Patent Searching for Research

This guide introduces Patent searching for research. Most of the information refers to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) databases and resources.

In this guide you will find:

• Start Here: introductory information and contact information if you would like more help that what is available in this guide
• Patent Databases - your "best bets" for research, along with some specialized databases
• Tips on using the USPTO Public Patent Search Basic and Advanced searches
• Tips on searching U.S patents by classification
• Very basic resources for Inventors seeking a patent

Note: This is not a guide designed for inventors who intend to submit a patent. It does not provide legal advice. If you are seeking a patent and need help with research on prior art for this purpose, please contact: the Idaho Law and Justice Learning Center, Law Library: phone 208-364-4555 or email: lawlib@uidaho.edu

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What is a Patent

"A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Generally, the term of a new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from the date an earlier related application was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees. U.S. patent grants are effective only within the United States, U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions...

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. Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the USPTO."

Source:  What Are Patents, Trademarks, Servicemarks, and Copyrights?  United States Patent and Trademark Office, downloaded February 24, 2015 from http://www.uspto.gov/patents-getting-started/general-information-concerning-patents#heading-2

There are 3 types of patents

• Utility Patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof
• Design Patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture
• Plant Patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.

Source: What are Patents, Trademarks, Servicemarks and Copyrights?  USPTO.  downloaded on 2-23-2015 from http://www.uspto.gov/patents-getting-started/general-information-concerning-patents#heading-2

Reasons to Search Patents:

• To Identify
  • Specific technological advances and inventions
  • Inventors of a particular patent
  • Owners or "Assignees" with the rights to a patent you want to include in a product
  • Research areas in or product interests of a particular company
  • Find "Prior art" - patents and designs that were referenced or cited in a patent application
• Note trends in an area
• Determine whether a particular invention has already been patented or there is a Patent Application on file

Finding patents for research purposes:

Librarians at Boise State University's Albertsons Library can help with basic search techniques. The Librarians are not lawyers and cannot give you legal advice. They can get you started on a search for research purposes.

Contact:

Tracy Bicknell-Holmes

tracybicknell-holmes@boisestate.edu

(208)426-4063

Are you an Inventor or with a Small Business?

The Idaho Patent and Trademark Resource Center, located in the law library at the Idaho Law and Justice Learning Center in Boise, provides resources and expert staff to assist the public in using search tools to access patent and trademark information. Our staff is ready to help inventors and small businesses find the information they need to protect their intellectual property. The resource, the only one of its kind in the state of Idaho, began serving patrons in 2017.

Contact:

Idaho Law and Justice Learning Center, Law Library

501 W Front St,
Boise, ID 83702
208-364-4555

Email: lawlib@uidaho.edu