Questions about the Service

• How do I keep up-to-date on this service?
• I want to ask about Patent Policy issues. Are you the right people?
• I want to comment on this system. Are you the right people?
• Is a public database of US trademark data available?

Questions about the Database

• What information is in the database?
• Does your database include copyright data?
• Does your database include data on pending patent applications?
• Does your database include data on the current fee status and expiration of patents?
• What years do your databases cover?
• How can I search for patents issued before 1976?
• How often is the database updated?
• How do I get the full text and patent images?

Questions about Searching

• How do I use the boolean query page?
• How do I use the advanced query page?
• What is the menu under the heading "Select Database"?
• How do I search more than one year at a time?
• How do I search for a particular patent number?
• How do I search for a particular class or subclass?
• Your search pages look mixed up. I can't tell which labels go with which boxes, and it's very hard to use. What's going on?
• When I try to search, I keep receiving the message: "Search time exceeded. Please narrow your search." What does this mean?
• When I try to Search, I keep getting a screen saying the server is too busy to perform my search. What does that mean?

Questions about Results

• I'm doing a search which results in over 1000 hits. But I'm only getting 100. How do I view the rest of the results?
• I want to see all the patents turned up by my search. Can I download the results and view them later off-line?
• Why do the patents look strange when I view them?
• I get strange messages about missing database paths, or "You must first select a database to search" and nothing works. Furthermore, it's *never* worked! What does this mean?
• How do I print the results?

Questions about the Service

How do I keep up to date on this service?

The easiest way is to check the What's New? page. It will be updated whenever we make a significant update or change to our system. If you have any specific questions about recent or upcoming changes to our system, please mail the help desk.

I want to ask about Patent Policy issues. Are you the right people?

No. For more information about the US Patent and Trademark Office, its policies, procedures and representatives, check the The Patent Office Home Page.

I want to comment on this system. Are you the right people?

Yes. Send mail to www@ptodata.com. We care about your opinions. If we can possibly correct any technical problems or improve performance, we will.

Is a public database of US trademark data available?

Yes. From the PTO Home Page, click on "Trademarks".

Questions about the Database

What information is in the database?

The database consists of the front pages of US patents (including utility, design, reissue, plant and SIR patents). The front page of patent includes all bibliographic data, such as the inventor's name, the patent's title, and the assignee's name, as well as the abstract, a brief description of the patent's contents.

Does your database include copyright data?

The database only includes data on US patents. Copyrights and other type of intellectual property are not currently included. For copyright related information, the best place to start is the USPTO Home page.

Does your database include data on pending patent applications?

The database only includes data on patents which have actually been issued. Pending patent applications are confidential. If you need further information on the status of a particular patent application, the best place to start is the USPTO Home page.

Does your database include data on the current fee status and expiration of patents?

We're not currently provided with data on the expiration or fee status of patents by the patent office. If you need information on the status of a particular patent, the best place to start is the USPTO Home page.

What years do your databases cover?

Currently, our databases contain all the patents from 1976 through 04/06/1999 . There are no plans from the Patent Office to include years before 1976 on our service. For on-line searching of years before 1976, a commercial service is your only recourse.

If, however, you know the specific patent number you are looking for, you can order a copy of the patent sent to you directly by the PTO by clicking on the 'Order Copy' icon on any of our pages.

Here's the what the PTO has to say on the matter:

Patent text data is available starting in August of 1971. However, prior to 1976, data files are incomplete. That is, not all of the patents were captured electronically between 1971 and 1975. For this reason, we decided to limit the Internet data to 1976 forward. Users wanting to do a complete patent search should seek other services, including those offered by the PTO's network of 80 Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries located throughout the country.

How can I search for patents issued before 1976?

If the patent you're interested in was issued before 1976, there are several possible ways to find it, depending on when it was issued and what information you have about it.

1. If you have the patent number, you can have a copy of the patent mailed or faxed to you by following the instructions available by clicking on the 'Order Copy' icon on any of our pages. This is available regardless of when the patent was issued.
   
2. If the patent was issued after 1971, there are some commercial patent services which provide access to patents that old. A good place to start is by performing a search for patent search related sites on one of the large web search sites.
   
3. If a patent was issued before 1971, you're only option is to visit a Patent and Trademark Depository Library. You can get further information on these libraries, including available locations, by clicking on the 'PTDLs' icon on any of our pages.
   

How often is the database updated?

We update the database the same day the Patent Office sends us updates, which is usually every Tuesday. This means that if you are looking for a patent which was issued only in the past few days, we probably won't have it in our database yet. Look at the Database Contents page for details.

How do I get the full text and patent images?

Via the PTO's Patent Full-Text Database at http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html. You can also order copies of patents to be sent to you directly from the patent office by clicking on the 'Order Copy' icon on any of our pages.

For off-line resources, you may want to look into the Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries.

Questions about Searching

How do I use the boolean query page?

Help is available on the Boolean Search help page.

How do I use the advanced query page?

Help is available on the Advanced Search Help page.

What is the menu under the heading "Select Database"?

