IP Tools Product Evaluation
by
Darwin K. Carr & Melissa Yuqin Lu

This research project provides an overview of patent search resources on the INTERNET. The following resources are included: The AIDS Patent Project, Biotechnology Patents, Electronic Data Systems Shadow Patent Office, MicroPatent Patent Retrieval, QPAT.US, US Patent and Trademark Office and the IBM site. These sites have been evaluated and compared to see if they can perform the following types of searches:

• Patentability - to determine whether an invention is patentable
• Infringement - to form a legal opinion about problems on adopting a course of action
• Right-to-make - to determine if a patent has expired and can be copied with impunity
• Validity - extended search to ascertain whether a patent will withstand attack in litigation
• Sate-of-the-art - broad brush survey in a given art
• Continuing - keep abreast of what is being patented in fields of interest
• Assignment - trace the chain of title in respect to patents

I. The AIDS Patent Project

Sponsors: CNIDR, USPTO and NSF

Description: The Aids Patent Project has created a home page containing links to various access points for "AIDS Patents" and related databases. The page allows a user to browse or do free-text or boolean searches of the AIDS Patent Database and also allows a user to search the US Patent Classifications Database (the search capability is new as of 10/17/96, previously you could only browse this database).

The AIDS Patents Browse Page lists all of the patents in the collection and lets you browse them without searching. The screen list patents in ascending patent number order with the patent title and allows a user to browse the abstract, front page, full patent, images and similar patents.

Full text and boolean searches allow you to search through the full text or by the following fields: title, abstract, patent number, issue date, application number, application date, international class, inventor name and assignee. The following fields can be searched in the U.S. databases only: patent summary, patent claims, detailed description, drawing description, government interest, U.S. Class/Subclass, inventor city, inventor state, inventor country, assignee city, assignee state, assignee country, legal representative, primary examiner, assistant examiner and references.

The U.S. Classification database features the entire manual of classification as well as the definitions. The search feature on this database has been developed and allows you to make a case-insensitive query of the classification database using a command-line style search syntax. You are able to use all of the same features available through the search page. The current classification of a patent is now listed along with the original class the patent was issued under. The current classification listing includes any changes to the classification of the patent since it's issue due to a patent data correction or change to a class definition or structure. Also detailed information about your results are listed at the top of the search results page. This will show how many times each of your terms occurred and in how many documents. This will assist you in refining your search.

Period Covered: This database does not specify the period of coverage, but states that roughly 2000 research oriented patents relating to AIDS are available.

Language: English

Updates: Data for U.S. AIDS Patents issued up to 2/4/97 are now available.

Pros: Free access to this collection of AIDS patents is a boon to AIDS researchers and scientists and for patent attorneys specializing in pharmaceuticals. U.S. Patent Classification database is from a direct link to the USPTO and is complete. You can now easily search the U.S. Patent Bibliographic Database for patents related to U.S. AIDS patent by using the 'More - this Class', 'More - this Inventor' and 'More - the assignee' buttons which appear on the top of each patent page.

Cons: Images are extremely small and a special graphics viewer is needed in order to see the drawing pages. Not all patents and thus some pertinent patents may be excluded through classification. Coverage is very narrow as it is limited to AIDS patents.

II. Biotechnology Patents

Sponsors: Biotechnology Information Center; National Agricultural Library/USDA, NSF, Sun Microsystems, WAIS inc. and the USPTO.

Description: This database is a compilation of all biotechnology patents granted since 1994 in alphabetical order by title. It also includes links to the PTO Information Office and to the Biotechnology Patent Classifications from the PTO manual. Patents are shown in full text form without images and there is no way to search full text without linking to the PTO information office which in turn refers users to WAIS source files.

Period Covered: 1994 - 1995

Language: English

Updates: This database is no longer updated

Pros: Give full text of biotech patents from 1994-95 for free. PTO link and biotechnology classifications may save time for the biotech practioner.

Cons: Lack of direct search capability and the failure to include patent numbers with the titles makes it difficult to find prior art quickly. Lack of images is also a negative, but this drawback is common in the patent field. This database on includes patents from 1994 and 1995.

