Gang, there seem to be enough misconceptions about patents that I thought some information might be useful to you. This will be a bit long, so forgive me and bear with me.
A lot of people seem to believe that miraculous patented inventions have been bought and kept off the market by the evil corporations, particularly the oil and automotive types. Here's the reality:
1. Patents are public record. All of them. They have to be, so that new inventions don't inadvertently duplicate old ones.
2. US patents are available online. More on this below.
3. Patents have a limited term. Then anyone can copy and use the invention. Depending on the type of patent, the exclusive term is up to 20 years in the US. Until 1995, it had traditionally been 17 years for most patents. In other English-speaking industrialized nations, the term has traditionally been 16 years. The idea is to give the inventor time to profit or sell, then make the invention available for the public good.
However, trademarks have a generally open-ended lifespan. You can't call your new carbonated soda "Coca-Cola", even though that name has been in use for over 100 years, because the trademark is still in use and valid. In the US both patents and trademarks are handled by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Also, do not conflate patents or trademarks with copyrights that cover the contents of printed or electronic media. In the US the Library of Congress handles copyrights. For many works they are good for the life of the author plus 70 years, or for up to 120 years from the date of creation.
4. You can't patent ideas. Broadly speaking, you can patent only inventions involving something tangible. (The same principle applies to copyrights: you can't copyright ideas or information--only the specific phrasing and format in a work.)
This all means that patents can't be bought and kept secret from everyone forever, as some seem to think. In fact, as a government public record, US patents are not copyrighted, though the rules for foreign patents may be different. Now let's look at how you can research them.
When you think of a patent, you probably think of the simple serial number that you see on many products: example, US Patent No. 6,500,000. That is known as a "utility" patent and covers roughly 90% of all patents. Other types begin with letters followed by a serial number. The two of most interest to fellow BITOG members would be Design patents, beginning with D, or Reissues, beginning with RE. Design patents cover such things as styling elements, including car grilles and so forth. Reissues correct utility patents and will refer to the original patent involved. Other patent series include Plant (PP) patents that cover flora, and these go back longer than you think--to 1931.
The utility series started with No. 1 in 1836 and continues today in the 6,700,000 range. Design patents are in the range of D490,000; reissues, which are far rarer, are in the range of RE14000.
Now here are some terms you will need to know for research.
The title is just that: essentially the name of the invention used as the headline for the patent.
The abstract summarizes the invention in a paragraph or so.
The inventor is the person or persons who created the invention, and US custom generally requires an individual's name to appear here. The last name is all that is required.
The assignee or in European usage the applicant is the person or company that the inventor did the work for or has chosen to transfer rights to. Here's an example: Charles Jones patented a lot of inventions related to the rotary engine for Curtiss-Wright in the 1970s. Jones is the inventor, Curtiss-Wright the assignee/applicant.
A lone inventor without corporate backing will not have an assignee/applicant. European practice differs, especially on older patents, and it is possible to find an individual inventor's name in the "applicant" slot with the "inventor" slot blank.
The classification number describes where the invention falls on an outline. The US system is different from the European system, and for more information, you should refer to the specific patent websites.
You may also find patents by date issued. The full date is not required for such a search; the year is sufficient. Online software does not allow a search by date ranges, though.
Now for the nitty-gritty.
US patents back to No. 1 in 1836 are available in facsimile form (that is, a copy of the original document) on the USPTO website. Viewing them will require special, but free, TIFF software that allows downloading only one page at a time. This is deliberate, to avoid overloading computers and servers, but most automotive-related patents run no more than 10-15 pages. Also, text without illustrations from patents issued since 1 January 1976 is available and searchable online using the above parameters. Patents issued before then are searchable only by patent number or US classification number. Here is the USPTO site to start:
http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html
The Espacenet website, which is related to the European patent office, is an excellent alternative for US utility and Canadian and European patents issued since 1920. All available patents are searchable by all the parameters defined above. A specific US patent number must be preceded by "US" in the appropriate blank: example, US6500000. US design, reissue, and other patents are not available on this site (so far as I've been able to determine). Other countries have a specific two-letter code as well: GB for Britain, DE for Germany, etc. Patents download using a variation of Adobe Acrobat instead of TIFF, so your computer may already be ready to receive facsimile copies from this site. However, as with the USPTO site, only one page at a time will download. Here is the Espacenet site:
http://gb.espacenet.com/espacenet/gb/en/search5.htm?AutoFill
Note that the "applicant" on the Espacenet site may be abbreviated, so it pays to try different versions of company names. For example, General Motors is usually abbreviated by the search software as "GEN MOTORS". If you key "GENERAL MOTORS" or simply "GENERAL" as I originally did, you might not find anything!
