The official website for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO” or “Patent Office”) can be found at www.uspto.gov. The Patent Office offers this valuable resource to patent practitioners and the public to educate inventors, small businesses, emerging ventures, patent lawyers and other interested parties on various aspects of the Patent Office.
I encourage inventors and others interested in the patent process to browse the Patent Office’s website which provides a wealth of patent-related information available at one’s fingertips. The following information is a small sample of what can be found at the USPTO’s website.
On the top horizontal navigational bar of USPTO’s home page, click on “Glossary” to find definitions for commonly used patent-related terms. The FAQ linkprovides basic patent information such as “What is a Patent?” The “How to Search” button provides the Patent Office’s guide to searching for prior art references.
On the left vertical navigational bar, click on “Patent.” This will expand to show several other navigational buttons.
After clicking on the “Patent” button, click on:
“Search Patents” to view issued patents and also published patent applications.
“View in PAIR” to view the file history (i.e., communication between the examiner and the applicant) for recently filed patent applications.
“Guides & Manuals” to find the Manual of Patent Examining Procedures, the Patent Office’s guide to examining patent applications and other information.
I invite you to contact me with your patent questions at (949) 433-0900 or [email protected]. Please feel free to forward this article to your friends. As an Orange County Patent Attorney, I serve Orange County, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego and surrounding cities.