Searching Patents and Trademarks

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE PUBLIC SEARCH FACILITY (PSF)

SEARCHING PATENTS AND TRADEMARKS

VOL. XII No. 1, December 2010

Public User Meetings are held quarterly.  Meeting notices and minutes are available by linking to Products and Services from the USPTO home page at www.uspto.gov.  Send topic suggestions for future newsletters to psf@uspto.gov. 

Search Facilities

• Operations
• News
• Personnel
  

SEARCH FACILITY REMINDERS

• As you leave the Public Search Facility please check to see if you have all your personal belongings.
• When using the Public Search Facility please dispose of rubbish properly.

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEARCH FACILITY HOLIDAY CLOSURES

The search facility will be closed in observance of these federal holidays.

Friday,  December 24^th           Christmas Day

Friday, December 31^st            New Year’s Day

Monday, January 17^th            Martin Luther King’s Birthday

The Public Search Facility will reopen on the next work day after the holiday date. Holiday Closure Notices will be posted in the search facility.

PUBLIC SEARCH FACILITY MANAGEMENT CHANGE

Diane Lewis, Manager of the Public Search Facility since 2005, will retire on December 30, 2010, after a 30-year career in federal service. We wish her the very best in her retirement!

Douglas Salser will step in as Acting Manager effective January 3, 2011.

Search Collections

• Digital
• Print
• Microfilm
  

NEW SEARCH GUIDES AVAILABLE

New search guides and instructional materials are now available in the on-line service desk literature racks.  Two of the new guides list historical print and microfilm collections located within the Public Search Facility, one guide for patent information and the other for trademark information.  Each collection is listed with a brief description, date range, location and tips for searching the collection.  These guides are an asset for those individuals who are researching historical information.

Another new information booklet is titled Searching the Manual of Classification.   The handout includes general information about the Manual of Classification and how to use it.

The handouts are located in the What’s New! Racks on both On-Line desks and also in the Information racks on each floor.  If you have any additional questions concerning these or any handouts, ask a Public Search Facility staff member.

Search Interfaces

• Structure
• Capabilities
• Modules
  
  
  

TIPS FOR SAVING WORKSPACES ON EAST 

Protect the work you have completed by implementing the following practices. First, remember to save your current search frequently.  To do this use:

Click on the CTRL key + S   or  From the File menu, select Save Workspace. 

The workspace will be saved to the computer’s C drive temporarily and can be recovered if it is not overwritten.

Also, remember to save the workspace before leaving for an extended period.  Remember that 50 minutes with no search activity or only browsing images will results in being disconnected from the search engine.  For more details on saving workspaces and limitations on the system, see the handouts at the On-line Service Desks in the What’s New! rack.  

Search Topics

• Hints
• Results
• Reminders
  
  
  

PATENT ASSIGNOR/ASSIGNEE SEARCHING                      

Did you know that you can search patent assignor/assignee information using “Assignments on the Web” application when you are logged onto UPWS?

• Select the General Tab on UPWS and select the iPTOnet button which will launch the USPTO website homepage. 
• The Assignments on the Web (AOTW) can be accessed from the uspto.gov site from the homepage How Do I drop down menu at the upper right corner of the homepage. 
• Select Search Assignments. 
• Click on the link for AOTW-P at the bottom of the page.
• Enter the appropriate information on the Patent Assignment query menu
• Click Search
  
  

Assignment Historical Database (AHD) and Assignments on the Web (AOTW) provide users with a search tool with the ability to track changes in ownership to a patent or trademark property when using the Public Search Facility’s Universal Public Workstation (UPWS).

 

Public Information Services
United States Patent and Trademark Office
P. O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450