III. Electronic Data Systems Shadow Patent Office

URL: http://www.spo.eds.com/patent.html

Sponsor: Electronic Data Systems (commercial database)

Description: The EDS Shadow Patent Office claims to offer "easy-to-use, highly effective patentability and infringement searches against the full text of the 1.7 million U.S. Patents issued since January, 1972." In order to use this service, you must register and you will be billed for any searches which you perform. This service allows a user to search based upon subject matter, similarity to existing patents, issue date range, patent number, class or subclass. Searches result in reports which list:

• a) The top three patent classes found in the search and their frequency
• b) Patent number for each patent in the report
• c) Issue date for each patent in the report
• d) Class and Subclass for each patent in the report
• e) Title for each patent in the report

A new Classification Search and Classification Analysis feature has been added to the system. The Classification Analysis feature has been added at no-cost. This feature is shown in the output of your Subject Search, Infringement Search, and new Classification Search services. This new feature consists of an analysis that indicates which classes/subclasses are most likely to contain patent similar to the invention described by your search strategy. With the information provided by the Classification Analysis, you can then search a specific subclass for additional relevant art similar to the invention or patent that you want to search. The addition of these capabilities provides a complete search approach that optimizes the application of your search strategy to find all the art relevant to your search needs.

The cost for the various searches are as follows:

INFRINGEMENT:

Input	Returns	Output	Cost $
Patent Number	25 most relevant	Standard	149
Patent Number	25 most relevant	Enhanced	174
Patent Number	50 most relevant	Standard	174
Patent Number	50 most relevant	Enhanced	224
2-5 patent numbers	50 most relevant	Enhanced	274
6-10 patent numbers	50 most relevant	Enhanced	324
Patent Number	50-3,000 most relevant	Enhanced	4.50 per patent
2-5 patent numbers	20-3,000 most relevant	Enhanced	5.50 per patent
6-10 patent numbers	50-3,000 most relevant	Enhanced	6.50 per patent

Standard output:

• Classification analysis
• Top three patent classes found and their frequencies
• Patent number for each patent in the report
• Issue date for each patent in the report
• Filing date for each patent in the report
• Current U.S. class and subclass for each patent in the report
• Title for each patent in the report
• Patent status for each patent in the report

Enhanced output:

• Standard output
• Inventor
• Assignee
• Abstract
• Exemplary Claim

SUBJECT SEARCH:

Input	Returns	Output	Cost $
Word Frequency List	50-3,000 most relevant	Enhanced	4.50 per patent
1-49 words	25 most relevant	Standard	49.00
50-999 words	25 most relevant	Standard	99.00
1-49 words	25 most relevant	Enhanced	74.00
50-999 words	25 most relevant	Enhanced	124.00
1-49 words	50 most relevant	Standard	74.00
50-999 words	50 most relevant	Standard	124.00
1-49 words	50 most relevant	Enhanced	124.00
50-999 words	50 most relevant	Enhanced	174.00

The EDS Shadow Patent Office also offers free browsing through the full text of recent patents (found to be approximately 10 months). This feature is organized in decending date order with each week having its own line. Clicking on the link, it gives a weekly class listing showing how many patents were issued in each class. Linking to a class, there is a further listing, in ascending order by patent number, of the patent numbers and titles of patents issued during the week. However, you are unable to access the full text of any of these patents without registering with the "EDSPO" and paying a fee. Also, inventors and assignees are not listed by this browsing feature.

Period Covered: January, 1972 to present

Language: English

Updates: Weekly

Pros: Offers wide range of options for full text searching of all patents published since 1972. Recent browsing feature is good for those attorneys who specialize in certain classes and wish to know what is being issued. The new classification search features allow you to supplement your search strategy to find all art relevant to your search needs.

Cons: to get anything of value, you must pay a fee. Also, some areas of practice have pertinent prior art patents issued before 1972 which will not be caught in this type of search.

IV. MicroPatent Patent Retrieval

URL: http://www.micropat.com/info/prelegal.html

Sponsors: Internet Multicasting Service, WAIS Inc., Interop Company, MCI, O'Reilly & Associates and Sun Microsystems.

Descriptions: This site is a sales site. There is a little free service for the register to obtain free access to the full-text of all patents issued during the current week. You can order any patent issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since 1976. You can search by any combination of approximately 20 different bibliographical fields including title, abstract, assignee, inventor, US and IPC classification numbers, priority data, application numbers, dates, inventor location, etc., or by keywords that appear in abstracts and titles. The combined databases include the available patent drawings as well as front page data.

