Patent Information Basics

Andrea Twiss-Brooks
Bibliographer for Chemistry, Physics, Geophysical Sciences, and Technology The John Crerar Library atbrooks@uchicago.edu 773-702-8777

Patent Information Basics

What are patents? Where do patents come from? Where will I see patent references? How do I find the full text of a patent? Where to go for more information?

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What are patents?

A patent for an invention is a grant of property rights by the U.S. Government through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent grant excludes others from making, using, or selling the invention in the United States. A utility or plant patent in force on June 8, 1995, is subject to either the 17 year term from grant or the 20 year term from earliest effective U.S. filing date, whichever is longer. A design patent term is 14 years from patent grant. The right conferred by the patent grant extends throughout the United States. The terms "Patent Pending" and "Patent Applied For" are used to inform the public that an application for a patent has been filed. Patent protection does not start until the actual grant of a patent. Marking of an article as patented, when it is not, is illegal and subject to penalty. A patent cannot be obtained on a mere idea or suggestion. Patent applications are examined for both technical and legal merit. Prior to filing a patent application, a search of existing patents can be conducted at the USPTO Patent Search Room or at a Patent and Trademark Depository Library in your area. Source: USPTO FAQ http://www.uspto.gov/main/faq/index.html
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What are patents?

What is a patent? A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. What does a patent do? A patent provides protection for the invention to the owner of the patent. The protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years. Source: World Intellectual Property Organization http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/patents.html

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What are patents?

Patents are one of the main tools used by companies, organizations, and individuals to protect designs and inventions (sometimes called intellectual property). Patent writers try to strike a balance between providing enough information for the patent to be approved by the granting agency, and not disclosing too many details to potential competitors. Patents that contain information about chemical compounds may not have detailed syntheses, spectral information, or other data. Increasingly, the patent claims entire classes of compounds synthesized using combinatorial techniques, and the applicant may not have isolated individual compounds for characterization.

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Where do patents come from?

A patent is granted by a national patent office or by a regional office that does the work for a number of countries, such as the European Patent Office and the African Regional Industrial Property Organization. Under such regional systems, an applicant requests protection for the invention in one or more countries, and each country decides as to whether to offer patent protection within its borders. The WIPO-administered Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) provides for the filing of a single international patent application which has the same effect as national applications filed in the designated countries. An applicant seeking protection may file one application and request protection in as many signatory states as needed.
Source: World Intellectual Property Organization http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/patents.html

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Where do patents come from?

Some commonly encountered patent granting agencies: United States Patent and Trademark Organization http://www.uspto.gov European Patent Office (30 member states) http://ep.espacenet.com Japan Patent Office http://www.jpo.go.jp/

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Where do patents come from?

Most universities (including UofC) have offices to provide information about policies, processes, and guidelines for patenting inventions developed out of university-sponsored research.
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Where will I see patent references?

Indexing and abstracting databases Some databases cover not only journal articles, but also patents, with varying amounts of coverage SciFinder Scholar (1907-current) Beilstein (prior to 1980) References in books and articles References in other patents

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Where will I see patent references?

Patent country (Germany) Patent assignee Patent year of issue Patent number

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Where will I see patent references?

Patent type/agency

Patent number

CODEN is a 6-character identifier for journals or other documents. Patent codens always have XX in the middle.

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Where will I see patent references?

Patents can show up as cited references in Web of Science. It can be difficult to decipher these references, particularly when there are errors in citing. e.g., These are probably all meant to be Japan (JP).

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Where will I see patent references?

WO patent numbers indicate that a single application was filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty. Sometimes, patents will be applied for separately in various countries. It depends on the business practices of the organization, and how much they want to protect certain markets. This may mean that there is an equivalent US patent out there, which may be easier to obtain

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Where will I see patent references?

esp@cenet is an excellent resource for trying to find equivalent patents. Its possible to search by person(s), organizations, and if you can get the format right, patent numbers.

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How do I find the full text of a patent?

If all you have is a patent number, you can use SciFinder Scholar to get a more complete citation. There may also be an abstract, which can help you determine whether the patent will really contain the info you need.

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How do I find the full text of a patent?

How do I obtain a copy of a United States Patent? Online from http://www.uspto.gov requires installation of TIFF viewer patents can only be printed one page at a time Print copies ordered from the USPTO $3 per patent can be ordered via online, fax, mail, or phone delivery can take some time Commercial patent suppliers MicroPatent http://www.micropatent.com delivery via email of PDF set up deposit account ($50) with credit card ~$7 per patent document
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How do I find the full text of a patent?

How do I obtain a copy of a patent or a patent application publication from another country? SciFinder Scholar / ChemPort link to esp@cenet Best for European countries, but also has Japanese, WO and other nonEuropean patents Printing limited to one page at a time US patents are in PDF format, though! Issuing agency website Can be the most comprehensive for that agency Often need specific patent number in particular format Search interfaces vary in quality and ease of use Commercial patent suppliers MicroPatent http://www.micropatent.com Non-US patents cost more than US patents
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How do I find more information about patents?

Patent issuing agencies often have FAQs and help pages Library guide to patents http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/sci/patents.html
T339 .B92 1999 D'Angelo Law, Stacks Bryant, Joy L., Protecting your ideas : the inventor's guide to patents. San Diego : Academic Press, c1999. T339.C3470 1995 Crerar, Stacks Carr, Fred K., Patents handbook : a guide for inventors and researchers to searching patent documents and preparing and making an application. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, c1995. T211.M390 1991 Crerar, Stacks Maynard, John T. and Howard M. Peters, Understanding chemical patents : a guide for the inventor. Washington, DC : American Chemical Society, 1991.
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