Began contributing on 9 June 2006.
Please note: My discussions are posted to my Talk: page.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO or USPTO) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides patent and trademark protection to inventors and businesses for their inventions and corporate and product identification. The PTO is currently based in Alexandria, Virginia, after a recent move from the Crystal City area of Arlington, Virginia. Since 1991, the office has been fully funded by fees charged for processing patents and trademarks. The head of the USPTO is Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property. AlternaTIFF is the free TIFF viewer for patents and works great for most browsers.
In general, the contents of United States patents are in the public domain.[1] The text of U.S. patents are usually in the public domain worldwide. Patent illustrations may be copyrighted, but U.S. patent regulations explicitly require applicants to allow "the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records" (37 C.F.R. 1.71). The patent on the invention itself may not yet have expired, and trademark protection is not affected by a mark's appearance in a patent. In specific cases, patent applicants and holders may claim copyright in portions of those documents. In those specific cases, applicants are required to identify the portions that are protected under copyright, and are additionally required to state the following within the body of the application and patent:[2] [3]
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to (copyright or mask work) protection. The (copyright or mask work) owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all (copyright or mask work) rights whatsoever.
The original patent should be checked for the presence of such language before an assumption is made that the contents are in the public domain.
Interesting factoids
edit- General
- Extermely large patents
- Enmei U.S. patent 7,057,605 Portable communicator 166 pages
- Stibitz, U.S. patent 2,668,661 Complex computer 102 pages
- Shoulders, U.S. patent 5,123,039 Energy conversion using high charge density 79 pages
Offices and searches
edit- United States Patent Office
- UK Patent Office
- esp@cenet homepage
- World Intellectual Property Organization
Wikimedia searches
edit{{US patent|0000001}}
{{US patent|D00001}}
{{US patent|RE000001}}
creates:
Using commas is preferred, though the template works with or without them. Patents must be in 7 digits, Design patents must be in 6 digits. Reissued patents must be in 5 digits.