Patents: Getting Started

Most patents give exclusive rights, for at least 20 years from the date of application, to the owner of an invention or new process to make, use, or sell it.  The right extends throughout the country or countries in which the patent was issued.

A patent document has three main sections: 1) a cover page with bibliographic information; 2) a specification, which describes the invention, and 3) claims, which define the extent of the patentee's rights.

The United States recognizes three types of patents: 1) utility, 2) design, and 3) plant.

Utility patents are the most common type and include processes, machines, articles of manufacture, compositions of matter, and new improvements of the aforementioned.

Design patents include new and original ornamental designs for articles of manufacture (i.e., the appearance of an item).  Design patents are protected for 14 years from the date of issue.

Plant patents are for distinct and new varieties of asexually-reproduced plants.

There are many reasons to search patent literature to support academic purposes (apart from legal matters):

• Learn what inventions have been described, i.e., the state-of-the-art, in a particular area of technology. (Note: Patent applications often describe the most cutting-edge technology research.)
• Trace the historical evolution of technologies and inventions.
• Find citations to citing and cited references; contribute to literature review.
• Learn how equipment or processes work, based upon invention descriptions and diagrams.
• Avoid duplicating research efforts for previously described inventions.
• Identify gaps in technology development as potential areas for research and development activities.
• Identify experts / inventors in a particular field of technology.
• Find information on technologies and inventions not available elsewhere, including in scholarly publications.  (Note: The vast majority of technical information conveyed in patent documents is not published elsewhere.)

Patent numbers consist of a 2-letter Country Code, a publication or serial number, and a publication Kind Code.

• Patent documents are not peer reviewed, and therefore, ideas for patents may not be proven to work, and may not have been tested experimentally.
• Patent documents do not include product names or trademarks.  Patent titles are often vague as to what is being described.  This makes findability by keyword searching difficult, at best.
• Patent documents may describe components, and commercial products can be made up of several patents.
• Patents can be sold to new owners; however, documentation of change of ownership is not required or reflected in patent documents.
• Most countries have their own patent offices and laws.  Most maintain their own patent databases, resulting in a plethora of potential sources of invention information.  A patent is only enforceable in the country in which it was filed and approved. 
• Multi-country patent applications are facilitated by the 1978 Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), managed by the United Nations, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).  Published patent applications filed through the PCT have a number prefix of WO.  As patents are issued by individual countries, a country prefix is designated, creating patent families of related documents for a given invention.
• Patent applications are generally published 18 months after being filed. 
• Application and issued patent numbers for a given invention may differ or have a suffix added when approved. 

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