Table Of Content“A word of caution before trying a search at the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office website—first read Patent Searching Made Easy.”
POPULAR MECHANICS
7th Edition
Patent
Searching
Made Easy
Patent Searches
How to do
Online and in the Library
• Understand the market for your idea or invention
• Decide whether to file a patent application
• Save time and money David Hitchcock
Free Legal Updates at Nolo.com
7th Edition
Patent Searching
Made Easy
How to Do Patent Searches
Online and in the Library
David Hitchcock
LAW for ALL
SEVENTH EDITION APRIL 2017
Editor DAVID GOGUEN
Cover Design SUSAN PUTNEY
Book Design TERRI HEARSH
Proofreading JAMES SHRIEVE
Index THÉRÈSE SHERE
Printing BANG PRINTING
Names: Hitchcock, David, 1956- author.
Title: Patent searching made easy : how to do patent searches online
and in the library / by David Hitchcock.
Description: 7th edition. | Berkeley, CA : Nolo, [2017] | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016050923 (print) | LCCN 2016051546 (ebook) | ISBN
9781413324099 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781413324105 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Patent searching. | Patent literature.
Classification: LCC T210 .H58 2017 (print) | LCC T210 (ebook) | DDC 608--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016050923
This book covers only United States law, unless it specifically states otherwise.
Copyright © 2009, 2013, and 2017 by Nolo. All rights reserved. The NOLO trademark is
registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Printed in the USA.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
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Please note
We believe accurate, plain-English legal information should help you solve
many of your own legal problems. But this text is not a substitute for
personalized advice from a knowledgeable lawyer. If you want the help of a
trained professional—and we’ll always point out situations in which we think
that’s a good idea—consult an attorney licensed to practice in your state.
Acknowledgments
All screen shots from United States Patent and Trademark Office
website are courtesy of the USPTO. All screen shots from the European
Patent Office website are courtesy of the EPO. All screen shots from
the Defense Technical Information Center are courtesy of DTIC. The
author gratefully acknowledges and thanks the Thomas Register, Google,
Medical Informatics Engineering, and the Microsoft Corporation for
granting permission to use various screen shots in this book.
I wish to thank David Goguen for his editorial input during the
writing of this edition. I also wish to thank the rest of the staff at Nolo.
Finally, I would like to thank Cornelia, who inspires the best within me,
and my daughter Jennifer.
About the Author
David Hitchcock has degrees in physics and engineering, and has worked
as a computer consultant on such diverse projects as the MX missile, the
Milstar satellite program, advanced capability torpedoes, and jet engine
computer simulations for NASA. He has focused on patent searching and
new technology for a number of years. Mr. Hitchcock holds one patent and
is the author of a training video on patent searching. He is the inventor of
the Home Fire Shield™, a device to protect homes from wildfires.
Table of Contents
Your Legal Companion ........................................................................................................1
Part I: The Basics
1 Patents and Patent Searching .......................................................................................7
What Is a Patent and What Does It Do for Me? .............................................................8
What Is Prior Art?............................................................................................................................9
What Is the PTO Patent Database? .....................................................................................10
Patent Searching and Patent Eligibility ..............................................................................12
The Easy Part: Statutory Subject Matter and Usefulness ........................................12
Novelty: Is Your Invention New? ...........................................................................................13
Nonobviousness: Is Your Invention Obvious? ................................................................17
The Patent Document ................................................................................................................20
2 Understanding Patent Databases ...........................................................................29
How Information Is Entered Into the Database ..........................................................30
Understanding Keyword Searching .....................................................................................31
What You Need to Search Patent Databases.................................................................42
Part II: Simple and Advanced Searching
3 Patent Searching at the PTO Website .................................................................47
Simple Keyword Searches at the PTO’s Website .........................................................48
Searching the Manual of Classification.............................................................................60
Search by Patent Number ........................................................................................................71
Working With Patent Images .................................................................................................73
An Effective Strategy for Basic Patent Searches ..........................................................77
4 Advanced Search Techniques .....................................................................................83
How to Accomplish an Advanced Patent Search at the PTO Website ...........84
Searching Published Patent Applications at the PTO’s Website ......................102
Searching by CPC Codes ........................................................................................................107
5 Patent Searching at the EPO Website ...............................................................115
Patent Searching at the EPO ................................................................................................116
6 Patent Searching at the Google Website ........................................................133
Google Patent Search...............................................................................................................134
New Google Patents .................................................................................................................139
7 Additional Sources of Prior Art ..............................................................................141
Google ..............................................................................................................................................142
The Thomas Register ................................................................................................................150
Government Websites .............................................................................................................152
Usenet Newsgroups ..................................................................................................................156
Trade Magazines .........................................................................................................................160
Part III: Resources
8 Hitting the Books ................................................................................................................163
Index to the U.S. Patent Classification System .............................................................164
Manual of Classification ..........................................................................................................169
Classification Definitions .........................................................................................................171
9 Using CASSIS ...........................................................................................................................181
The CASSIS DVD Database ...................................................................................................182
Welcome to CASSIS2 ...............................................................................................................182
Additional CASSIS Features ..................................................................................................193
10 EAST Meets WEST ..............................................................................................................195
Web-based Examiner Search Tool (WEST) ..................................................................197
Examiner Automated Search Tool (EAST) ...................................................................203
Additional EAST/ WEST Features .....................................................................................208
Glossary
...............................................................................................................................................209
Appendixes
A Reference Collection of U.S. Patents Available for
Public Use in Patent and Trademark Resource Centers ...................215
B Forms ..............................................................................................................................................221
Classification Search Sheet ...................................................................................................222
Class Finder Tool .........................................................................................................................234
Index
...........................................................................................................................................................245
Your Legal Companion
O
kay, you’ve come up with what seems like a new way to solve a
problem or accomplish a task. But you’re wondering whether
somebody has already trod this ground before you. And if
they have, you’re wondering whether they succeeded in obtaining a
patent … or proving that the idea isn’t feasible.
Perhaps you’ve been told that the answers to your questions can
only come from a patent search performed by a lawyer or professional
patent searcher at a cost of $500 or more—possibly much more. You can’t
afford to spend that much money on an idea, especially if someone else
may have thought of it already. Maybe you should just forget about it?
Think again. You can do your own patent search with only a
reasonable amount of effort, and this book will show you how. Even
better, you can do your searching without spending more than a few
dollars. Even if your invention is not patentable, you will have saved
time and money and learned skills that will help with your next great
idea. If it turns out that your idea has never before been addressed in a
patent, your invention—should it issue as a patent—could provide you
with satisfaction and financial benefits.
This book will help you achieve your goals by showing you how to:
• quickly check out any new idea, to see if anyone else has already
patented it
• verify the patent status of ideas submitted to you for develop-
ment (if you are a potential developer), and
• save lots of money in legal fees.
This book is arranged in three parts:
In Part I, we explain the relationship between your search and the
patentability of your invention. We also help you come up with words
to describe your invention—also known as keywords or search words.
Once you come up with these words, you can use your computer to
search the U.S. patent database for patents that contain these words. In
addition to searching for isolated occurrences of your individual search
terms, you can also search for combinations of search terms.
