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1. Introduction
Welcome to the Scary World of Patents! This handout is designed to assist you in
deciphering the major tools available for patent research in the U. S. and abroad. The
information presented here comes directly from the USPTO (http://www.uspto.gov), the
European Patent Office (http://ep.espacenet.com), and the World Intellectual Property
Organization (http://www.wipo.int) with my own commentary sprinkled in.
Before we delve into patent searching, let’s cover some background information about
patents.
What is a Patent?
A patent is a property right granted to a person or legal entity (e.g., a corporation) by the
U. S. Patent and Trademark Office. The right conferred is “the right to exclude others
from making, using, offering for sale or selling” the patented invention in the United
States or from importing the invention into the United States.
There are three types of patents: utility, design, and plant.
Utility patents are granted for any “new and useful process, machine, article of
manufacture, compositions of matters (can be a mixture of ingredients or a chemical
compound), or any useful improvement thereof.” Changing color, size, etc. is usually an
insufficient improvement for obtaining a patent.
Design patents are granted for “new, original, and ornamental design for an article of
manufacture.”
Plant patents are granted “to anyone who invents or discovers and asexua lly reproduces
any distinct and new variety of plants.”
Laws of nature, physical phenomena, and abstract ideas are not patentable.
How Long Does a Patent Last?
Currently, a new patent remains in effect for a term of 20 years. However, there are
maintenance fees that must be paid periodically in order for the patent to remain in force.
Maintenance fees must be paid at: 3.5 years, 7.5 years, and 11.5 years. Also, it is
possible to have the term extended.
How Much Does a Patent Cost?
3 As of October 1, 2001 the basic fee for a utility patent is $370 for an inventor and $740
for a corporation. The fee is non-refundable, even if the patent application is denied.
Therefore, it is often wise to do a patent search before filing an application.
(Source: General Information Concerning Patents, United States Patent and Trademark Office.)
Why Would Someone Search for Patents?
A variety of people conduct patent searches, such as inventors, historians, lawyers,
students, educators, government agencies, and engineers. The reasons to search patents
are equally varied: •Patentability: Conduct a preliminary patent search to assess novelty of an
invention. •Research and Development: Evaluate a technology, develop new -- or improve
upon existing -- products and processes. •Technical: Solve specific problems, locate sources of expertise, and identify
alternate technology. •Economic: Survey markets, monitor and forecast activities of competitors or
industries. •Financial: Avoid duplicating costly research; judge an alleged innovation prior to
venturing capital. •Legal: Conduct infringement or opposition proceedings; identify licensing
opportunities. •Historical: Study a time period, the history of technology, or social changes. •Educational: Research thesis or science projects, pursue scientific academic
programs and studies, and teach inventive and creative thinking skills. •Marketing: Compile mailing lists and databases; locate the addresses of inventors
or manufacturers. •Genealogy: Research and document family ancestors and accomplishments. (Source: Patents: The Collection for All Reasons, Patent and Trademark Depository Library Program,
www.uspto.gov/go/ptdl/patreaso.htm.) Now we’re ready to move to the next search and begin exploring how to conduct a patent
search. 4 2. How to Conduct a U. S. Patent Search: The Basics
Before we delve into the details of how the USPTO website works, let’s first go over the
steps involved in conducting a thorough U. S. patent search.
1. Find the appropriate class and subclass for the idea or invention. First, start with the
Index to Patent Classification (covered in section 3) to match terms that describe the
invention with its assigned class and subclass. OR, conduct a keyword search (covered in
section 7) and note any applicable patent’s class and subclass. 2. Go to the Manual of Classification (section 4) and look up the class and subclass
found in the Index or from keyword searching. Note where the terms fall within the U. S.
