USPTO Resdesigns Website

The USPTO has updated its homepage, the first major redesign in more than five years. The new design is modern and eye-catching. Unfortunately, the search interface of the USPTO patent database looks like it did in 1999. 

Strong Growth in Patent Applications Worldwide

Applications for patents and other forms of IP rebounded strongly in 2010, so says a new report from WIPO.
Inventors and companies filed 1.98 million patent applications worldwide in 2010, a new record. China and the U.S. accounted for about 80 percent of the growth. Canada experienced a slight decline of 5.1 percent; however, residents of Canada filed more than 80 percent of their patent applications in other countries.

PatentScope Adds Russian/Soviet Patents

PatentScope now includes records for Russian and Soviet patent documents from 1919 to 2010, about 1.4 million patent documents. Full-text is not include, but abstracts are available from 1960 forward.

Cooperative Patent Classification Project

The USPTO and EPO have launched a website for information about the Cooperative Patent Classification Project, which aims to create a shared patent classification system based on ECLA.

New Bio: Inventor Hedy Lamarr

Inventor/actress Hedy Lamarr is the subject of a new bio by Richard Rhodes:

Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World. New York: Doubleday, 2011.

In 1942 Lamarr and composer George Antheil patented (US 2292387) a "secret communication system" designed to prevent enemies from jamming radio-controlled torpedoes. The invention was based on radio "frequency-hopping" and forms the basis of modern wireless communications systems. Lamarr's patent has been cited in 36 patents since 1976, including most recently in US 8031129, and in ~70 documents indexed in Google Scholar.

Ed Pauls, Inventor of the NordicTrack

Ed Pauls, inventor of the NordicTrack cross-country ski exerciser, died last month at the age of 80. He patented his ski machine in 1977 (US 4,023,795). Pauls was not the first inventor to conceive of an exercise machine that simulated skiing. However, his design was small and portable enough to be used in most homes.  

The success of the NordicTrack inspired numerous other designs. In 1980, just a few years after Pauls received his patent, the USPTO issued just 179 patents for exercise machines (Class 482). By the end of the 1990s the USPTO was issuing more than 350 patents for exercise machines per year. In 2010, the USPTO issued 736 patents for exercise devices. The top patent owners include Nautilus, Icon IP and Brunswick Corporation.

There are more than 17,000 patents classified in Class 482, 33 percent issued since 2000. The earliest patent in the class was issued on Sept. 9, 1825 to John Tustin of Philadelphia for a railroad turntable design. The first patent for a true "exercising machine", US 3,480, was issued on March 13, 1844 to Oliver Halsted of New York.

Statistical Country Profiles from WIPO

Statistical country profiles for more than one hundred countries are now available on the WIPO website. Each profile provides information on patents, utility models, trademarks and industrial designs from 1995 to the present. Patent applications by the top fields of technology are given.This is a very useful resource for librarians, researchers, and students looking for national IP statistics.

PatentScope Adds Kenyan Patents

The national patent collection of Kenya (KE) is now available in PatentScope. Bibliographic records for about 323 patent documents published from May 1996 to Jan. 2011 are included. Full-text documents are not available at this time.

USPTO Rebrands Library Network

The USPTO's national network of libraries that provide patent and trademark information to the public has a new name. The libraries formerly called Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries will know be known as Patent and Trademark Resource Centers. There are currently more than 80 PTRCs in 46 states and Puerto Rico.

Patentscope 1.0 Retires on Oct. 13

WIPO will phase out its PatentScope "Classic" search system on Oct. 13, 2011. All searches will be directed to the new PatentScope, which was introduced in 2009. WIPO launched the original PatentScope in 2003.

Australia and New Zealand Agree to Streamline Patent Applications

Australia and New Zealand have agreed to implement a streamlined patent application process that would allow inventors in both countries to file a single patent application by 2013 and request a single patent examination by 2014. Details about the Trans-Tasman Patents Plan were announced in July.

