Patents and Trademarks  Tags: patents trademarks copyrights intellectual_property ip inventors  

Technology Transfer and Enterprise Development at VU

TSBDC: Tennessee Small Business Development Centers

National Inventor Fraud Center
Understand the predatory tactics of some invention promotion firms.

Nolo Press editor Rich Stim fields questions:

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Michael White selects:

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Bruce Horwitz selects:

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Daniel Wright selects:

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A clear, concise description of the three main entities in the intellectual property universe, courtesy of Douglas Sorocco on PHOSITA.

Popular links on uspto.gov:

• "C" Is for Classification
A good place to begin a patentability search.

• General Information Concerning Patents

• How to Conduct a U.S. Patent Search
This 36-minute Flash tutorial lays out a step-by-step strategy.

• Inventors Assistance Center
For help with filling out forms, information concerning rules and procedures,
and answers to questions regarding patent examining policy.

• Patent Attorneys and Agents
Search by city, firm, last name, and more.

• Search U.S. Patents

Search non-U.S. patents:

• Canadian Patents

• Chinese patents (abstracts in English, full text in the original language)
An FAQ on Chinese patents can be found on the European Patent Office site.

• European patents (Espacenet)

• Search Japanese patents and trademarks at the JPO's Industrial Property
Digital Library. For English machine-translations of Japanese patent and utility
model documents from 1993 onwards, choose the "Patent & Utility Model
Gazette DB" link. A number search will return the PAJ English abstract, where
available. Clicking the "Detail" button on the top of the result screen will start
the machine-translation of the original unexamined application. Alternatively,
clicking the "Japanese" button will display the original Japanese document. In
cases where no PAJ English abstracts exist, you will immediately get the machine-
translation from the Japanese. An FAQ on Japanese patents can be found on
the European Patent Office site.

Retrieve patents and published applications as PDFs:

• Pat2pdf (U.S. patents)

• Patent Marvel (U.S. patents)

Perform both search and retrieval of patents from Google Patents.

Popular links on uspto.gov:

• Basic Facts about Trademarks
  and the Trademark FAQ

• International Schedule of Classes
  of goods and services

• Search Trademarks (TESS)

• Apply for a Trademark (TEAS)

• Check Status of a Trademark (TARR)

To apply for a state trademark in Tennessee:

• Information and filing guide
  at the Tennessee Department of State

U.S. Copyright Office

Copyright and Fair Use
Stanford's excellent portal for news and resources

The Slider
Slide the pointer along the timeline to see whether a published work has landed in the public domain.

A member of the Patent and Trademark Depository Library Program since 1985

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