To find the European classification number for an item to search that way, see the European patent office website at
http://www.european-patent-office.org
You can also search and view, but not print, patents from this site. Some newer European patents must be downloaded from commercial sites that require payment; I ran into this myself with a few recent German examples that were unavailable to view from Espacenet.com or European-patent-office.org.
It is interesting to see how the US patent format has evolved over the years. Since about 1970 the format has been for the first page to give the title, inventor(s), assignee(s), and summary, with the second and subsequent pages as necessary giving the necessary drawings, followed by the pages listing the specific claims the patent makes. Before 1970 the drawings came first. Many European patents give all the text first and the drawings last.
To sum up:
Use the USPTO site for (1) searching US patents since January 1976; (2) viewing facsimlies of all US patents, especially before 1920.
Use the Espacenet site for (1) searching and viewing US patents since 1920; (2) searching and viewing European patents, also since 1920.
Now then. You may have heard of the Fish carburetor from oldtimers. Supposedly a conspiracy kept this reputedly energy-saving device off the market and off US cars. Well, here are the American patents! 1,983,660; 2,214,273; 2,236,595; 2,801,086 (this last issued in 1957). Judge them for yourself. If you use the Espacenet site, don't forget to put "US" before the numbers and leave the commas out.
There is a design patent for the whole body of the third-generation Mazda RX-7. Let's see if any of you BITOG dudes can find it. To help, key "Mazda" as assignee and "Automobile" as the title, and check various years around 1992. Have fun.
Hope this helps a few of you.
A lot of people seem to believe that miraculous patented inventions have been bought and kept off the market by the evil corporations, particularly the oil and automotive types. Here's the reality:
1. Patents are public record. All of them. They have to be, so that new inventions don't inadvertently duplicate old ones.
2. US patents are available online. More on this below.
3. Patents have a limited term. Then anyone can copy and use the invention. Depending on the type of patent, the exclusive term is up to 20 years in the US. Until 1995, it had traditionally been 17 years for most patents. In other English-speaking industrialized nations, the term has traditionally been 16 years. The idea is to give the inventor time to profit or sell, then make the invention available for the public good.
However, trademarks have a generally open-ended lifespan. You can't call your new carbonated soda "Coca-Cola", even though that name has been in use for over 100 years, because the trademark is still in use and valid. In the US both patents and trademarks are handled by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Also, do not conflate patents or trademarks with copyrights that cover the contents of printed or electronic media. In the US the Library of Congress handles copyrights. For many works they are good for the life of the author plus 70 years, or for up to 120 years from the date of creation.
4. You can't patent ideas. Broadly speaking, you can patent only inventions involving something tangible. (The same principle applies to copyrights: you can't copyright ideas or information--only the specific phrasing and format in a work.)
This all means that patents can't be bought and kept secret from everyone forever, as some seem to think. In fact, as a government public record, US patents are not copyrighted, though the rules for foreign patents may be different. Now let's look at how you can research them.
When you think of a patent, you probably think of the simple serial number that you see on many products: example, US Patent No. 6,500,000. That is known as a "utility" patent and covers roughly 90% of all patents. Other types begin with letters followed by a serial number. The two of most interest to fellow BITOG members would be Design patents, beginning with D, or Reissues, beginning with RE. Design patents cover such things as styling elements, including car grilles and so forth. Reissues correct utility patents and will refer to the original patent involved. Other patent series include Plant (PP) patents that cover flora, and these go back longer than you think--to 1931.