New Patent Library in Iowa

The Davenport Public Library is the newest member of the USPTO's library network and the first new site to be designated a Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC). There are now 81 libraries in the network, which was formerly known as the Patent and Trademark Depository Library (PTDL) Program.

Reinventing the Paperclip

Office supply geeks around the world are abuzz over a new paperclip called the Acco Klix. The metal, jaw-type, multicolored clips are said to be an improvement over traditional wire and sheet-metal paperclips, although they are much more expensive (10 for $3.99).

Paperclips are classified in ECLA under B42F1, "Sheets temporarily attached together without perforating; Means therefor". The code for jaw-type clips is B42F1/00C.

Illinois-based Acco holds more than 400 U.S. patents for office supplies and equipment.

Steve Jobs's Patents

The NY Times has an interesting pictorial overview of 300+ patents credited to Steve Jobs.

US Patent 8,000,000

On Tuesday, August 16, the USPTO issued patent no. 8,000,000 to Second Sight Medical Products for a visual prosthesis apparatus. The provisional application was filed on Oct. 19, 2006. Second Sight's patent portfolio consists of about 90 U.S. patents and published applications, plus more than 250 worldwide.

US Patent Counts, Q2 2011

The USPTO issued fewer patents but published more applications in the second quarter of 2011. The number of patents declined by 5.1 percent to 58,920. The number of published applications increased by 6.1 percent to 83,279. The USPTO has issued more than 120,000 patents in the first six months of 2011, a slight increase over the same period last year.

Table 1. Quarterly Patent Document Counts*
2011 ..... Patents (B) ..... PGPubs (A) ..... Total (A + B)
Q1 ..... 62,132 ..... 78,481 ..... 140,613
Q1 ..... 58,920 ..... 83,279 ..... 142,199


*Based on preliminary weekly data from the USPTO website. Totals may change after the fact due to withdrawn patents and published applications.

Table 2. Number Ranges, Jan. 1 through June 30, 2011

Utility patents ..... 7,861,317 - 7,971,266 (109,316)
Reissues ..... RE42,020 - RE42,509 (488)
PGPubs ..... 2011/0000001 - 2011/0078,838 (78,481)
Designs ..... D629,996 - D640,855 (10,843)
Plants ...... PP20,816 - PP22,000 (397)
SIRs ..... H2,251-H2,258 (8)

Happy 175th, U.S. Patent No. 1

July 13, 2011 was the 175th anniversary of the granting of U.S. patent no. 1, issued to Senator John Ruggles of Thomaston, Maine. Senator Ruggles was chair of the Committee on Patents and the Patent Office and the chief framer of the 1836 Patent Act, which came into force on July 4. The Act abolished the old patent registration system that had been in force since 1793 and re-introduced an examination system based on novelty and non-obviousness. Senator Ruggle's invention was a wheel traction system for steam locomotives. It has been cited in several patents including US 6,725,751, issued in 2004 for a "rotary punching apparatus".

USPTO Public Training Portal @ NTIS

NTIS is now offering public access to USPTO training materials used to train patent examiners and trademark attorneys. The catalogue includes about 70 modules of varying lengths.

PAIR Enhancement: Display References

The USPTO has enhanced its PAIR system (Patent Application Information Retrieval) by adding a tab for cited references under which is listed all references cited by the examiner and application, including patents and NPL (non-patent literature) documents. Cited US and foreign patent documents may be downloaded but not NPL (for copyright reasons).

Frisbee False Marking Case

Interesting article in the WSJ about a false patent marking case involving Wham-O, maker of frisbees. The company is the latest defendant in a string of lawsuits against firms accused of marking their products with patent numbers that are long expired. The frisbee or "fying disc" was conceived by Walter F. Morrison in 1938. He patented the design in 1958, D183,626, and then sold the rights to Wham-O. There are over 200 patents classified in USPC 446/46, the main class for flying disc toys.