Patents

Google hosts USPTO Patent Data for 2 years – Download USPTO ZIP Files

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Google just signed an agreement to host all of the Patent and Trademark Raw Data from the USPTO.

The Google Patent About Page added this comment:

Q. Why does Google offer bulk downloads of patent and trademark information?
A. Google and the US Patent and Trademark Office have partnered to provide bulk file downloads of patent and trademark information to everyone, for free. This information is also available on a file-by-file basis from the USPTO website, or for bulk download on CDs, DVDs, or digital tape, with fees to cover the USPTO’s expenses (often more than $10,000 and potentially up to $250,000). Many major law firms and research organizations rely on bulk file downloads so they can do more comprehensive analysis of the data. Now anyone can get the information for free by visiting http://www.google.com/googlebooks/uspto.html.

So, for all you data crunchers out there – here’s your chance to get your hands dirty.  Previously, this data was hidden on a little known FTP server.

–Ben

Sources:  About Google Patents, Google USPTO Bulk Download, Federal Computer Week

Microsoft injunction by i4i stops MS from selling Word or using XML in DOCX file formats

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Wow.  Just read that Microsoft can’t sell or support Word, including its XML DOCX file format.  MS has 60 days to get relief or it kicks in.See the full article on Consumerist or SeattlePI.Seattle PI links the injunction document.

Patent Clerking on the Cheap — Free Tools

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I figure that more than one of us clerks has been asked to research on the cheap for one of our boss’s clients.  I wanted to share a list of the tools that I find useful and why.  Not only could these tools be useful to the patent clerks out there, but I figure the general public might find it interesting on how to do research on the cheap.

Remember that the goal of this kind of research is not to “leave no stone unturned,” it is to find the few items that support your point.  If you really want to “leave no stone unturned,” you’re going to pay for it and likely rely on Westlaw or Lexisnexis.

  • Freepatentsonline – This is the place to do some searching and get your patents in pdf form for free.  They keep adding new features like saving patents you’ve looked up in a porfolio.
  • Findlaw – The research tool that points you in the direction of free legal resources.  Many legal resources are for free and just need to be found.  Findlaw is a great directory for these resources.
  • Google Patent Search – If you’re looking for specific terms in patents, google patent search will actually highlight the term in the patent itself.  Finally I can see the context of the term I want in the patent.  I’ll actually use this with the paper copy in front of me.
  • Google Search – Google not only crawls legal websites, but the free court documents and various legal repositories.  Once you’ve narrowed down your “terms of art” (terms of art mean specific words with special legal meaning) you can mine a ton of legal treatises through google.  Oftentimes you’ll have to use quotes to make sure the words are found together like “patent invalidity”

These are the ones I can think of, off of the top of my head.  I’ll have to do a part II when I can think of the others.

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