Photo: Patent searching circa 1960. Searchers (junior patent attorneys most likely) flip through stacks of paper patents in metal troughs located in the Patent Search Room.
The IP Mall, an online resource center for intellectual property information provided by the Pierce Law Center in Concord, NH, has digitized a fascinating collection of Patent Office Research and Development Reports from the 1950s and 1960s. The reports describe the Patent Office's early attempts at "mechanizing" or automating patent searching using coding schemes and early "punched card" computers.
Photo source: How to Obtain Information from United States Patents, Washington, DC: U.S. Patent Office, 1964.
The USPTO has published Classification Order 1,855, dated May 2, 2006. The order affects subclasses in Class 439, Electrical Connectors; it abolishes subclasses 620-622 and establishes 620.01-620.34.
According to a recent WIPO press release, search results in PatentScope, WIPO's database of PCT international patent applications, can now be retrieved using RSS, aka "Really Simple Syndication". PatentScope contains approximately 1.1 million published PCT applications from 1978 to the present and is updated every Thursday when new applications are published.PatentScope RSS searches will automatically retrieve the latest published applications and feed them into your RSS reader, web page or database. This service will make it much easier to monitor international patent applications without the hassle of conducting repetitive searches every week.
Made in Canada: Patents of Invention and the Story of Canadian InnovationThe Library and Archives of Canada and Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) have launched a new online exhibition and database of patents granted to Canadian citizens and residents from 1869-1894. Some patents are jointly held by Canadians and U.S. residents. Foreign inventors not residing in Canada were permitted to apply for patents in the early 1870s.The database contains ~14,000 patents that are indexed by patent number, patent holder name, filing year, city, province/state and title keyword. Scanned images of full-text documents are also included. The Canadian Patent Office issued approximately 44,000 patents during the 25 years covered by the database. Patents from 1895-1919 will be added in the future.
The MIT-Lemelson Program has awarded its annual $500K prize to James L. Fergason, an early innovator in the field of liquid crystal displays, and a $100K lifetime achievement award to Dr. Sidney Pestka for his "seminal work on interferons."
Mr. Fergason has more than 100 U.S. patents. Dr. Pestka's most recent patents include:
6,800,747 Nucleic acids encoding phosphorylated fusion proteins
6,747,131 Phosphorylated fusion proteins
6,610,830 Microbial production of mature human leukocyte interferons
6,514,753 Expression vectors for producing modified proteins
6,482,613 Microbial production of mature human leukocyte interferons
6,300,474 Modified interferons
6,299,870 Mutant human interferons
6,287,853 Accessory factory function for interferon gamma and its receptor
6,225,455 Constructs for producing phosphorylated fusion proteins
6,150,503 Phosphorylated fusion proteins
6,001,589 Method of identifying proteins modified by disease states related thereto
Liquid Crystal Display Pioneer Honored
Washington Post, May 3, 2006
MIT-Lemelson Press Release
U.S. patent grants in March and April hovered around 4,000 patents per week except for a slight dip the week of March 12. A record-breaking (at least in recent years) 4,365 patents issued on April 25, surpassing published applications by 13. This was the first week in many, many months when the number of issued patents exceeded the number of published applications.
The USPTO has published Classification Order 1,852, dated April 4, 2006. The order affects subclasses in Class 174 - Electricity: Conductors and Insulators.
The EPO has posted new "tips and tricks" for searching Japanese and Chinese patent databases on its FAQ - Far East web site. The site contains information and answers to questions about industrial property information in Japan, China and Korea.
WIPO Magazine has a new look. The April 2006 edition is now available on the WIPO website at: http://www.wipo.int/freepublications/en/?sub_col=mag.
Articles include:* The Return of the Lion - the battle over rights to the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" between Disney and the children of the original Zulu composer.* Avian flu drugs and patents* Using photographs of copyrighted works (IP for business)
The New York Times reported on April 10 on a new study that found that university scientists who received grants from the National Cancer Institute received a large number of patents and started companies in "surprisingly high numbers."
The study was conducted by economists at Indiana University and the Max Planck Institute of Economics in Germany with the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The report is available at www.kauffman.org.
In related news, Research Money magazine reported that revenue from intellectual property created by Canadian universities and hospitals had declined 7.7 percent in 2004. However, the number of invention disclosures increased 19 percent to 1,353, while patented inventions increased 23 percent to 647. These are preliminary statistics compiled by StatsCan from a survey that went to 88 universities and 47 hospitals. The final tally will be published in a working paper later this year.
Researchers at the University of California received 390 patents in 2005, according to the annual list published Thursday by the USPTO. This is the 12th consecutive year that UC has ranked number 1 among U.S. universities receiving patents. UC has received more than 5,500 U.S. patents since Jan. 1, 1976 and is the designated assignee on more than 1,400 pending applications published since March 2001.For more information about university patenting and technology transfer, see the Association of Univeristy Technology Managers (AUTM) web site. AUTM regularly publishes reports and surveys on academic patenting and licensing.
According to the latest report of the American Customer Satisfaction Index e-gov survey, "Customer satisfaction with federal Web sites dipped slightly last quarter for the first time in a year, although users are generally more satisfied with the information the government has online." (Reported in Government Computer News, March 21, 2006.)
