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Intellectual Property, Commerce, & Technology




User Guide Series - USPQ

Introduction
The United States Patent Quarterly (USPQ) is a reporter that publishes judicial opinions andadministrative decisions that relate to patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property issues. The documents that are published come from federal courts, state courts, administrative agencies,and other sources.
 
 The USPQ is split up into two series, USPQ and USPQ2d. The USPQ provides coverage from 1929-present. Coverage includes cases decided by the following tribunals:
    (1) U.S. Supreme Court
    (2) U.S. Courts of Appeals
    (3) Former U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals
    (4) U.S. District Courts
    (5) U.S. Claims Court and the former U.S. Court of Claims
    (6) U.S. Tax Courts
    (7) Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
    (8) Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks
    (9) U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunals
    (10) State courts (including District of Columbia)
    (11) Administrative Agencies (International Trade Commission)
    (12) Other tribunals and authorities
 

Tools Available at Franklin Pierce Law Center

There are three distinct tools available in the Franklin Pierce Intellectual Property Library forfinding case law through the USPQ: the bound volumes of the USPQ, the USPQ database inWESTLAW, and BNA's Intellectual Property Library on CD-Rom. Each resource is discussed inturn.
 

Digest Approach

One of the sources available at Franklin Pierce for the USPQ is the actual print version. TheUSPQ reporters are located on the third floor of the library, in the stacks closest to the Office ofthe IP Librarian. The coverage extends from 1929 to the present and includes advance sheets.
 
 When researching a topic, the researcher can start with the Cumulative Digests which abstract thepoints of law from each case. The digests are set up to cover a certain set of volumes of theUSPQ, which correlate to five-year increments, and includes:
    (1) A Topical Digest of Subject Matter
    (2) An Index to the Classification
    (3) A Word and Phrases Index
    (4) A Table of Trademarks Adjudicated and Cited
    (5) Tables of Cases
    (6) Patent Numbers of patents involved in cases
When using the digests, the researcher can turn to the subject matter topics to look for aparticular topic of interest. Topic headings range from Abandonment to Use and Sale and aresetup similar to the West reporters. Each topic heading includes a classification number unique to specific topic headings and subheadings. Once a particular topic has been identified, the researcher proceeds to the identified section of the digest and finds short case summaries for that topic, which is similar to a headnote, that includes a case citation. The Words and Phrases Indexcan be used to find related topics that would be helpful to the researcher. Once certain cases are identified that relate to the researcher's issue, the researcher then would proceed to the correctvolume in which the particular cases is located.
 

Volume approach

Each volume of the USPQ also contain a Classification Outline in the front of the volume allowingsubject access to the cases in the particular volume. Each outline is split up into divisions of:
    (1) Patents
    (2) Copyrights
    (3) Trademarks & Unfair Trade Practices
    (4) Judicial Practice and Procedure
    (5) Remedies
 
 As mentioned above, the classifications are unique numbers to the USPQ reporters, and are set up in a similar fashion as the topical key numbers used by the West Reporters. (It should be noted that the classifications system changed between the first series and the second series and topics were re-classified.)
 
 Once a particular case is found, the researcher can update the research by using the Shepard's IP Citator located in proximity to the digests.
 
 For researchers that already know the case cite, patent number involved, or the trademark, the researcher can turn to the Table of Cases, Table of Patent Numbers, or the Table of Trademarks Adjudicated and Cited, respectively. This will indicate where the cases having this information can be found.
 

Searching On-line

 
 In addition to using the books, the researcher can access the USPQ using WESTLAW. TheWESTLAW database is provided through an agreement between West Publishing Company andThe Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (BNA). The coverage for WESTLAW begins from 68U.S.P.Q (1946) for the first series and fully covers the second series through advance sheets. It additionally include editorial enhancements to aid the researcher in searching.
 
 To start, once the researcher signs onto WESTLAW, there are two options for getting to theUSPQ database. First, the researcher can choose selections from the main directory andsubsequent menus until the database is found. This is done by selecting the topical informationchoice from the main directory, choosing intellectual property from the subsequent menu, and finally choosing USPQ. Second, the researcher can simply type USPQ from the main menu.
 
 Once in the USPQ database, the researcher can search using the Terms and Connectors searchmethod, or the Natural Language search method. The Terms and Connector method involves theresearcher indicating key search terms that are connected with identified connectors that arerecognized by WESTLAW. An example for finding case law on trademark infringement that involve clothing items might be:
    trademark w/2 infring! & cloth! shoe!
Running this search would find cases in the USPQ that would be about trademark infringementthat involve clothes or shoes.
 
 When using the Natural Language method, the researcher just types in the issue or topic they arelooking for in plain English. For our example above, the researcher could simply type in the following:
    Trademark infringement involving clothing or shoes
Once the issue is typed in, the computer extracts the terms it considers important in the searchand runs a statistical analysis of the cases to see which cases contain the greatest number ofterms. The computer reads the connectors as being or and defaults to a number of cases it willprovide, in the Franklin Pierce library, that default is the top 20 cases.
 
