Introduction to Patent Law
by
Michael Wogan, Ph.D., J.D.
Appendix B
Useful Web Sites
This material is protected by United States and International Copyright law. All rights reserved.
Contact information is provided on the author's web page.
The
average life span of a web page is 100 days; government-sponsored web
pages last somewhat longer, but they frequently move to another
location. Please report errors in the listings below.
A
useful technique for locating a "lost" web site is to use a
search engine and use the name of the site, such as Questel or
Delphion, as the search term.
The
PTO maintains an Inventor's Assistance Center at:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/dapp/pacmain.html
The site contains links to fee schedules, forms, patent rules (37 C.F.R.), patent laws (35 U.S.C.), the Manual of Patent Examining Procedures (MPEP), and links to international intellectual property offices (Australia, European Union), and allows users to submit general questions about patents via e-mail.
A
glossary of terms used in Patent and Trademark proceedings
(abandonment, interference, file wrapper) is given at:
http://www.uspto.gov/main/glossary/index.html
The glossary gives links to relevant sections of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedures, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, and other international agreements.
The
text of the federal patent statute, 35 U.S.C., is given on the PTO
web site. Another listing is maintained by U.S. House of
Representatives:
Cornell
University maintains a complete listing of the U.S. Code at:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/
A
database of patents, the Index of Patent Classifications, the text of
35 U.S.C., and the Manual of Patent Examining Procedures (MPEP) are
also available on Lexis, which is a commercial service requiring a
subscription.
The
Smithsonian institution Lemelson Center maintains the MIND web site
(Modern Inventors Documentation Program) at:
http://invention.smithsonian.org/resources/MIND_Search_Basic.aspx
Click
on “Web Sites.” There are links to inventor’s
papers and other materials which are on deposit with libraries across
the country, and links for inventors to helpful sites, including the
USPTO site and a database of Canadian patents.
A
browsable site for patents, organized by the type of device, is
maintained by the USPTO at:
The
PTO Classification Index is available online on the SunSite from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:
http://www.ibiblio.org/patents/index.html
The UNC site is a useful place to start a search, as it gives the Classification categories in alphabetical order, and lists the subclasses under each category. For example, searching for "Luggage, Convertible" shows the class to be 190, subclass 11. This is noted as "190/11+." The plus sign indicates that nearby subclasses may also be relevant.
At
the top of the UNC page, entering the number "190-11"
produces a list of patents within the category, such as Pat. No.
3,512,620 O 1970, Combination luggage case, ironing board, and table.
Commercial
patent search sites are available. The Questel site provides a free
intellectual property newsletter and information on patent searching:
http://www.questel.orbit.com/index.htm
Another
patent search service is at:
http://www.micropat.com/static/index.htm
MicroPat has a fulltext database. The subscription is only $95 per day or $7500 per year.
An
interesting commercial alternative to the PTO patent database is at:
Using the Delphion site requires a subscription. As part of each patent description, the Delphion site gives a table of prior, relevant patents, as well as a link to any litigation surrounding the patent. For example, a search for "peanut butter and jelly sandwich" found patent number 6,004,596, "Sealed crustless sandwich," with links to seven prior patents related to sealed sandwiches or sealed food layers.
There are a number of commercial search services available which will search for both patent and non-patent prior art, such as:
http://www.bustpatents.com/prior.htm
Ronald
J. Riley, the self-proclaimed president of the Professional
Inventor's Alliance, maintains a web site to assist inventors at:
Riley
also maintains Inventor Ed, which provides an intellectual property
newsletter, at:
Inventor
Ed has links to commercial search services and software and
information about how avoid being defrauded by promoters who promise
to “promote” an invention at
http://www.inventored.org/caution
The National Inventor Fraud Center has links and information about how to avoid fraudulent promotion schemes:
Another web site providing cautions against fraudulent schemes is at:
http://www.inventnet.com/scam.html
The USPTO publishes advice on Scam Prevention on their website:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/iip/index.htm
General information on consumer fraud, including identity theft, is available at:
http://www.consumer.gov/sentinel/index.html
A commercially-oriented web site designed to help inventors is at:
The
Software Patent Institute is a non-profit corporation which maintains
a database of prior art pertaining to software technology and has
links to related sites:
The University of North Carolina provides a site with links to critiques of "bad" (invalid) patents:
The site provides a critique of overextending the patent process to award patents that are frivolous or unfounded, including business patents, and gives a list of patents which have been invalidated. One section describes the costs of acquiring a patent. The site has links to news articles on patents from 1994 to 1999.
The Bust Patents site provides an internet patent news service, by subscription, at:
http://www.bustpatents.com/ipns.htm
For a search of prior art (for a fee), see:
http://www.bustpatents.com/prior.htm
The League for Programming Freedom, which opposes patents on software, has a web site at:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation monitors suits involving both hardware and software:
Software patents have come to Japan. Free Patents is an organization devoted to keeping software patents from becoming part of European law:
and
http://petition.eurolinux.org/index_html?LANG=en
The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation maintains a web site at:
http://invention.smithsonian.org/home/
The exhibit celebrates the playful nature of invention and innovation.
MIT Open Courseware includes a course on Development of Inventions and Creative Ideas:
http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Electrical‑Engineering‑and‑Computer‑Science/6‑901Fall‑2005/
29AC0EA7‑37C6‑4571‑A6DC‑5622D3D77993/0/introduction.pdf
The Franklin Pierce Law Center maintains a web site at:
http://www.PierceLaw.edu/tfield/ipbasics.htm
which gives links and basic information on patent, copyright, and trademark issues pertaining especially to artists and web designers.
The Boalt Law School at the University of California Berkeley sponsors a center to foster the proper balance between technology development, business, law, and policy:
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/institutes/bclt/
Copyright and intellectual property issues are covered at the Library of Congress web site:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/
A glossary of terms used by European Union regulatory agencies is at:
http://europa.eu/abouteuropa/index_en.htm
click on the tab for Glossary at the top of the screen.
The University of Houston maintains a web site on the history of invention:
http://www.uh.edu/engines/engines.htm
For useful links relating to international law research:
http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Public_International_Law_Research.htm
Of course you can use Google to do a patent search:
The site shows a rotating display of drawings taken from patent applications, such as a flying machine:
or a candy-forming machine:
