claim. Published weekly.

  • Past 52 weeks available online (http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/)
  • 1995 - present Official Gazette Search (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/sol/og/search/ogsearch.htm)
  • 1993-1997 Van Pelt Library Microfiche U.S.Doc C 21.5
  • 1975-1986 High Density Storage T222 .A23
  • 1872-1970 (Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office) High Density Storage T222 .A

USPTO Glossary (http://www.uspto.gov/main/glossary/index.html)

Inventor Resources (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/iip/index.htm)


European Patent Office (EPO) Resources

Search using esp@cenet (http://ep.espacenet.com/)

esp@cenet Help Files (http://ep.espacenet.com/ep/en/helpV3/index.html)

PCT Country Codes (PDF) (http://www.wipo.org/pct/guide/en/gdvol1/annexes/annexk/ax_k.pdf)

International Patent Classification Manual (http://www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/en/)

European Patent Classification (ECLA) Search(http://l2.espacenet.com/eclasrch)

International Patent Classification Code (IPC) - Version 8

IPC Version 7 Catchword Index - An alphabetical list of subject matter headings that provide the corresponding IPC subclass and subgroup.

esp@cenet Assistant - tutorial (requires Flash)

Introductory Manual to the International Patent Classification (IPC). Chapter 2 explains the organization and hierarchy of the IPC.

PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) Gazette Archives (http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/gazette/year.jsp)

Weekly issues of the PCT Gazette (from April 4, 1998 up to 2006, and including all Special Issues) as produced in paper format are published in PDF. The PCT Database (http://ipdl.wipo.int) contains the first page data (bibliographic data, abstract and drawing) of published PCT applications.

The PatentScope Search Service (http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/) replaced the PCT Gazette and allows you to search over 1 million published PCT international patent applications.


Derwent Innovations Index (DII)


Search Derwent Innovations Index (DII) (http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/13812)

Derwent's Classification System (http://thomsonderwent.com/support/dwpiref/reftools/classification/)

Derwent Coding and Classification Look-up (http://thomsonderwent.com/support/codingclass/)

Derwent Patent Assignee Codes Look-up (http://thomsonscientific.com/support/patents/dwpiref/reftools/companycodes/)

Derwent Patents Glossary (http://www.thomsonderwent.com/patinf/terms/index.html)

American / British Dictionary (http://thomsonderwent.com/support/dwpiref/reftools/usukdict/)
Both American and British spelling is found within the Derwent database. It is important to take this into account when searching in the Topic and Title fields. If in doubt as to which spelling to use, search for both options (for example, polymerized OR polymerised; vapor OR vapour)

Derwent Standard Abbreviations (http://thomsonderwent.com/support/dwpiref/reftools/abbrev/)

DII Manual (http://thomsonscientific.com/media/scpdf/dii-tott-guide.pdf)(PDF format)


Other Patent and Intellectual Property Sites

British Library List of National Patent Databases (http://www.bl.uk/collections/patents/othlink2.html#singe)

World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO (http://www.wipo.org/)

Canadian Patents Database (http://patents1.ic.gc.ca)

Japan Patent Office ("http://www.jpo.go.jp/)

Secondary Sources

Books

Essentials of patents
Gibbs, Andy
Engineering Library Reserve
T211 .G53 2003

Intellectual property law for engineers and scientists
Rockman, Howard B.
Engineering Library Reserve
KF2979 .R625 2004

Patent fundamentals for scientists and engineers
Gordon, Thomas T.
Engineering Library Reserve
T339 .G67 2000

Patents handbook: a guide for inventors and researchers to searching patent documents and preparing and making an application
Carr, Fred K.
Lippincott Library Reference Stacks
T339 .C347 1995

Protecting your ideas: the inventor's guide to patents
Bryant, Joy L.
Dental Library Stacks
T339 .B92 1999

Articles

There are 2 good overview articles in the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology
Note: These articles date from 1996, so details about databases may have changed. You can access these online (http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/11413) by searching on the article titles or you can read them in print in the Engineering Library Reference Collection TP9 .E685 1991 Volume 18
Patents, Literature, p. 102-156
Patents and Trade Secrets, p. 61-101

Miscellaneous

Gallery of Obscure Patents (http://www.delphion.com/gallery)

MIT's Invention Dimension (http://web.mit.edu/invent/invent-main.html)

National Inventor's Hall of Fame (http://www.invent.org/index.asp)

Patent Alerts (http://www.patentalert.com)

Wacky Patent of the Month (http://colitz.com/site/wacky.htm)

U.S. Patent Fetcher (http://free.patentfetcher.com/Patent-Fetcher-Form.php)- free public site. Downloads entire document as a PDF, able to print all pages instead of one-at-a-time.

If you need any further help, would like more assistance in getting started, or can't find what you are looking for, you can always contact one of the Subject Librarians:

Danianne Mizzy
Asst. Head, Engineeering Library
Email: danianne@seas.upenn.edu
Phone: 215-898-5700
*