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Guides to Information Resources

Last revised: October 2007

Patents and Trademarks

Scope

The U.S. Government grants a patent to an inventor "to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States."

A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, which identifies the source of goods or services of one party from those of another.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Library (EPSL) at the University of Maryland is a designated U.S. Patent and Trademark Depository Library (PTDL). This is a selective guide to available library resources on patents and trademarks.

Contact Persons

Jim Miller                 Bob Kackley
jmiller2@umd.edu     rkackley@umd.edu
(301) 405-9152       (301) 405-9155

EPSL Information

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Getting Started

Recommended Resources

Many resources are available for searching patents and trademarks. The following databases are recommended for their coverage and search capabilities. For additional places to search, try Internet Resources.

USPTO Web Patent Databases http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html
  • Full text of U.S. Patents 1976-Present
  • Search by patent number and current US classifications 1790-Present
  • Full text images from 1790-Present are available using a free TIFF plug-in
  • The Advanced search page explains index fields (title, current class, inventor, cited references, etc.) at the bottom of the page
  • Many records cite earlier technology: US patent numbers, foreign patent numbers, articles, books, technical reports, and even company catalogs
  • Please note: the rapidly growing Patent Applications database (2001-present) is a separate file
European Patent Office (Includes international patents)
http://ep.espacenet.com
  • Search titles and some abstracts of over 50 million patents from 71 countries
  • Display and print full text of US utility patents 1836-Present
  • Use the Advanced Search to search US titles, inventors and assignees (applicants) from 1920-Present
  • Search by patent number and European Classification (ECLA) or International Patent Classification (IPC) for older patents
  • Use the Classification Search for detailed help with ECLA searching
  • If you have a patent number, use the Number Search and type the patent number in the Publication Number box in the format us25151 with no leading zeros
Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=login&p_lang=english&p_d=trmk
  • Provides access to more than 4 million pending, registered and dead federal trademarks
  • This is the same file the trademark examiners use and it allows very complex searches
  • You can display logos (images) and search for them using design search codes

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University of Maryland Collections

UM onsite collections consist of mainly backup archives. Except for PubWEST, most have corresponding sources available free on the web (See internet resources)

EPSL Onsite Resources

DVD/CD-ROM Databases

These are mostly backup archives, but they are sometimes faster, or better for downloading huge sets of data, spreadsheets, etc.

  • Cassis Patent & Trademark Assignments
  • Cassis Patents BIB
    • Search abstracts 1988-present
    • Search titles 1969-present
  • Cassis Trademarks BIB
  • Cassis Patents Assist
    • Includes Art Unit/Supervisory Examiner index, Attorneys & Agents list, and classification search options not available on the web
  • Patent Abstracts of Japan
  • GlobalPat
  • DEPAROM

McKeldin Government Documents

  • U.S. Utility Patents, 1790 to present
  • Design Patents, 1842 to present
  • Reissue Patents, 1983 (R31,119) to present
  • Defensive Publications, 1975 (T9300,001) to 1986
  • Statutory Invention Registrations (SIRS), 1985 to present
  • Reexamination Certificates, 1983 to present
  • CDR (Corrections, Disclaimers, Reissues), 1983 to 1987
  • Patent Status File, 1987 to present

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Internet Resources

United States Patent and Trademark Internet Resources

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
www.uspto.gov
  • Links to information about patents and trademarks
  • For information on international intellectual property sites try Related Web Sites

Patents

USPTO Patent Information
http://www.uspto.gov/main/patents.htm
  • Links to the Manual of Classification, Index to the Manual, classification definitions, and much more.
USPTO Web Patent Databases
www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html
  • Full text of U.S. Patents 1976-Present
  • Search by patent number and current US classifications 1790-Present
  • Full text images from 1790-Present are available using a free TIFF plug-in
  • The Advanced search page explains index fields (title, current class, inventor, cited references, etc.) at the bottom of the page
  • Many records cite earlier technology: US patent numbers, foreign patent numbers, articles, books, technical reports, and even company catalogs
  • Please note: the rapidly growing Patent Applications database (2001-present) is a separate file
Depatisnet
http://depatisnet.dpma.de
  • The German Patent Office's international patent database
  • U.S. patents from 1790 (X1)
  • Includes plant and design patents
Google Patents
http://google.com/patents
  • An important source of historical and genealogical patent information
  • Search U.S. patents full text from 1790
  • Note: OCR text has significant errors and omissions
  • Google is NOT yet ready for Patent Classification (subject) searching, as of Spring 2007
Edison's Patents
http://edison.rutgers.edu/patents.htm
  • Rutgers University's Edison Papers web site provides full text of Thomas Edison's 1,093 patents