This is the list of databases you can select from. The 'all' button searches all the years in our db at once, and the 'specify' button allows you to select a specific db to search from the menu next to it. Each database is named by the last two digits in the year that it contains. You can select "95", for example to search the patents issued in 1995. For databases which cover a range of years, the first two digits are the beginning year, and the last two are the ending year. For example, the '81-85' db covers patents issued between Jan 1, 1981 and Dec 31, 1985.

How do I search more than one year at a time?

There are three ways:

1. Select a block of years to search from the Specify: menu. The '76-80' db covers 1976-1980, etc.
2. Search all the years in our database at once, by selecting the 'All' from the Select Database List.
3. Use an Issue Date Range search. For example, to narrow your search to patent issued in 1982 and 1983, select '81-85' as the database to search, and add 'AND ISD/1/1/82->12/31/83' to your other search terms.

How do I search for a particular patent number?

There are several ways. The easiest is to use the Patent Number Search Page, enter the number you're searching for in the box provided, and hit the 'Search' Button.
Alternatively, you can go to the Boolean Search Page, select which database you want to search in using the Select Database menu, type the patent number in the Term 1 textentry box, and select 'Patent Number' from the Field 1 menu. Then hit the 'Search' button.
Note: If you're not sure which year a patent was issued in, search all the years by selecting 'All' from the Select Database list.

You can also search for a patent number using the Advanced Search page, using this syntax:

PN/number

Where number is the number of the patent for which you wish to search. Non-utility patents must include a prefix: 'D' for design patents, 'PP' for plant patents, 'RE' for reissue patents, 'T' for defensive publications, and 'H' for SIRs.

How do I search for a particular class and subclass?

To search by class and subclass, go to the Boolean Search page, select the year you wish to search using the Select Database menu, select the appropriate Term textentry box and then type the class and subclass in this form:

class/subclass.subsubclass (for example, 427/2.31)

Choose 'Current U.S. Class' from the matching Fields menu and hit the 'Search' button.

You can also search for class/subclass on the Advanced Search page by using this syntax:

CCL/class/subclass.subsubclass

Further information on searching by class is available on the Fielded Search Help page.

Your search pages look mixed up. I can't tell which labels go with which boxes, and it's very hard to use. What's going on?

You're having a browser problem. There are a few possible solutions:

1. Upgrade your current browser to a newer version.
2. Switch to a different browser which is compatible.
3. Try the table-less versions of the Boolean, Advanced and Number search pages.

When I try to search, I keep receiving the message: "Search time exceeded. Please narrow your search." What does this mean?

Since putting this service up, we've been swamped with search requests, often bringing our server to its knees. There are several ways you can speed up your search to try to get it completed under the six minute limit.

1. Narrow the range of your search. If you're currently searching all 20 years at once, try searching groups of five years or single years instead.
2. If your searching for long terms, try shortening them. For example, if you're searching for AN/"American Telephone and Telegraph Company", try searching for 'an/american and an/telephone and an/telegraph' instead.
3. Avoid searching searching during prime hours (3 to 9 p.m. EST).

When I try to Search, I keep getting a screen saying that the server is too busy to perform my search. What does that mean?

One of the prices of providing a popular service is that a lot of people want to use it. This error is caused when more requests are made on our server than it can handle simultaneously. It processes the requests it can handle, and the extra ones get the Error message. This only happens rarely during very busy periods (usually around 4-6 pm EST). The solution is to wait a minute or so and try again to see if traffic has gone down. If it keeps on happening, we're probably completely swamped and it might be a better use of your time to come back a little later when not quite so many demands are being made on the server at once.

Questions about Results

I'm doing a search which results in over 1000 hits. But I'm only getting 50. How do I view the rest of the results?

You can move up and down in your result set by hitting the 'Next 50 hits' and 'Prev. 50 hits' buttons or by selecting a range using the 'Start At' box. If you're getting a very large result set from your search, it might help you in your research to narrow your search by including or excluding terms. The occurrence counts at the top of your search results page is useful for this. See pages on the Boolean Search page and the Advanced search page for details on how to do so.

I want to see all the patents turned up by my search. Can I download the results and view them later off-line?

Unfortunately, no. You can save the results of your search as a html file and look them through off-line and decide which ones you want. Then, you can click on which ones you want in that file and you'll retrieve the patent from our server, but right now, that is the best we can do.

Why do the patents look strange when I view them?

You may be using an obsolete browser. Your browser must support tables to display the patents properly. If you cannot upgrade your browser to a version that supports tables, try the table-less versions of the Boolean, Advanced and Number search pages.

I get strange messages about missing database paths, or "You must first select a database to search" and nothing works. Furthermore, it's *never* worked! What does this mean?

Browser problems. You will get errors about missing databases and database paths with older versions of Lynx. Some browsers provided by commercial services have the same problem (aol and netcom in particular). There isn't much we can do on this end, as the problem is with the browser's obsolescence. You should upgrade to a newer version, or switch to a different browser.

How do I print the results?

Most (if not all) web browsers have print capabilities. If you're browser has a graphical user interface, it will probably be under the File... menu.

Questions or Comments about the Patent Search Pages?
Mail them to www@ptodata.com