Florida State University College of Law Research Center

Research Workshop:Patent Law Research

Presented by:Elizabeth Farrell

Fall, 2007

Florida State University College of Law Research Center

Patent Law ResearchOverview

• Patent law & practice in a nutshell• Finding patents• Patent-related legal materials• Treatises & practice guides• Current awareness tools

Florida State University College of Law Research Center

Patent law & Practice in a nutshell

• Patents grant an inventor the right to exclude others from producing or using the inventor's discovery or invention for a limited period of time.

• Patent law is federal law and federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Patent infringement appeals go to the Federal Circuit.

• U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) is the federal agency charged with administering patent laws.

• Decisions of the USPTO can be appealed to the agency’s Board of Patent Appeals & Interferences (BPAI)

• 3 requirements for patentability: novelty, utility, non-obvious

• 3 types of patents: utility, design, plant• Term of patent protection: 20 years from date of application

(after 1995)

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Finding Patents

• Search full-text databases for key terms. Also can search by inventors, companies.

• Use patent classifications to guide your search– Index to US Patent Classification

(alphabetical)– Manual of Classification (numerical)

Florida State University College of Law Research Center

Finding Patents

• USPTO (free!): full-text & images, goes back to 1790

• Lexis: full-text & images, goes back to 1790. Plus: PDF of official patents

• Westlaw: full-text & images, goes back to 1976.

• Google Patent: full-page images, back to 1790. No applications

• In print: find a patent depository library

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www.uspto.gov

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LexisNexis

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Official Patent

PDFs available in Lexis

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Legal Materials

• Federal Statutes – Title 35, U.S.C.– Legislative histories of important patent legislation

• LN Congressional: US Serial Set Collection• Chisum on Patents treatise• Also: search law review articles

• Federal Regulations – Title 37, C.F.R.– Federal Register & Official Gazette of the USPTO– Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP)>>>Secondary Source: Horowitz, Patent Office Rules & Practice

• Patent Office Rules & Practice - MPEP

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Legal Materials

• Agency Decisions – – USPTO Board of Patent Appeals & Interferences

Decisions– USPTO Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks

Decisions

• Court Decisions – – Federal District Courts > Federal Circuit (after 1982) >

Supreme Court

Sources: (coverage varies) Online – USPTO, Lexis, Westlaw, BNA Print – West Reporters, BNA’s USPQ

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Treatises & practice guides

>>>Lots of great secondary sources<<<

• Chisum on Patents (Lexis)• Moy's Walker on Patents (West)• Landis on Mechanics of Patent Claim

Drafting (LN & WL)• Patent Law Practice Forms (West)

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Current Awareness Tools

• BNA Newsletters– Patent, Trademark & Copyright Daily– BioTech Watch– World IP Report

• Mealey’s Newsletters (Lexis)• USPTO’s Official Gazette• Patent law blogs

– http://blawgsearch.justia.com/

– http://www.blawg.com/

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Questions?