Return To Section Contents
<<<Previous Page | Next Page>>>
Page1 |Page2 |Page3 |Page4 |Page5 |Page6 |Page7 |Page8 |Page9 |Page10 |Page11 |Page12 |Page13 |Page14 |Page15 |Page16 |Page17 |Page18 |Page19 |Page20 |Page21 |Page22 |Page23 |
an application
is filed, many inventors attempt to make their own
investigation before applying for a patent. This may be done in
the Search Room of the Patent and Trademark Office, and
libraries, located throughout the U.S., which have been
designated as Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries (PTDL).
Patent attorneys or agents may be employed to make a so-called
preliminary search through the prior United States patents to
discover if the particular device or one similar to it has been
shown in some prior patent. This search is not always as
complete as that made by the Patent and Trademark Office during
the examination of an application, but only serves, as its name
indicates a preliminary purpose. For this reason, the Patent
and Trademark Office examiner may, and often does, reject
claims in an application on the basis of prior patents or
publications not found in the preliminary search.
Those who cannot come to the Search Room may order from
the Patent and Trademark Office copies of lists of original
patents or of cross-referenced patents contained in the
subclasses comprising the field of search, or may inspect and
obtain copies of the patents at a Patent and Trademark
Depository Library. The Patent and Trademark Depository
Libraries (PTDLs) receive current issues of U.S. Patents and
maintain collections of earlier issued patents and trademark
information. The scope of these collections varies from library
to library, ranging from patents of only recent years to all or
most of the patents issued since 1790.
These patent collections are open to public use. Each of
the Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries, in addition,
offers the publications of the U.S. Patent Classification
System (e.g., The Manual of Classification, Index to the U.S.
Patent Classification, Classification Definitions, etc.) and
other patent documents and forms, and provides technical staff
assistance in their use to aid the public in gaining effective
access to information contained in patents. The collections are
organized in patent number sequence.
Available in all PTDLs is the Classification And Search
Support Information System (CASSIS), computer data base. With
various modes, it permits the effective identification of
appropriate classifications to search, provides numbers of
patents assigned to a classification to permit finding the
patents in a numerical file of patents, provides the current
classification(s) of all patents, permits word searching on
classification titles, abstracts, the Index provides certain
bibliographic information on more recently issued patents.
Facilities for making paper copies from either microfilm
in readerprinters or from the bound volumes in paper-to-paper
copies are generally provided for a fee.
Due to variations in the scope of patent collections among
the Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries and in their
hours of service to the public, anyone contemplating the use of
the patents at a particular library is advised to contact that
library, in advance, about its collection and hours, so as to
avert possible inconvience.
State Name of Library
Alabama Auburn University Libraries
Birmingham Public Library
Alaska Anchorage: Z. J. Loussac Public
Library
Arizona Tempe: Noble Library, Arizona State
University
Arkansas Little Rock: Arkansas State
University
California Los Angeles City Library
Sacramento: California State Library
San Diego Public Library
Sunnyvale Patent Clearinghouse
Colorado Denver Public Library
Connecticut New Haven: Science Park Library
Delaware Newark: University of Delaware
Library
District of Columbia Washington: Howard University
Libraries
Florida Fort Lauderdale: Broward County Main
Library
Miami-Dade Public Library
Orlando: University of Central
Florida Libraries
Tampa: Tampa Campus Library,
University of South Florida
Georgia Atlanta: Price Gilbert Memorial
Library, Georgia Institute of
Technology
Hawaii Honolulu: Hawaii State Public
Library System
Idaho Moscow: University of Idaho Library
Illinois Chicago Public Library
<<<Previous Page | Next Page>>>
Page1 |Page2 |Page3 |Page4 |Page5 |Page6 |Page7 |Page8 |Page9 |Page10 |Page11 |Page12 |Page13 |Page14 |Page15 |Page16 |Page17 |Page18 |Page19 |Page20 |Page21 |Page22 |Page23 |
|
|