Why Search Patents?
    Sample Search
    Overview of Patents
    Sample Patent and its Elements
    Searching Options
    Elucidated Patent Search
    The Viewer

find information on a technology prelimary search for a patent application long-range research planning

• distinctions
• patent
•  "the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling" [an] invention
• trademark/servicemark
• a word, name, symbol or device used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to

distinguish them from the goods of others. A servicemark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product.
• copyright
• the form of expression rather than the subject matter of the writing
• types
• utility
• invention or discovery of a new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or the improvement of one of these: it has to be novel and it has to work. 20 year term
• "masks" -- optical lithography or other project printing
• design
• new and nonobvious ornamental design for an article of manufacture. 14 year term.
• plant
• invention or discoveryand asexually reproduction of any distinct and new variety of plant.  20 year term.
• legal document
• length of term  was 17 years, now is 20
• fees for maintenance and renewal  can be considerable
• US vs rest of world
• recent changes
• Mini-Tutorial at U Texas at Austin [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/engin/patent-tutorial/index.htm]

• Patent type [http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/patdesc.htm]; usually "Utility"
• "Front Page" is the inventor, title, assignee, abstract, references, and main illustration (if any)
• Drawings
• "Specifications" contains Background (field and "prior art"), Summary, description of the drawings,  the Description of the Preferred Embodiment (the step-by-step of how the invention works), plus the Claims
• "Claims" describes what is unique about the patent and what others would be infringing; it's the protection clause 

  ---

• USPTO
• only US
• full-text searching (1976 to date)
• clunky but free image viewer
• citing/cited by
• Chemical Abstracts (SciFinder Scholar)
• only "chemical" patents
• worldwide coverage
• 1967 to date
• patent families
• searches only CA terms/abstracts but links to full patent where available
• Commercial services
• MicroPatent
• Patent Miner

etc., etc., and so forth
• Elements of USPTO Patent Searching

U. S. Patent & Trademark Office

http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html

inventions  [specification]  [http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/utility/utility.htm#speification] [sic]

Manual of Classification  [http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/moc/index.htm]

patent number search

boolean search

advanced search

fields  [http://164.195.100.11/netahtml/search-adv.htm]

truncation (*) or sometimes ($)

proximity  [http://www.uspto.gov/patft/helpadv.htm#phrase]

images/text/display/downloading

viewer  [http://www.uspto.gov/patft/images.htm]              [http://www.mieweb.com/alternatiff/]

references/referenced by links

Step 1: Organizing for a Search

Step 2: Basic tools in searching US patents

• Classification Index
• alphabetical subject index to find classes/subclasses
• keyword search of the classification index
• Manual of Classification
• the key to the whole search system
• consists of the subclass numbers and the titles of each
• searching is actually conducted using these numbers, much like using call numbers to find books in libraries
• Classification Definitions
• the scope notes (descriptions and usage) of each of the subclass numbers
• updated regularly to better categorize patented technologies. As these definitions are updated, all existing U.S. patents granted since 1790 are reclassified to reflect these classification updates.
• USPTO Help  or IPN Help
• Glossary
• by Robert M. Hunter, Registered Patent Agent
• Symbols
• full-text;  full-image;  searches subclass automatically

Note: Steps A, B, and C are alternate methods for producing the same results

A.  Using the Classification Index

• scan the entries under Valve and Valved Device for likely Class/Subclass candidates
• note the cross reference to Faucet
• check the relevance of classes/subclasses by clicking the links and scanning the appropriate sections

• search "stop and waste and valve*" using the Keyword index to the Classification Index
• check the relevance of classes/subclasses by clicking the links and scanning the appropriate sections

• enter keywords using the "all fields" option
• check a few of the patents that look promising for appropriate classes/subclasses
• examine the classes/subclasses in the Manual of Classification

    Class 137: Fluid Handling
Subclass        Title

 

• clicking on the Subclass number (such as 123) will produce a scope note: what the subclass covers and what other classes and subclasses should be considered.
• this is the most time-consuming step
• this is the most important step!
• clicking on the   automatically searches for all patents with that particular class/subclass.
• the "dots" (....) are holdovers from the paper indexes to facilitate scanning long lists of subclass entries.  Each indent (one dot, two dots, three dots, etc.) indicate that the item is a subset of the section(s) above it in the list.

• search likely class/subclass numbers
• use the "field" indicators (as shown in the Field Code table in the lower area of the screen)
• use Boolean logic, truncation, ranging (of dates), and mix with text fields as appropriate
• use "All Years" in the date fields until there are "too many" results; then limit by date

 

Examples
 
 

Patent Number Example	4,148,102  EP 630710
Author Example	Chen Ying-Yu
Assignee Example	Westinghouse; Siemens Westinghouse
Date Ranging	ISD/1/1/1995-3/15/2001
Keyword to Class/Subclass Example	http://kbico.com/products/smallvlv.htm keywords: Stop & Waste Valves  Class/Subclass: 137/123; 137/410; 4/427

The USPTO produces images of the patents (and the patent applications) in TIFF format.  The Help section at the USPTO site explains the system and viewing options.  The free viewer of choice is AlternaTIFF.  Installation of this viewer is quick but, depending on your browser, may not work without a quick fix (just click on the here link and return to the patent being viewed).