Trademarks

Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=login&p_lang=english&p_d=trmk
  • Provides access to more than 4 million pending, registered and dead federal trademarks
  • This is the same file the trademark examiners use and it allows very complex searches
  • You can display logos (images) and search for them using design search codes
Maryland Secretary of State Trademarks and Servicemarks
http://www.sos.state.md.us/Registrations/Trademarks/Trademarks.htm
  • Provides access to the Maryland state trademarks database
  • Contains links to other state trademark offices
FindLaw: State Trademark Information
http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/trademark/trademark-registration/
state-trademark-info-links.html

  • Provides links to most state's trademark and company name databases

International Patent and Trademark Internet Resources

The British Library: Patents
http://www.bl.uk/collections/patents.html
  • A comprehensive source of patent and other intellectual property information
IP Newsflash
http://www.ipnewsflash.com
  • Rolf Claessen's free intellectual property news and law site
  • Includes links to international patent and trademark legal news and case law

Patents

European Patent Office
http://ep.espacenet.com
  • Search titles and some abstracts of over 50 million patents from 71 countries
  • Display and print full text of US utility patents 1836-Present
  • Use the Advanced Search to search US titles, inventors and assignees (applicants) from 1920-Present
  • Search by patent number and European Classification (ECLA) or International Patent Classification (IPC) for older patents
  • Use the Classification Search for detailed help with ECLA searching
  • If you have a patent number, use the Number Search and type the patent number in the Publication Number box in the format us25151 with no leading zeros
Canadian Patent Database
http://Patents1.ic.gc.ca/intro-e.html
  • Provides access to over 75 years of patent descriptions and images
  • Includes links to trademark databases and other Canadian company information
Delphion
http://www.delphion.com
  • Requires registration
  • Free-of-charge option includes some features not available on the free sites, such as cited year searching
Depatisnet
http://depatisnet.dpma.de
  • The German Patent Office's international patent database
  • U.S. patents from 1790 (X1)
  • Includes plant and design patents

Trademarks

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.en

Historical Patents Internet Resources

Historical Patents and Trademarks
http://ptdla.org/history

This collection of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets compiled by Jim Shaw includes indexes of all US patents from 1790-1874, including the 7500 "X-Patents" lost in the 1836 fire.

Cincinatti Inventors Database
http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/resources/invent/

Indexes Cincinatti area inventors' patents from 1814-1873. This databases allows browsing by inventor or invention and searching by inventor.

Historical Idaho Patents Database
http://db.lib.uidaho.edu/patents/

Search by inventor, assignee, city, title, patent number, or date for Idaho patents from 1866-1928.

Iowa Inventions Database
http://www.statelibraryofiowa.org/cgi-bin/patents/

Browse by location or search by keyword Iowa inventions from 1843-2006.

Index to Early Louisiana Patents 1810-1890
http://adler.lib.muohio.edu/%7Eshocker/LAPAT/index.html

This database can be searched by place or year, browsed by assignee, inventor, parish, or subject, and supports keyword searching for inventor and title.

Nevada Inventors Database
http://www.library.unr.edu/depts/bgic/nvinventors.html

The goal of this work-in-progress is to include all Nevada patents from the 1860s to 1975. The current database includes up to the 1920s, and is browseable by the inventor's last name or issuing year, and searchable by patent number, inventor, city, or patent title.

South Carolina Inventors
http://sys.lib.clemson.edu/scinventors/search.asp

Searchable by inventor, invention, residence, date, and patent number. Includes patents from 1796 to 1896.

Women Inventors Index 1790-1895
http://staff.lib.muohio.edu/~shocker/FemInv/

This database can be searched by place or year, browsed by assignee, inventor, state, or subject, and supports keyword searching for inventor and title. Also included here are lists of the women with the most patents, patents by subject, patents by state, and African American female inventors.

Wyoming Inventors Database
http://cowgirl.state.wy.us/inventors/

Browse or search by inventor name, or try the advanced search for further search options such as city, patent number, and date searching. Includes patents from 1867-present.

Search Aids

The following are indexes and other tools used for searching and browsing patents and trademarks. To search for patents and trademarks on the internet, try the United States Patent and Trademark Office or the European Patent Office.

Patents

Index to the U.S. Patent Classification System
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call Number: T223.A25

Manual of Classification
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call Number: T223.F4U58

Patent Classification Definitions
http://www.uspto.gov/go/classification/

Subject-matter Index of Patents for Inventions Issued by the U.S. Patent Office from 1790 to 1873, inclusive
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call Number: T223.D7A45

Early Unnumbered United States Patents 1790-1836
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call Number: T223.D7R46

Annual patent indexes 1847-1997, with some gaps (title varies)
Annual report of the Commissioner of Patents
Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks annual report
Commissioner of Patents annual report
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call Number: T223.H2

Trademarks

Design Code Manual for Trademarks
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call Number: T223.V15

Index of trademarks issued from the United States Patent and Trademark Office 1928-1972; 1974-1997
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call Number: T223.V1U5

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Last modified: July 23, 2007

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