Patent Classification System. Scan the entire class schedule, paying attention to the dot
indent. Also, review the class and subclass definitions, scope, and any search tips
provided. Add or drop class/subclasses from search strategy as needed. 3. Check search strategy: retrieve and browse through titles of patents and published
applications in the given class and subclass. Note their class and subclass numbers and
go back to Step 2 to refine the search strategy if needed. Note: often a class/subclass
search will retrieve patents that the searcher deems as non-relevant. Refining the search
strategy to eliminate non-relevant class/subclasses will improve the results, but will not
totally eliminate non-relevant patents from the search. But, on the flip side, keyword
searching alone will rarely retrieve all of the relevant patents. 4. Compile a list of all potentially relevant patents by their patent number. 5. Retrieve and review patents. Verify patent relevance by skimming it s abstract. (Note:
The USPTO website only provides full-text abstracts from 1976 to the present. For
patents published before 1976, the image of the patent must be retrieved (covered in
section 10).) Also be sure to check the related patents listed in the retrieved patent. (Source: The 7 Step Strategy, Patent and Trademark Depository Library Program,
www.uspto.gov/go/ptdl/step7.htm.) Now that you know the basics, you’re ready to find a class and subclass in the Index to
Patent Classification, which is covered in the next section. 5 3. U. S. Patent Classification: The Index to Patent Classification
Keyword searching on the USPTO website is a risky venture. Different inventors rarely
use the same terminology, so keyword searching usually misses some relevant patents.
Instead, searching patents by using the USPTO classification system provides a more
thorough list of results.
The USPTO classification system is divided into two categories: a class and a subclass.
Representation of the class and subclass varies by the type of patent. For utility patents,
both are represented by numbers with a slash dividing them. For example, Frisbees are
classified as class 446 (Amusement Devices: Toys) and subclass 46 (Spinning disc). The
class and subclass would be expressed as “446/46.”
Design and plant patents, however, use slightly different nomenclature and classification
schedules than utility patents. All design patents have a “D” before the class. For
example, “D12/119” is the class and subclass for seat designs with posts or supports.
Design patent classes are included in the Index.
Plant patents have “PLT” listed as the class followed by a numeric subclass. For
example, “PLT/208” is the class/subclass for strawberries (genus Fragaria). There are
only a handful of plant patent subclasses listed in the Index. For more information on
Plant and design patent classification, see section 4: US Patent Classification: The
Manual of Patent of Classification.
The quickest way to locate a class and subclass is to use the Index to U. S. Patent
Classification. This is an alphabetical subject index to the USPTO classification system.
Now, for the first hurdle in using the online version of the Index: it is not listed on the
USPTO’s main web page (http://www.uspto.gov). To reach it, go to the USPTO home
page and select “Manual of Patent Classification” from the “Select a Search Collection”
drop down menu.
vSee Figure 1.
This brings up the “Patent Classification Home” page. To reach the Index to U. S. Patent
Classification (shown in Figure 1), click on “USPC Index.”
vSee Figure 2.
The Index can either be searched by keyword or browsed alphabetically. There are over
450 classes and over 150,000 subclasses. Browsing can be a slow process if you connect
to the internet at modem speeds, since the pages are quite large.
To browse by term, simply click on the appropriate letter near the top of the Index page.
vSee Figure 3. 6 Then scroll down the page until you locate the term you want. (To find the term more
quickly, use Netscape or Internet Explorer’s “Find” function to locate all occurrences of
the term (see Figure 6).
The class and subclass links go directly to the Manual of Patent Classification (which is
covered in section 4). By clicking on one of these links, it’s easy to check the scope of a
subclass or check the definitions and search tips of a class within the Manual.
vSee Figure 4.
To Search the Index, enter a keyword in the “Search for” box and click the “Search Now”
button (see Figure 3). Note: If your search has no results, try browsing for the term.
Occasionally, valid entries in the Index do not show up in a keyword search of the Index.
The results of a keyword search, unfortunately, do not link directly to the relevant parts
of the Index. Instead, the relevant alphabetical (browse) pages are listed.
vSee Figure 5.
In order to find the relevant class and subclasses, click on the page link and then use
Netscape or Internet Explorer’s “Find” function to locate all occurrences of the keyword.
vSee Figure 6.
While there is an “Advanced Search” option (see Figure 5) for the Index, I recommend
against using it. There are not any options that significantly enhance keyword searching.
And the option allows a search to be done in other go vernment websites, which is useless
for searching the Index and potentially confusing to library patrons.
Now that you have found at least one relevant class and subclass, it is time to explain
how the Manual of Patent Classification works. Turn to Section 4.