1. 1 Basic Facts about Patents Chem 3380 Fall 2008

2. 2 Patent Documents  Legal Document A patent is a legal right granted by a government to an inventor. Patent owners have the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale or selling the invention in the jurisdiction in which the patent is registered.  Technical Document A patent teaches a new and useful way of solving a problem, making a substance or device, performing an action, or an innovation on an existing invention.

3. 3 Three Types of U.S. Patents  Utility Patent (1790-): Term = 20 years from date of filing, 1995-  Plant Patent (1930-): Term = 20 years from date of filing  Design Patent (1842-): Term = 14 years from date of issue

4. 4 Parts of a Patent  Front page  Bibliographic data, abstract, reference, and representative drawing  Drawing page (s)  Specification  Background of the invention and prior art  Brief description of the drawings  Detailed description of the invention, and the manner and process of making it or using it  Claim (s)  Numbered paragraphs at the end of the specification  Defines invention’s legal boundaries  Does not disclose new information

5. 5 Parts of a Patent Front page DrawingsSpecification

6. 6 Front Page INID Codes  Internationally agreed numbers that are used to identify bibliographic data and usually shown in brackets or circles. These numbers are consistent in every country and enables reading of important information on a patent document, even if one does not understand the language in which it is printed.  First included on U.S. patents on Aug. 4 th, 1970  Identified by  parentheses (21)  square brackets [21] prior to Jan. 1, 2001

7. 7 INID Codes

8. 8 Common INID Codes (10) or (11) – Patent number (12) or (19) – Country code (21) – Application number (22) – Date of application (30) or (31) – Priority number (32) – Priority date (33) – Priority country (43) – Publication date (45) – Date of patent (51) – IPC classification (52) – National classification (54) – Title (56) – References (57) – Abstract or claim (58) – Field of search (71) – Applicant (73) – Assignee (owner) (74) – Attorney, agent or firm (75) – Inventor (s)

9. 9 Patent Databases Covered in Chem 3380 Subject Patent Coverage Patent Country Coverage Special Notes Beilstein Organic chemistry 1920-1980, no longer updating patent information Selected worldwide chemical patents None SciFinder All areas of chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, and related sciences 1970- present, updated daily ~ 57 active patent issuing authorities Patent family information provided

10. 10 For More Information:  What every chemist should know about patents. http://portal.acs.org/portal/fileFetch/C/WPCP _006903/pdf/WPCP_006903.pdf http://portal.acs.org/portal/fileFetch/C/WPCP _006903/pdf/WPCP_006903.pdf  GT Library Patent Services: http://www.library.gatech.edu/search_locate/te chres/patentservices.htm http://www.library.gatech.edu/search_locate/te chres/patentservices.htm  United States Patents and Trademark Office: http://www.uspto.gov/ http://www.uspto.gov/