 Another way of searching for case law in the USPQ database involves using field searching. This allows the researcher to narrow the available case law in a variety of different ways. The following fields are available for search:
    CI for CITATION: References for citing to a specific document.
    TI for TITLE: Title of a case, including the names of adverse parties.
    DN for DOCKET-NUMBER: Docket number(s) assigned to the case.
    YE for YEAR: Decided date and/or other identifying dates.
    SY for SYNOPSIS: Brief case history prepared by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.
    TO for TOPIC: BNA editorial classifications, including the number and title of U.S.P.Q. Digest topics.
    HE for HEADNOTE: Editorial descriptions of legal rules and principles discussed in the case.
    DI for DIGEST: Combined Topic and Headnote Fields.
    CO for COURT: Court or other source of a decision.
    ST for STATE: Name and postal abbreviation of state for state court decisions.
    AT for ATTORNEY: Names of counsel
    PA for PANEL: List of judges or others participating in decision.
    PR for PRELIM: Combined DOCKET-NUMBER, ATTORNEY, PANEL, and YEAR fields,and the long court name.
    OP for OPINIONS: Combined LEAD, CONCURRING, and DISSENTING fields.
    JU for JUDGE: Author of the lead opinion.
When using field searching, the researcher simply types the field abbreviation (on the left) followed by the information known in parenthesis. For example, to restrict searches to decisions of particular courts included in the database, the following field search term could be used:
    co(us) for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Also, if the research knows the particular case cite, the researcher can use the find command. The researcher can type find or fi followed by the cite to view that particular case. Furthermore, the researcher could select the find command from the Browse pull-down menu or select the appropriate icon for the find command for the same results.
 
 Updating research in WESTLAW is quite easy using Shepard's, Shepard's Pre-view, Insta-cite,and Quick-cite. To use Shepard's, simply type sh followed by the cite, or, if viewing thedocument that you want to shepardize, simply select the Shepard's icon. The Shepard's result will appear. Along the left side of the document are numbers. If, when looking at the result, there seems to be a case that you want to view, the researcher can type the corresponding number that appears on the left side and WESTLAW will take you to that case.
 
 As for Shepard's Pre-view, Insta-Cite and Quick-Cite, there is an option at the bottom of theShepard's screen that will allow you to jump to those services to update your Shepard's result. All of the updating services have jump boxes to enable you to access all of the other services from the current service.
 

Using CD-Rom

 
 The final available access to the USPQ in the Franklin Pierce library is BNA's Intellectual PropertyLibrary on CD-Rom. This CD-Rom is a Folio product and is located in the front of theIntellectual Property library in the right-hand corner. The USPQ infobase is divided into twodiscs. Disc 1 contains the USPQ First Series from 1946-1986, plus finding aids. It is an archivedisc and never needs updating. However, Disc 1 is unavailable at Franklin Pierce.
 
 Disc 2 contains the USPQ Second Series and finding aids featuring case law from 1987 to thepresent and a copy of cases decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuitpublished in the First Series covering 1982-1986. Headnotes for these cases have beenre-indexed to display only Second Series classification numbers on this disc. (As mentionedearlier the Second Series classification system differs from the First Series.)
 
 Searches using the CD-Rom are done through the use of custom query templates. The templatesprompts the researcher to enter the specific information that the researcher wants the software tosearch. The templates that are available are:
    (1) Words or Phrases
    (2) Any Field Combination
    (3) Case Citation
As with WESTLAW, the CD-Rom also includes certain fields to search. The available fields include:
    Attorneys: Attorneys, law firms, an their locations are listed for each case. The researcher cansearch by names, law firms, or cities.
     
     Case History/Deposition: Allows a researcher to search for later cases that may have affirmed,overruled, or otherwise acted on a case in interest.
     
     Case Name: Allows a researcher to search for all or part of a case name.
     
     Case Cite: Enter the citation.
     
     Cited Case: The researcher enters the case cite in quotes, e.g. 227 uspq 293", to find all referencesto the case throughout the infobase.
     
     Classification Number: Allows the researcher to search by classification number.
     
     Decision Date: Allows the researcher to enter a date or range of dates to find cases according tothe date they were decided.
     
     Docket No.: To find a case by the docket number.
     
     Exclude published opinion in search: Allows a researcher to search published opinions only.
     
     Headnotes: Allows a researcher to search the text of Headnotes for particular words or phrases.
     
     Judge and Checkboxes: Allows searching by Judge by entering the last name of a particularjudge. The checkboxes allows for further restriction by limiting the action of the judge.
     
     Jurisdiction: To limit searching to a particular jurisdiction.
     
     Particular Patents: To search for certain patents by patent number or patent description.
     
     Words: To search the full text of the case for certain key words.
The CD-Rom also provides finding aids to help when researching. The Finding Aids are tools forlocating full-text cases based on topics, classification numbers, citations or other criteria. The following finding aids are available on the CD-Rom:
    Topical Index: An alphabetical list of topics covered by cases in USPQ. Either words or topicalheadings can be searched. The index contains links that lead to the text of cases.
     
     Classification Outline: A hierical numerical list of classification numbers used to organize casetopics. Either words or classification numbers can be searched. This also includes links to cases.
     
     Conversion Table: Translates classification numbers used in the First Series to the Second Seriesand visa versa.
     
     Parallel Citations: Allows the researcher to locate parallel citations from other case reportersfrom the citation entered. Case name, tribunal, date and/or docket number can also be used forthis tool.
     
     Tribunal Abbreviations: Provides a list of citation abbreviations for all federal, state, and U.S.territory tribunals.

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