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Intellectual Property Research: Patents

U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO)

  • General Information Concerning Patents
  • Multi-Step U.S. Patent Search Strategy
  • Official Gazette for Patents
  • Patent Basics
    • A U.S. patent gives an inventor, the right to “exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” an invention or “importing” it into the U.S. A plant patent provides additional rights on the “parts” of plants (e.g., a plant patent on an apple variety would include rights on the apples from the plant variety). What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import the invention, but the right to stop others from doing so. If someone infringes on a patent, the inventor may initiate legal action. U.S. patents are effective only within the U.S. and its territories and possessions.
  • Patent Center
    • Provides access to the dockets for issued or published patent applications. Use this database to view an application's prosecution history and continuity information.
  • Patent Public Search
    • New web-based patent search application that will replace internal legacy search tools
  • State Trademark Information Links
    • USPTO page with links to state trademark web sites
  • Trademark Basics
    • A trademark is generally a word, phrase, symbol, or design, or a combination thereof, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. A service mark is the same as a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than goods.
  • USPTO Website

Other Websites & Services

SECONDARY SOURCES

CASES

A good way to find cases about patents is to start with a relevant patent statute section. Title 35 of the U.S. Code in either Lexis or Westlaw provide annotations and citation features. Case Notes in Lexis or Notes of Decisions in Westlaw provide summaries of prominent cases. You can also use Shepherd's in Lexis or the Citing References tab in Westlaw to find additional cases that cite that code section.

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