Research Guides: MCEN 4045/4085: Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Project (Riffell): Intellectual Property

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Definitions

Intellectual property is any product of human intellect that is protected by law from unauthorized use by others. Laws protecting intellectual property falls into four different categories including copyright, patent, trademark, and trade secrets.

Patents describe an innovation as a part of obtaining intellectual property protections. A patent allows a patent holder exclusive rights to making, using, importing and selling a patented innovation for a limited period of time.

Find Patents

Finding existing patents may help you evaluate the intellectual property potential of your own idea. Searching for patent information may also be important for your design process.

Patents are freely accessible documents. However, searching can be complex, because patents use stylized language, and because they are often filed in particular countries. Several tools can help you find them more efficiently. Search by patent number, keyword, inventor, or company.

Espacenet Espacenet is the European Patent Office's official search site, providing free access to over 120 million patent documents.
Google Patents Because patents are typically freely available information, Google can make them accessible to search in a familiar interface. Google pulls from the USPTO and several international patent offices.
Search for Patents at U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Although searching here can be quite complex, the USPTO is the authoritative source for any patent filed in the United States. Patent information here is updated most frequently.

Derwent Innovations Index (Web of Science) Data on patents from 1963 to the present.

Patent Tutorials

Espacenet

How to Search for Patents This 7-minute video from the University of Central Florida demonstrates patent searching using Espacenet.
Patent Tutorial This 8-minute video from the University of Michigan demonstrates patent searching using Espacenet.

Google Patents

Patent Searching Tutorial This tutorial from the University of Minnesota includes Google Patents, the United States Patent and Trademark Office databases, evaluating patents, search strategies, and more.
Searching with Google Patents Tutorial Created by Purdue Northwestern University. This 6 minute video covers the basics.

USPTO Patent Full Text (PatFT)

Patent Search Tutorial This tutorial from Penn State University includes both text and videos and primarily uses the USPTO Patent Full Text (PatFT) database to demonstrate searching.

Books about Patents

The library has a number of books to help you learn about and understand issues and processes in intellectual property and patents.

First to File: Patents for Today's Scientist and Engineer by M. Henry Heines
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781118933183
Publication Date: 2014
Bridges the gap between the realistic needs and questions of scientists and engineers and the legal skills of professionals in the patent field at a level accessible to those with no legal training * Written for inventors in lay terms that they can relate to or easily follow * Lays out the new features of patent law introduced by the America Invents Act of 2012 * Explains the differences between the first-to-invent and first-to-file rules and why the two rules will coexist * Focuses on the growth of new technologies in industry versus the laws protecting them
Fundamentals of Patenting and Licensing for Scientists and Engineers by Matthew Y. Ma
Call Number: Engineering, Math, Physics Library - Stacks - T339 .M255 2015
ISBN: 9789814452533
Publication Date: 2015
This comprehensive book is the first of its kind to take scientists and engineers beyond simply getting a patent granted. Through the author's extensive technical background and experience in intellectual property licensing, it ties the many technical, legal and business aspects of patent enforcement to the innovation and patenting stage in the patent value chain, with the objective of helping inventors to create valuable patents that can be capitalized.
A Guide for Implementing a Patent Strategy: How Inventors, Engineers, Scientists, Entrepreneurs, and Independent Innovators Can Protect Their Intellectual Property by Donald S. Rimai
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781119407102
Publication Date: 2018
This book provides a strategic framework for cost efficient engineering of market moving patent portfolios by organizing patent engineering efforts around the problems that innovators solve for their customers and not the technologies developed to solve these problems.
Intellectual Property in Academia by Nadya Reingand (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781439837016
Publication Date: 2016
Guide for academic scientists to gain greater awareness and knowledge of the various issues involved with IP resulting from their research and inventions.
Intellectual Property Issues in Biotechnology by Harikesh Bahadur Singh (Editor); Alok Jha (Editor); Chetan Keswani (Editor);
Call Number: Engineering, Math, Physics Library - TP248.175 .I58 2016
ISBN: 9781780646534
Publication Date: 2016
Adopting a unique approach, and with case studies and examples from developing economy markets, this book integrates science and business to provide an introduction and an insider view of intellectual property issues within the biotech industry.
Patent Searching Made Easy by David Hitchcock
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781413329704
Publication Date: 2022
Guide to quickly and effectively research your idea or invention to see whether anyone has already patented it; optimally describe and classify your invention; and target your search figure out whether your idea is new enough to qualify for a patent