Related topics:
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Overview
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Google
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USPTO
- Foreign Patents
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Patents
Posted:
Aug 27,
2011
Overview of Patents (Source: U.S. Patent &
Trademark Office)
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What Is a Patent?
- Grant of property right to inventor, issued by U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office.
- Depending on type of patent, term of new patent is
from 14 to 20 years from filing date.
- U.S. patent grants effective only within U.S. and its
territories and possessions.
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Types of Patents
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Utility
- Granted to anyone who invents or discovers any
new, useful, and "nonobvious" process, machine,
article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or
any new and useful improvement thereof.
- Granted for 20 years from date of filing.
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Design
- Granted to anyone who invents a new, original,
and ornamental design for an article of
manufacture.
- Granted for 14 years from date of filing.
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Plant
- Granted to anyone who invents or discovers and
asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of
plant.
- Granted for 20 years from date of filing.
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Patents vs. Trademarks
- Protects words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors
that distinguish goods and services from those
manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source
of the goods.
- Unlike patents, can be renewed forever as long as
they are being used in commerce.
Google Patent Searches
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Overview
- Patents are available for viewing or PDF
download.
- Entire collection of issued patents and millions of
patent applications made available by the USPTO
- Spans from patents issued in the 1790s through those
most recently issued in the past few months.
- Approximately 7 million patents and over a million
patent applications
USPTO Patent Searches
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U.S Patent & Trademark Office Provides
- Full text for U.S. patents issued 1976 -
- Full-page TIFF images for all U.S. patents issued
1790 -
- Patents from 1790 through 1975 searchable only by Issue
Date, Patent Number, and Current U.S. Classification.
- When searching patent numbers, number must be seven
characters in length, excluding commas, which are
optional.
Help Aids
About Viewing Patents
Patent Numbers
For Inventors
Foreign Patents
EPO (European Patent Office)
Free Databases Recommended by EPO
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esp@cenet
- Europe's network of patent databases.
- Simple interface; Available in most European
languages
- Tailored for use by people who don't have a lot of
patent searching experience.
- Contains over 60 million patent documents from all
over the world.
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Register Plus
- Use to determine whether or not European patent
application has been granted.
- Follows patent application as it passes through
European patent granting procedure.
- Users can access images of correspondence between EPO
and patent applicant (or patent attorney).
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ESPACE EP
- Aimed for expert patent searchers who want to search
European patent documents.
- Uses MIMOSA software to search full-text of most
recent four weeks of EP-A and B publications.
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From the ESPACE EP home page, click on
Register your e-mail address link to receive
instructions on how to access MIMOSA search engine.
WIPO
(World Intellectual Property Organization)
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PATENTSCOPE®
- Provides access to published PCT (Patent Cooperation
Treaty) international applications and to latest
bibliographic data and documents contained in the files
of PCT international applications.
- Information available differs depending on the date
of filing of the international application.
Colette O. Holmes, Management Librarian, Rensselaer
Libraries.
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Overview
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Google
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USPTO
- Foreign Patents
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