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Some people confuse patents and copyrights. Although there may be some similarities among these kinds of intellectual property protection, they are different and serve different purposes.
In the U.S., a patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the Patent and Trademark Office. The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute and of the grant itself, “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States. What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention.
Copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of “original works of authorship” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished. The copyright protects the form of expression rather than the subject matter of the writing. For example, a description of a machine could be copyrighted, but this would only prevent others from copying the description; it would not prevent others from writing a description of their own or from making and using the machine. Copyrights are registered by the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress (not the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office).
80% of patent information is never disclosed or published elsewhere. Patents contain a wealth of specific technical detail, research data, and drawings. Patents and patent applications often published earlier than academic papers. If you are an inventor, you should be aware of relevant prior art in your technology. If you are an entrepreneur, you should monitor your competitors' new products, and where they are patented. If you are involved in applied research, you need to review new and pending patents in your discipline.
The best resources for accessing full-text of patents are Google Patent (for U.S. patents), Esp@cenet (for U.S. and international patents) and pat2pdf if you have a patent number and just want to view or print it fairly quickly.
A “patent family” can be defined as all patent equivalents for a single invention. All of the published patent applications from various countries and the subsequent granted patents on an invention are commonly referred to as patent equivalents. They are not “ true equivalents” in that each country may have different regulations for filing and different interpretations of the invention. It may include multiple patents in some countries because of differences in patent laws (e.g., how much new technology can be included in a single patent). When applying for a U.S. patent, inventors will need to know of any “prior art” which includes similar foreign patents or patent equivalents.
Many other national patent offices now have individual web patent databases. See the European Patent Office's extensive list — some sites are best searched in their native language.
PLEASE NOTE: many other patent websites will provide “some” free information and will provide additional search types or features for a fee. If a free search does not provide results, do not assume a patent does not exist. Free-access databases have a variety of quality in their search engines and patent search terms vary tremendously from country to country. If you are seriously considering applying for a patent, a free search can help you find out whether or not a similar patent already exists; however, first time patent applicants are strongly encouraged to consult some of the books for beginners listed at the end of this guide.
Many researchers mistakenly think that all searching can be done electronically – and this is essentially true for U.S. patents granted since 1976. Patent searchers, especially inventors who need to thoroughly search the entire realm of patents to ensure their idea hasn’t already been patented, have more limited options available electronically. Older patents do not have as many online search options because the patent pages were put into the USPTO database as scanned images. The University of Texas at Austin, McKinney Engineering Library has developed web-based tutorials for patent searching at: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/engin/patent-tutorial/index.htm
If you know the PATENT NUMBER:
The patent number is the magic key to the patent information system. Because patent numbers are often found on manufactured objects, collectors often use patent numbers to find information relating to a particular antique object. Regardless of what date the patent was issued, if you know the patent number, you can quickly pull up the full-text patent by searching the pat2pdf website or Google Patent Search. Both sites will allow you to enter a U.S. patent number and retrieve a PDF version of the patent. The documents are drawn from the USPTO file server.
If you do not have a U.S. patent number and want to search through the patents by topic or inventor, options vary depending on how far back you want to search:
If you know the PATENTEE or ASSIGNEE:
Search either Google Patent using Advanced Patent Search or Esp@cenet by keyword (see page 1 of this guide for more details).
If you know the SUBJECT OF INVENTION:
If you do not have a specific patent in mind and just want to search for U.S. patents by subject there are several different options:
The advantage to using research databases to search for patents is that they often provide information on international patents as well as U.S. patents. With the exception of SciFinder Scholar, most of these resources are available to ISU users from on- or off-campus with an ISU ID card number and a Library PIN. Once you locate information about a specific patent, you will want to search the pat2pdf website (for U.S. patents) or Esp@cenet (for non-U.S. patents) by patent number to access the full-text.
If you do not wish to download the software, the database is available on computer workstations in Parks Library (in Room 32, as well as Workstations E,F,G, and H in Reference) and also on workstations in the Physical Sciences Reading Room and the Veterinary Medical Library.
To search for patents on a topic in SciFinder Scholar, use the Explore Research Topic option, type in a subject, when the results come up, click on Get References, then Analyze/Refine and limit search results to patents. Patents found in SciFinder are often available full-text at the click of a button (if the patent is available free through the Internet).
The ISU Library does not hold the full text of patents issued after 1860. The Library has copies of the full text of patents issued between 1790 and 1860 in the Microforms Center. The collection includes patents before 1836 which do not have patent numbers, and patent numbers 1-31,004.