The utility series started with No. 1 in 1836 and continues today in the 6,700,000 range. Design patents are in the range of D490,000; reissues, which are far rarer, are in the range of RE14000.
Now here are some terms you will need to know for research.
The title is just that: essentially the name of the invention used as the headline for the patent.
The abstract summarizes the invention in a paragraph or so.
The inventor is the person or persons who created the invention, and US custom generally requires an individual's name to appear here. The last name is all that is required.
The assignee or in European usage the applicant is the person or company that the inventor did the work for or has chosen to transfer rights to. Here's an example: Charles Jones patented a lot of inventions related to the rotary engine for Curtiss-Wright in the 1970s. Jones is the inventor, Curtiss-Wright the assignee/applicant.
A lone inventor without corporate backing will not have an assignee/applicant. European practice differs, especially on older patents, and it is possible to find an individual inventor's name in the "applicant" slot with the "inventor" slot blank.
The classification number describes where the invention falls on an outline. The US system is different from the European system, and for more information, you should refer to the specific patent websites.
You may also find patents by date issued. The full date is not required for such a search; the year is sufficient. Online software does not allow a search by date ranges, though.
Now for the nitty-gritty.
US patents back to No. 1 in 1836 are available in facsimile form (that is, a copy of the original document) on the USPTO website. Viewing them will require special, but free, TIFF software that allows downloading only one page at a time. This is deliberate, to avoid overloading computers and servers, but most automotive-related patents run no more than 10-15 pages. Also, text without illustrations from patents issued since 1 January 1976 is available and searchable online using the above parameters. Patents issued before then are searchable only by patent number or US classification number. Here is the USPTO site to start:
http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html
The Espacenet website, which is related to the European patent office, is an excellent alternative for US utility and Canadian and European patents issued since 1920. All available patents are searchable by all the parameters defined above. A specific US patent number must be preceded by "US" in the appropriate blank: example, US6500000. US design, reissue, and other patents are not available on this site (so far as I've been able to determine). Other countries have a specific two-letter code as well: GB for Britain, DE for Germany, etc. Patents download using a variation of Adobe Acrobat instead of TIFF, so your computer may already be ready to receive facsimile copies from this site. However, as with the USPTO site, only one page at a time will download. Here is the Espacenet site:
http://gb.espacenet.com/espacenet/gb/en/search5.htm?AutoFill
Note that the "applicant" on the Espacenet site may be abbreviated, so it pays to try different versions of company names. For example, General Motors is usually abbreviated by the search software as "GEN MOTORS". If you key "GENERAL MOTORS" or simply "GENERAL" as I originally did, you might not find anything!
To find the European classification number for an item to search that way, see the European patent office website at
http://www.european-patent-office.org
You can also search and view, but not print, patents from this site. Some newer European patents must be downloaded from commercial sites that require payment; I ran into this myself with a few recent German examples that were unavailable to view from Espacenet.com or European-patent-office.org.
It is interesting to see how the US patent format has evolved over the years. Since about 1970 the format has been for the first page to give the title, inventor(s), assignee(s), and summary, with the second and subsequent pages as necessary giving the necessary drawings, followed by the pages listing the specific claims the patent makes. Before 1970 the drawings came first. Many European patents give all the text first and the drawings last.
To sum up:
Use the USPTO site for (1) searching US patents since January 1976; (2) viewing facsimlies of all US patents, especially before 1920.
Use the Espacenet site for (1) searching and viewing US patents since 1920; (2) searching and viewing European patents, also since 1920.
Now then. You may have heard of the Fish carburetor from oldtimers. Supposedly a conspiracy kept this reputedly energy-saving device off the market and off US cars. Well, here are the American patents! 1,983,660; 2,214,273; 2,236,595; 2,801,086 (this last issued in 1957). Judge them for yourself. If you use the Espacenet site, don't forget to put "US" before the numbers and leave the commas out.
There is a design patent for the whole body of the third-generation Mazda RX-7. Let's see if any of you BITOG dudes can find it. To help, key "Mazda" as assignee and "Automobile" as the title, and check various years around 1992. Have fun.
Hope this helps a few of you.
