Siberkhem's Free Patent Search Course
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Patent Search Course
(original table of contents created by SiberKhem, November 2005)

Lesson One: Intellectual Property - Invention (<1 hour)

Lesson One Objectives
Historical Timeline

Venetian Statute of 1474

British Statute of Monopolies of 1623

US Patent Law

UN/World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Other Domestic Laws, and Organizational & Treaty Agreements, etc.

Modern Authoritative Bodies

WIPO

Trilateral Cooperation and Conference

US

EP

JP

Domestic Laws

Conventions & Treaties

Madrid INID
Review Questions


Lesson Two: Patent Documents & Patents, Published Applications, Other (1-2 hours)

Lesson Two Objectives
Geographic Coverage

Minimum Requirements & Structure (Front Page - INID)

WIPO

European (EP)

Japanese (JP)

US Patents (US)

Bibliographic Data

Patent Number & unique identifier

Issue/publication Date

Title

Inventor/Applicant/Assignee

Abstract/Representative Claim

Classification (IPC/ECLA/Domestic/Other)

Other Information (examiner, attorney, priority, cited documents)

Written Description

Background/Field of Invention

Summary of Invention

Description of Drawings

Detailed Description

Drawings/Figures

Review Questions



Lesson Three: Databases (1 hour)

Lesson Three Objectives
Primary Databases & Integrity Verification

US Patents/Published Applications

WO

EP

Other Domestic

JP

DE

CN

IN

Other

Access

Local

USPTO : Alexandria, VA, US

USPTO Depository Libraries worldwide

EPO & The Hague

Munich & Berlin

Rome, Stockholm, Vienna

other

Online

Authoritative IP Bodies

USPTO: www.uspto.gov
EPO: ep.espacenet.com
WIPO: www.wipo.int
JPO: www.ipdl.ncipi.go.jp
Other












Lesson Four: Search Structures (2-5 hours)

Classification Systems & Taxonomy

IPC

ECLA

USCS

JPOCS

Other

Limitations

Document Range/Coverage

Query Input

Stop Words/Excluded Words

Boolean, Phrase & Truncation

Syntax, Symbols

Results

Field Codes/Attributes

Document Number

Date

Inventor/Applicant Name

Classification

Other




Lesson Five: Search Applications (2+ hours, practice)

Types of Search

Patentability/Novelty

Validity/Invalidity

Infringement

Clearance, right-to-use

Collection

NPL

Text Search

Language: English/non-English

Keyword, Term

Synonym, Nuance

Hyphenation

Phrase

Combined with Field Code or Attribute

Field Code Search

Classification

Inventor, Applicant Name

Date

Country Designation

Chemical Structures

CAS Registry

DNA & Protein structures, Gene banks

Results

Short Display

Bibliographic Display

Document Text

Document Image

Search Report

Family of Patents

Selection of Documents for Citing in Search Report

Presentation of Results in Report

Objective of search, description of (alleged) inventive features

Coverage: databases and date ranges

Scope: breadth of search concept

Classification: systems used, US examiners consulted

Discussion of Results

Bracketing the search objective with relevant documents

Most relevant documents - page/column/line/claim recitation

Summary statement of remaining peripherally relevant documents