Patent Searching  August 2006

General overview  Patents – invention, and as a research document  Definitions  Searching – complete preliminary patent search.

Definition of Patent  A patent is a legal title granting its holder the exclusive right to make use of an invention for a limited area and time.  Before 1995, utility patents are in force from 17 years from the date of issue. From 1995 to present, utility patents are in force for 20 years from the date of application. Design patents are in force for 14 years from the date of issue. Plant patents are in force over the same period as utility patents.  The rights given by a patent stops others from, amongst other things, making, using or selling it without authorization  Also note that patents can not be renewed. (Figa, 1998)

Three types of patents  Design (has to do with the appearance of an item):  Ornamental design for an article of manufacture  Plant (agriculture):  Distinct and new variety of plant  Utility: (this is the type most often associated with invention)  Process  Machine  Article of manufacture  Composition (Gordon & Cookfair, 1995, p.16)

Utility patents – classes  Process – one or more steps performed on a material, composition, data or article to produce a change in its characteristics.  method of making chemicals  fabricating metal parts  data manipulation  Machine – group of elements or parts that interacts for a result  dishwasher  carburetor  lathe  Article of manufacture -- practically anything made by humans  toothbrush  table  golf ball  Composition of matter -- chemical compound or mixture of ingredients  toothpaste  cleaning solution

What Qualifies a utility patent?  Novelty. It must be the first of its kind.  Usefulness. It must be useful.  Not Obvious. It must not be obvious to others of ordinary skill in the field to which the patent pertains. (Gordon & Cookfair, 1995, p.23)  Statutory.

What qualifies a utility patent? The preceding qualifiers yield the following terms:  Obviousness – a function of  Scope and content of prior art  Differences between prior art and the claims at issue  Level of ordinary skill in the art  Prior Art –  Public knowledge  Prior publications  Patents, etc Gordon & Cookfair, 1995, p.16 & 23)

What is not patented? Patents are not issued for:  naturally occurring articles  scientific principles  mental steps (thought processes)  An exception is software  printed matter  An exception is software  Some methods for doing business. (Carr, 1995, p. 3)

Why Patents? Patents may be the only source of technical information from a corporation regarding their research. (C. Wenger, personal communication, March 2000)

Patent Sources of Importance to OSU:  USPTO  Espacenet

Searching by patent attributes  By subject – assume most common  Patent title, number  Inventor  Date of invention  Country of origin

Constructing a keyword search: generate & list terms  What is known about the invention?  Function  Describe what it does in as many ways as possible; use synonyms  Structure  What parts compose it?  Electrical?  Structural and chemical forms: steel, silicon,etc  Chemical reactions? What are end products?

Expand on terms  Boolean logic  Computer Literature Searching Worksheet

Boolean Logic {IDEA A(1) TERM(S)} OR {IDEA A(2) TERM(S)} OR Retrieves all records including either term. -- usually used to connect synonyms in a search Example: column OR pillar {IDEA A TERM(S)} AND {IDEA B TERM(S)} AND Retrieves only those records containing both terms. -- usually used for contrasting terms in a search Example: brittle AND elastic {IDEA A TERM(S)} NOT {IDEA B TERM(S)} NOT Excludes records containing a particular term. Example: brittle NOT elastic CD-ROM WORKSHOP; u.wisconsin, madison; njb, mmc, pjh 12/89 rev. for IIT, cbw 2/99 A 1 OR A 2 A AND B A NOT B

Computer literature searching Idea 1 Idea 2 Idea 3 (Synonyms or Alternative words) (Synonyms or Alternative words) (Synonyms or Alternative words) OR OR OR OR OR OR OR OR OR AND AND  STATE YOUR TOPIC IN A SENTENCE OR PHRASE  Sample: brake lights with varying intensity  UNDERLINE THE 2 OR 3 MOST IMPORTANT IDEAS  Write each of these ideas on the first line of a different column above.  Underneath, list synonyms or related terms if applicable.  Use a thesaurus if available CD-ROM WORKSHOP; u.wisconsin, madison; njb, mmc, pjh 12/89 rev. for IIT, cbw 2/99

Truncation  Truncate the term  The use of $ or ? and the truncated term; $ applies to USPTO.  For example “design$” for “designs”, “designation” etc.