Apparently, the USPTO is no longer participating in the ACSI e-gov survey, as it doesn't appear among the Q1 scores. It was first included two years ago in the March 2004 ACSI report. ACSI scores are archived at http://www.theacsi.org/government.htm.
Last year the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) launched the Better World Project to promote public understanding of how academic research and technology transfer benefits society and improves our way of life. AUTM has now released two publications highlighting academic innovations and a database of more than 100 products.The Better World Report Case studies on 25 innovations from academic research and technology transfer. Reports from the FieldProfiles of 100 technology transfer success stories from Canada and the U.S. Innovations are grouped into 19 categories including biotechnology, environment, medical and nanotechnolgy. Also includes indexes by geographic location and institution. Unfortunately, Although many of the innovations are patented, no patent numbers are given. In most cases, however, it is easy to retrieve related patents from online databases using the information provided in a profile. (A good source of teaching examples?)BWP DatabaseInnovations are searchable by field of application, institution, location or keyword. Again, no patent numbers are not included. (Perhaps a future improvement?)Both reports are available for purchase or may be downloaded for free. The database is also provided free of charge. Lastly, a supplemental report on academic innovations from UK institutions is available.
The latest issue of the EPO's Patent Information News (formerly EPIDOS News) is now available. Articles include: - Determining the value of a European patent - IPC8 data in the EPO's databases - IPC reform and XML - IPC reform - the user's view - OPS document delivery - esp@cenet update
The European Patent Office has published two new guides on how to search Chinese and Japanese designs using Locarno classifications. Look for them under "Tips and Tricks for Searching Databases" in the EPO Far East FAQ - Japan and FAQ - China.
The British Library has launched a new service for innovators, entrepreneurs and business owners called the "Business and IP Centre" or BIPC. BIPC is built around the impressive patent and market research collections of the BL and offers free workshops, seminars, speakers, case studies and an e-newsletter.
Librarians and historians know that researching early U.S. patents is often a frustrating exercise that ends in disappointment. Although the U.S. government registered approximately 10,000 patents from 1790 through 1836, almost all original U.S. patent documents and files from this period were lost in a devastating fire that swept through the Patent Office in the early morning hours of December 15, 1836. The Patent Office, using funds provided by Congress, attempted to rebuild its files by obtaining copies of patents from inventors. About 2,500 patents, the majority from the 1820s and 1830s, were recovered in this way. For the remainder, all that is known is the title, inventor name, and date. These patents are called "X" patents because of the unique serial number assigned to them many years later. Patent No. X1, the first U.S. patent, was granted to Samuel Hopkins on July 31, 1790. Copies of recovered X patents, many in handwritten script, are available in the USPTO web-based patent database.
Some experts believe that there are many more early U.S. patents waiting to be discovered in court archives, libraries, archives and attics. Indeed, over the years researchers and patent buffs have stumbled across several missing patents in archives and libraries. One of the largest caches was discovered in August 2004 when two New Hampshire patent attorneys located 14 lost patents in Dartmouth Library. A systematic search of courthouse archives and libraries would undoutably turn up more, but none has ever been undertaken (to my knowledge), probably because the cost would be prohibitive. Fortunately, patent researchers now have access (until May 31) to a powerful new tool that may help them identify copies of lost pre-1836 U.S. patents located in archives, museums and libraries around the world. ArchiveGrid, an initiative of RLG, contains collection descriptions of nearly a million historical documents, personal papers and family histories from thousands of institutions. In effect, ArchiveGrid is a union catalogue of archival collections. RLG is seeking additional grants and sponsorships to keep the system free of charge.
A simple keyword search in ArchiveGrid discovered the following tantalizing patent documents, none of which appear in the USPTO database. (X patent number obtained from list of name and date patents, July 31, 1790 to July 2, 1836.)
Patent number: X3502
Merrow, Joseph M., 1848-1947.
Patent, gunpowder, 1822 April 19.
1 sheet ; 25 cm.
Notes and Summaries: Old Sturbridge VillageMStuO
Shelving control number: 1993.63 pc
Photocopy of "Letters patent" in making gunpowder, in names of Joseph M. Merrow and Robert McKee, Jr.See also Visual Resource Library for photo of Merrow Mill, and Manuscript Information File.McKee, Robert, Jr.RLG Union Catalog Record ID: MAOV93-A103
Patent Number: X5325
Mosher, Reuben. Patent, 1829.
l item.
New York State Library
Manuscripts and Special Collections
New York State Library
Shelving location: Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12230.N
Shelving control number: 21208 Patent Number: X8725Martin Rich patent, 1835. 1 item.
Patent issued to Martin Rich for an improvement in Iron Dogs for a Saw Mill called the Gauge Saw Mill Dog. Signed by Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, and dated March 27, 1835.Preferred Citation: Martin Rich Patent, #272m. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.Cornell University LibraryNICShelving control number: 272m.
U.S. patent issues remained strong but stable in the second half of February and into the first week in March, perhaps signaling an end to four months of lower than anticipated patent grants.
The number of published applications jumped to more than 6,200 on March 2. The combined total of issued patents and published applications for the week of February 26 was more than 10,000.
