HOW TO LOCATE AND COPY U.S. DESIGN PATENTS ON THE INTERNET
IBM PATENT SERVER
RECENT U.S. DESIGN PATENTS CAN BE EXAMINED AND COPIED ON THE INTERNET AT THE IBM PATENT SERVER. YOU CAN GO THERE NOW, OR READ A BRIEF DESCRIPTION ON HOW TO LOCATE A DESIGN PATENT AND THEN ACCESS THE IBM PATENT SERVER SITE. THIS WEB SITE HAS THE TEXT FILE AND IMAGE PATENT DOCUMENT IMAGE FILE, AND EACH OF THESE FILES HAS UNIQUE CONTENT. THE FOLLOWING EXPLANATION OF THE IBM SITE AND HOW TO USE IT SHOULD BE USEFUL, TO AVOID PITFALLS.
AS OF MARCH 12, 1997, THE SITE HAD 26 YEARS OF U.S. PATENTS (INCLUDING DESIGN PATENTS, FROM JANUARY 1, 1971, TO FEBRUARY 18, 1997. THE SITE IS CONSTANTLY UPDATED. IT HAS 17 YEARS OF PATENT DOCUMENT IMAGES (THE ENTIRE PATENT DOCUMENT).
LEARNING HOW TO LOCATE QUICKLY A DESIGN PATENT TAKES A FEW MINUTES, AND YOU HAVE SEVERAL CHOICES ON HOW TO SEARCH. FOR EXAMPLE, YOU CAN LOCATE A DESIGN PATENT BY CLICKING "PATENT NUMBER SEARCH". YOU ENTER THE PATENT NUMBER WITH A "d" OR "D" PRECEDING IT. IBM DESIGN PATENT 335655 CAN BE LOCATED BY ENTERING D335655.
A TEXT SEARCH IS AVAILABLE, TO LOOK FOR PATENTS WITH CERTAIN TERMS APPEARING IN THE ENTIRE DOCUMENT, OR IN SELECTED FIELDS IN THE PATENT. FOR EXAMPLE, CLICK ON "SEARCH", WHERE TWO FIELDS ARE PROVIDED THAT CAN BE USED TO ENTER A SEARCH TERM IN EACH FIELD. THE SELECTED FIELD CAN BE THE ENTIRE PATENT DOCUMENT OR PARTS OF IT, LIKE THE INVENTOR OR ATTORNEY. A CONNECTOR LETS YOU CONTROL WHAT RELATION YOU WANT FOR THE TERMS IN THE DOCUMENT. FOR EXAMPLE, "AND" MEANS BOTH TERMS MUST BE IN THE PATENT FOR THE SEARCH TO RETRIEVE IT.
AS AN EXAMPLE, A SEARCH FOR PATENTS ON WHICH COOPER WOODING IS THE INVENTOR, WILL LOCATE SEVERAL DESIGN PATENTS. COOPER IS ONE OF THE WORLD'S WELL KNOWN INDUSTRIAL DESIGNERS. HIS FIRST NAME IS INSERTED IN THE FIRST SEARCH AREA AND THE INVENTOR FIELD IS SELECTED. THE CONNECTOR "AND" IS SELECTED TO INDICATE THAT BOTH WORDS MUST BE IN THE DOCUMENT. HIS LAST NAME IS INSERTED IN THE OTHER SEGMENT, SELECTED FOR THE INVENTOR FIELD. AFTER THE SEARCH IS COMPLETED, A LIST OF ALL TYPES OF PATENTS OBTAINED BY HIM IS DISPLAYED.
ONE OF THE LISTED PATENTS IS DISPLAYED BY CLICKING ON THE PATENT NUMBER. ONLY THE PATENT TEXT IS DISPLAYED. THE TEXT INCLUDES REFERENCES CITED BY THE PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE (PTO), AND THESE PATENTS ARE LINKED SO THAT CAN BE EXAMINED BY CLICKING ON THE PATENT NUMBER.
FOR THE PATENTS THAT HAVE AN IMAGE DOCUMENT ON FILE YOU CAN CLICK ON THE IMAGE ICON, BRINGING UP THE FULL PATENT DOCUMENT. THE DRAWINGS ARE VERY CLEAR AND YOU CAN MANIPULATE THEM ON THE SCREEN TO ENLARGE OR REDUCE THE IMAGE.
ONCE YOU GO TO THE IMAGE DOCUMENT IT IS NOT CLEAR HOW TO GET BACK TO THE HOME PAGE OR START ANOTHER SEARCH. YOU CANNOT GET BACK TO THE PATENT LIST FOR COOPER WOODING. THE TRICK IS TO GO TO THE PATENT ORDER PAGE WHERE THERE ARE WEB PAGE MOVEMENT BUTTONS.
THE TEXT FILE HAS THE PATENT MAINTENANCE INFORMATION, INDICATING WHETHER THE MAINTENANCE FEE HAS BEEN PAID..
A COPY OF THE PATENT CAN BE ORDERED FROM A SERVICE ORGANIZATION THAT IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE WEB SITE (NOT IBM). A BUTTON IS PROVIDED TO FILL OUT A FORM AND REQUEST A COPY.
NOW THAT YOU HAVE TAKEN THIS MINI COURSE IN LOCATING A DESIGN PATENT TEXT OR IMAGE DOCUMENT, YOU ARE READY TO GO TO THE IBM PATENT SERVER WEB SITE AND HAVE FUN.
ARE THERE ANY OTHER WEB SITES WITH U.S. OR FOREIGN DESIGN PATENT OR REGISTRATION TEXTS AND/OR IMAGES? LET THE NEWSLETTER EDITOR KNOW BY SENDING A MESSAGE TO THE WEB SITE E-MAIL ADDRESS: FRYER@FRYER.COM. WHERE FEASIBLE, INFORMATION ON OTHER WEB SITES WILL BE ADDED TO THIS PAGE, AND INFORMATION ON NEW DEVELOPMENTS ON THE IBM PATENT SERVER WILL BE INCLUDED ON THIS PAGE.
THIS PAGE WAS LAST UPDATED ON: MARCH 24, 1997.
© COPYRIGHT 1997, W. T. FRYER, III, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED (SEE CONDITIONS ON WEB SITE USE, FOR EXCEPTIONS).