Guides: ECE 2799: Electrical and Computer Engineering Design: Patents/Standards/Regulations

Types of Patents

Provisional – not examined, placeholder patent

Nonprovisional – examined – three types

Utility – Any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter or any new and useful improvision Example: bicycle
Design – Protects the appearance of an item Example: Disposable Water Bottles
Plant – A plant invented or discovered that is asexually reproduced – incudes cultivated stock, hybrids, mutants Example: “New Dawn Rose” – US plant patent number 1

Databases

Databases: Remember to look at both patent and non-patent literature

To review the basics of patents, and inventor and entrepreneurial resources, look at the US Patent and Trademark Organization (USPTO).

PatFT - is the USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image

Google Patents This link opens in a new window
Search and display U.S. patents 1790 to the present using the technology that powers Google Book Search, with the ability to scroll and zoom in on text and illustrations.
Coverage: 1790-
Full Text: Yes
Patent Lens This link opens in a new window
A worldwide, open-access, free patent informatics resource. Search and retrieve the full-text of millions of patent documents from US, Europe, Australia and WIPO, their status and counterparts up to 70 countries. Free PDF downloads for US, Australian, PCT and European patent documents.
Coverage: 1976-
Full Text: Yes
PatentScope This link opens in a new window
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) PATENTSCOPE Search Service enables users search fulltext of over 1.6 million published international patent applications.
Coverage: 1978-
Full Text: No
Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni provides access to more than 17,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis. Nexis Uni includes: 1) full-text access to thousands of news sources (primarily newspapers, magazines and journals) in the U.S. and abroad back to the 1970s; 2) aggregated economic data - including company financial information, and SEC filings and reports - on businesses, corporations, and industries in the U.S. and abroad; 3) full-text legal documents, including U.S. Federal and State court cases, federal and state agency regulations, Shepard's Citations to Supreme Court cases (back to 1789), and law reviews from the late 18th century to present.
Coverage: Varies
Full Text: Yes
CAS SciFinder-n [Access limited to WPI users only.] This link opens in a new window
[Access is limited to current WPI students, faculty and staff. Access is not available for walk-in or non-affiliated users.]
CAS SciFinder-n is the latest scientific information solution from CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society. In addition to the reference, substance, reaction and supplier content found in CAS SciFinder®, CAS SciFindern includes relevance-ranked results, step-by-step procedures and protocols, citation mapping, biosequence searching, retrosynthetic analysis, patent landscape mapping, touch-screen enabled structure drawing and much more—all accessible in a simple, easy-to-use interface.

Current WPI faculty, staff, and students must create their own SciFinder username and password before they can access the database. You must use a campus IP (i.e be on campus or using VPN) when you create your account, and you must use your @wpi.edu email address when you register. SciFinder will email to this address instructions for completing your registration. Non-WPI email addresses will not be accepted.
**Click on REGISTRATION to begin.
For more detailed information Click here

A few sample non patent databases:

Engineering Village This link opens in a new window
Abstracts from the Compendex database, which includes the electronic version of Engineering Index, with links to full text articles, patents, standards and handbooks in scientific, applied science, technical and engineering disciplines.
Coverage: 1884-
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, features smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research. Scopus delivers the most comprehensive overview of the world’s research output in the fields of Science, Technology, Medicine, Social Sciences, and Arts & Humanities. As research becomes increasingly global, interdisciplinary and collaborative, Scopus helps ensure that crucial research from around the world is not missed.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Google search for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports on all topic areas. Use to find articles from academic publishers, professional societies, prepublication repositories and universities.
Coverage: Varies
Full Text: Yes

Various business databases such as: IBIS, Gale, PRoquest, Business Source Elite and Nexus Uni

Tips for Doing a State of the Art Search

The Art of Patent Searching

Brainstorm terms describing the invention ( look at tech dictionary/thesaurus)
Keyword search – use Boolean operators AND/OR, “quotes”
Identify the Classification (CPC) Search Patent Classification Systems (uspto.gov)
Retrieve and review published patent applications from keyword, classification search
Look at related patents, cited references
Broaden your search
1. look at foreign patents
2. Search non-patent print and electronic publications (ex: books, journals, technical catalogs, conference proceedings

Note:

Do not ignore evidence that you do not like, the purpose is to find what could be bad news and figure out how your idea is different/ better
An absences of prior art at the time of search may not be permanent, embargos or hiddent patents/papers/ thesis/ or ideas may not come up at first so it is important to update your prior art/ state of the art search periodically

For WPI Inventors

WPI Intellectual Property Policy
This policy helps promote creativity and ensures that intellectual property produced will benefit the creators, WPI community, and public.
WPI Technology Transfer Office
The Technology Transfer Office (the TTO) evaluates the intellectual property protections available and the commercial potential of inventions developed at WPI. The TTO does not guarantee an interest in and patenting commitment to every invention disclosed. Based upon the initial assessment of an invention and according to the WPI Intellectual Property Policy, the TTO may initiate a patent application process or it may return the invention to the inventor.
WPI Office of Technology Commercialization
The Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) is in charge of helping WPI researchers with identifying, protecting, classifying, marketing, and licensing their intellectual property assets.
more...less...
https://www.wpi.edu/offices/technology-commercialization/how-it-works
Video: How to Conduct a Preliminary U.S. Patent Search: A Step-by-Step Strategy
A video overview of how to conduct a patent search before you file for a patent.
more...less...
36 minute tutorial from the USPTO. There is also a navigation menu listing the numerous topics covered.
Video: Quick overview of filing DOCX documents in Patent Center
A sample video from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which talks about how to file DOCX documents in the Patent Center
Lemelson-MIT Inventor Handbook
This handbook has 11 chapters of an inventor's most frequently asked questions.

ECE 2799: Electrical and Computer Engineering Design: Patents/Standards/Regulations

Why Do A Prior Art/ State of the Art Search

Types of Patents

Databases

Tips for Doing a State of the Art Search

For WPI Inventors