Researchers should be able to obtain full-text of most U.S. patents through either Google Patent or the USPTO website. Full-text of U.S. patent applications can also be found on the USPTO website, for applications granted since March of 2001. Some additional patents are available through the Esp@cenet website. Patents that are not available through these resources may be obtained through the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Service, Room 198b, at no cost to ISU faculty, staff and students or those with an ISU visitors card. Regular service is from 3-5 days. A priority service (for items needed more quickly) is available with a minimum charge of $5.00 per request. Please have the country and patent number available when requesting through ILL.
To View images associated with U.S. patents from the USPTO website, researchers are currently required to download a free TIFF plug-in. A drawback to the TIFF version is that it will only allow you to view/print one page of the patent at a time. If you would rather not download the TIFF plug-in, try accessing U.S. patents through Google Patent, Esp@cenet or pat2pdf as these sites provide U.S. patents in full text using PDF instead of TIFF.
Information and links related to the TIFF plug-in are located at:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/menu/plugins/tiff.htm
Based out of the State Library of Iowa, this database covers Iowa inventors and inventions from 1843 through 2005. The database is searchable by inventor's name, title of the invention, the inventor's residence (town or county), date the patent was granted, and patent number. Available at: http://www.statelibraryofiowa.org/cgi-bin/patents/
The ISU Office of Intellectual Property handles the patenting process for ISU faculty, staff and researchers. They have excellent guides on their website at http://www.techtransfer.iastate.edu/en/for_iowa_state/
Click on the link to Educational Resources for guides to patents, copyright and intellectual property processes. They also have a separate page for Reviewing, Marketing, Protecting and Licensing ISU Technology.
The State Library of Iowa became a patent depository library in 1988. The collection includes a backfile of patents on microfilm, starting with 361539. Electronic access to patents is available via the database CASSIS which the State Library has on CD-ROM (1969 to present) and PubWEST (Web based examiner search tool), the system used by patent examiners. PubWEST features more search options than the USPTO Web, allows for multiple-page printing and also includes EPO and JPO abstracts. Full-text search availability is the same as that at the USPTO Web site. Additional limited full-text searching back to 1920 is available, but because of imperfect scanned images, this should not take the place of a classification search.
For more information, see their website at: http://www.statelibraryofiowa.org/services/patents-trademark/Patents. Or contact the State Library's Reference Desk at 515-281-4102, 800-242-4883 or via e-mail at is@lib.state.ia.us
Reference DepartmentInterested in books that you can check out on this topic? The ones listed below are updated regularly and we try to purchase new editions every couple of years.
| REF KF3120 Z9 P285 | Patent It Yourself, by David Pressman Provides step-by-step guidance for obtaining a U.S. patent. Includes forms, procedures, and advice how to market the invention. Also explains alternatives to patenting such as trade secreting, copyrighting, and trademarks, etc. The latest edition is located in Reference and cannot be checked out; however, earlier editions are located in the General Collection. |
| GEN T210 H58 | Patent Searching Made Easy: How to Do Patent Searching on the Internet and in the Library, by David Hitchcock, Nolo Press. Provides an excellent introductory level description of the patent process for beginners. Also gives good strategies for what you can find using the Internet and when to head to a nearby patent library. One of the few books to include a chapter on advanced searching of the PTO databases and website. |
| GEN KF3114.6 P737 | Nolo’s Patents for Beginners, by David Pressman & Richard Stim, Nolo Press. Provides plain-English, basic explanations of patent principles, the invention process, patent searching, writing patent applications, ownership and patent disputes, and also a section on international patent law. |
| Other Print Materials (Cannot be checked out) |
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| REF KF70 A3 Title 37 | Code of Federal Regulations, Title 37, Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights, U. S. Government Printing office, annual. This source contains all U. S. federal regulations and rules of practice pertaining to patents, trademarks, and copyright. |
| GEN T223 A1 Un31x | Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Patents, U. S. Department of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office, vol. 1-; updated weekly. 1975- The "official" Patent Office publication describing new patents. It includes a drawing and abstract for each patent. Continues T223.A1.Un3 1872-1975. |
| REF T223 K6 P47x 1984 | Patents and Trademarks Style Manual: A Supplement to the United States Government Printing Office Style Manual, 1984. Guides writers, editors, and printers in composing and publishing U.S. Patent and Trademark documents. |
If you have any questions about the patent application process, the USPTO strongly recommends that you consult with a registered patent attorney or agent. For further information, see Patent Attorney/Agents at: http://des.uspto.gov/OEDCI/
If you have any questions about the search process, please come ask at the Reference Desk or use Ask-a-Librarian link on the library website.
Guide: C24
December 2006
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Thursday, 30-Aug-2007 11:35:46 CDT
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