Searchable Patent Databases:

• Patent Database -- U.S. granted patents back to 1975.
• EP Patent Application Database -- Patent applications back to 1978 as published by the European Patent Office (EPO).
• WO Patent Application Database -- Patent applications back to 1978 as published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
• JP Kokai Unexamined Patent Application Database -- Patent applications back to 1995 as published by the Japanese Patent Office (JAPIO).
• PatentImages on the PatentWEB current through:
  • US Patent April 8, 1997 (through 5619746)
  • EP-A Publications April 2, 1997 (through 0766507)
  • PCT Publications March 13, 1997 (through 9709311)

The fee schedule is as follows:

• DOWNLOAD (actual document copy as published by the respective Patent Offices -- text and images)
• Front Page Previews ... FREE with the purchase of the same document within 24 hours... otherwise $1.00 per patent
• Full Document Download ... $3.00 per patent
• Front Page Download Only ... $1.00 per patent
• EMAIL (ASCII text only -- US patent only) .... $1.50 per patent
• FAX (actual document copy as published by the respective Patent Offices -- text and images)
  • ... US documents - $10 plus 75 cents per page, EP/PCT documents - $15 per 50 pages plus 75 cents per page
• POSTAL MAIL (actual document copy as published by the respective Patent Offices -- text and images)
  • ... US documents - $10 plus $3 shipping, EP/PCT documents - $15 per 50 pages plus $3 shipping

V. QPAT.US

URL: http://www.qpat.com/

Sponsor: Questel. Orbit, Inc.

Description: QPAT-US has the full text of all U.S. patents issued since Jan. 1, 1974 (over 1.8 million records!) which is available to paying subscribers only, QPAT-US offers users who register free search and display access to all of the patent abstracts contained in the database.

Searchable Patent Databases:

• Full Text Subscription Database --- Search the full text of all U.S. patents issued since 1974. Accessible to paying subscribers only.
• Abstracts Database --- Search the front page information of all U.S. patents issued since 1974. Accessible at no cost to individuals who register with QPAT-US.
• Demo Database --- Search a demonstration full text database of 6,541 patents. Accessible at no cost and without registration.

The fee schedule is as follows:

• QPAT-US subscriptions start at $195/month USD or $1,995/yr USD and offer unlimited search and retrieval of over 20 years of full text U.S. patent data.
• QPAT-US Annual Pricing Schedule (USD)
  • Commercial Users:
    • $1,995 first user ID
    • $1,495 second user ID
    • $995 third and additional user IDs
  • Non-Profit, Academic, State and Local Government Users:
    • $1,495 first user ID
    • $1,495 second user ID
    • $995 third and additional user IDs

For now, QPAT-US does not offer any type of patent images. Questel-Orbit is working on providing an image solution to our subscribers in the near future.

VI. Patent Searches in US Patent and Trademark Office

URL: http://www@pioneer.uspto.gov/

Sponsor: CNIDR USPTO MCNC

Descriptions: This is free abstract searching service site. Patents issued up to April 8, 1997 are now available for searching. Patents Project at CNIDR which provides access to both the U.S. Patent Bibliographic Database, which includes bibliographic data from 1976 to 4/8/97 , and the AIDS Patent Database, which includes the full text and images of AIDS related patents issued by the U.S., European and Japanese Patent offices.

Patent Database:

• Patent Boolean Search Page - This page provides an interface for two-term Boolean searching of the U.S. Patent Database.
• Patent Advanced Search Page - This page provides an interface for advanced searching of the U.S. Patent Database. You can search by Patent Number, Inventor Name, Patent Abstract, Inventor City, References, Inventor State, Patent Number etc.
• Patent Number Search Page - You can search by patent number.
• Browse the U.S. Patent Classifications Database - You can search by U.S. Patent

Classifications Database:

The fee schedule is as follows:

• Regular Services for Patent & Trademark Copies
• U.S. Postal Service Returns
• US/Canada/Mexico & International Customers - Processed within 2-3 business days of receipt and returned via US Postal Service:

• Plant Patent Copies in color
• US/Canada/Mexico & International Customers - Processed within 2-3 business days of receipt and returned via US Postal Service:

• Public Service Window (Local Customers Only)
• "Regular" Orders received at the Public Service Window (PSW) located at CP3/4 ONLY -- Processed within 2-3 business days of receipt and returned to Customer's PSW Box:

• "Special" Orders received at the Public Service Window (PSW) located at CP3/4 ONLY -- Processed within 24 hours of receipt and returned to Customer's PSW Box:

• Fax Back Services for Patent & Trademark Copies
• Fax Back Regular US/Canada/Mexico Customers - Processed within 2-3 business days of receipt, returned via FAX:

• Fax Back Special US/Canada/Mexico Customers - Processed within 24 hours of receipt and returned via FAX:

• International Customers - Processed within 24 hours of receipt and returned via FAX:

• Fax Back Express US/Canada/Mexico Customers - Processed within 3 hours of receipt and returned via FAX:

• International Customers - Processed within 3 hours of receipt and returned via FAX:

• Federal Express Services for Patent & Trademark Copies -- US/Canada/Mexico Customers - Processed within 24 hours of receipt and returned via Federal Express:

• International Customers - Processed within 24 hours of receipt and returned via Federal Express:

• FedEx Charged to Customer's Account -- US/Canada/Mexico & International Customers - Processed within 24 hours of receipt and returned via Federal Express:

VII. INTERNET TOWN HALL PATENT DATABASE HAS BEEN LINKED TO IBM

IBM Patent Server Home Page

URL: http://patent.womplex.ibm.com/

Sponsors: IBM Corp.

Description: This server lets you access over 26 years of U.S. patent descriptions as well as the last 17 years of images. The first entries date back to January 5, 1971. You can search, retrieve and study over two million patents. This site continually strives to maintain accurate and current data. However, sometimes problems occur. There is a link that tells you which time periods are known to be missing or contain incomplete patents or images. The incomplete patents may be missing some data fields, such as inventor names or the text of the patent claims. The patent server provides access to the bibliographic data and text of all claims of numerous patents issued by the USP&TO from 1974 to present, plus some patents issued during 1971 to 1973. The server currently supports simple keyword, phrase, and patent number searches, as well as the use of boolean operators. The following fields are now searchable: Patent number, title, abstract, all claims, assignee, inventors and attorney/agent. All fields from the title down to the patents cited by the examiners, as well as the full text of U.S. patent specifications are searchable. The complete scanned image of a patent can be displayed. Images are available for patents issued from 1980 to 1996 (prior years are currently being added).

The patent references for the 22 years are hyperlinked, allowing users to locate and view prior art by navigating through all the cited patents. The link is bi-directional. Users can access not only the patents referenced by the examiners, but also access later patents that reference the existing document. In addition, the server includes information on the USPTO maintenance fee status of all patents. This provides users with information about renewal status of patents. A complete copy of a patent can be ordered from this system through Optipat Inc. for a fee by mail and fax.

The fee schedule is as follows:

• U.S. Patent copies: $2.50/patent, $5.00/patent published before 1/1/74
• Fax, 15 minutes: $9.00/patent
• Patent/Trademark file history: $.95/page up to 20 pages, $.40/additional page
• Assignment Index: $75/first search, $25 each additional
• Forward patent citation: $35/first citation, $12 each additional
• Family search: $50/first search, $25 each additional
• Publication watch: $10/month
• Certification service: $50 plus copy charges and applicable PTO fees
• Trademark search: $100, design and logo searches slightly higher
• Copyright service: $45/hour, $75 minimum
• Delivery of papers: $15-40 plus applicable courier fees
• Legalization of papers: $45/hour, $75 minimum
• Foreign patents: $15 plus $.25/page after 60 pages
• Foreign abstract: $50 first search, $10 each additional

Optisearch allows you to view the full patent text and bibliographic information in the patents you have located at NO additional charge (e.g. no "hit" charges). You may simply want to sign-on and download (view and save with your terminal program) the full text of six or seven patents. This would only take a minute or two (theorhetically). Optisearch is billed by the minute at $.80/minute ($48.00/hour). Optipat pays the communication charges because you dial a toll-free, nationwide 800 number for access. There are no additional charges. Optisearch is only available on account with monthly billing.

Period Covered: from January,1971 to current (with gaps as mentioned above)

Language: English

Updates: was updated to the day before I conducted this research

Pros: Comprehensive access to the full text of patents and images (for patents issued after 1980). There is a charge for this service, but it is one of the most reasonably priced services available. Optipat tracks their patent copy, file wrapper, and paralegal services by computer so that they can match the demands of your schedule. All of their work is documented by docket number to simplify you internal administration. You can easily assign costs to the appropriate budget by case, client, or technology areas. It is a good database if you locate the patents you need and provides an opportunity to get hard copies for a reasonable price.

Cons: This database does not contain information on patents issued before 1971. If your invention may have references that predate 1971 this database will not provide a complete review of the art in your area. Otherwise you should also be careful about the missing and incomplete patents in the database. This database should not be relied upon for client research.

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