How to search and retrieve patents  US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) (Located at  Espacenet (Located at WIPO EP US JP

USPTO  USPTO – US patents, updated daily  US Patents 1976 to the present for keyword searching. (1790 to the present for class/subclass searching.)  Select advanced searching  Search by field codes also.

Espacenet 1. Espacenet – multiple country, weekly update 1. worldwide – 30 million documents 1. Searches title and abstracts, get all WIPO, EP, US and JP. 2. Quick search: simple text (default search) 1. Searches title and abstracts, etc. 2. Notes field shows WIPO, EP, US, JP – which means 117+ countries 3. Advanced search – more options, with examples provided.

Espacenet  Advanced search –  Keyword search  title or (title and abstract)  Search International Patent Classification (recommended for a more comprehensive preliminary search).

US Patents: 18 Month rule  18 month rule for publications of US patent applications took effect in With that rule, published applications of US Patents appear after 18 months from the date they are submitted to the Patent Office.  Applications of US Patents appear in Published Applications file on the USPTO website  After the patent is made official it appears in the Issued Patents file on the USPTO website.

EP & WIPO  US patents applications filed with EP or WIPO (subset of all US patent applications) appear in after 18 months has  EP – European Patent Office  WIPO – World Intellectual Property Network

Steps involved in a preliminary patent search  1. In USPTO: Search Issued Patents using keyword;  Rough search, hit or miss  Useful - Find a relevant patent  Only works for patents from 1975 to present  Thorough search requires searching class, subclass, which goes back prior to 1975.

preliminary patent search cont.  2. Identify relevant patents and the corresponding class/subclass codes (CCL)  3. Search Issued Patents with all CCL identified using “Tools..searching by Patent Classification” or “Advanced Searching” link on the USPTO search page (be sure to select all years 1790 to present). And look at every single patent.

preliminary patent search cont.  4. Search Published Applications using all CCL identified. Look at all patents listed.  5. Search European, WIPO, and Japanese patents via including international class codes

USPTO  US Patents 1976 to the present  Select advanced searching  Select 1976-present on the pull down menu - default

Search  What terms would one use to locate patents on friction testing devices, pertaining to friction between moving parts, and friction and lubrication issues, etc.

 Search Issued Patents  friction and testing – searches full text -- 20,000 patents  Search within the abstract to eliminate irrelevant patents  abst/”friction test” -- searches the abstract – 8 patents -- cannot use truncation $ within a phrase “”  abst/friction and abst/test$ -- searches the abstract – 278 patents – search limited to abstract with Boolean operator gives more results

Item 49

3 class/subclass codes

Select “Tools…Searching..Patent Classification” Link

Enter the class number, 73

Then scroll to the subclass, 9 in this case.

Click on “P” to the left of 9 for patents, or select “9” for the definition of the subclass

Look at each patent to see if it matches your topic. Then search class/subclasses 73/7 and 73/121 and look at each patent in the results to see if any of them match your topic. At any given time during your search, you may discover other relevant patents and class/subclasses. The goal is to identify all class/subclasses (CCL) that pertain to your topic, then review the corresponding patents.

Definition for 73/9

Searching class/subclass using advanced search and selecting “1790-present” produces the same result Select range 1790 to present

 Search other relevant class/subclasses already identified before proceeding to search the published applications

Search Published Applications using all CCL identified in the search of issued patents

Look at each patent listed for this class/subclass & other relevant class/subclasses, including ccl/73/7 and 73/121.

Search European, WIPO, and Japanese patents via including international class codes search.

Download AlternaTIFF image viewer from the web -

View images in USPTO via AlternaTIFF image viewer

Printable patent image

 Use the US patent number to locate and download the PDF of US patents.  Less cumbersome than printing individual pages using AlternaTIFF from the USPTO website.