PART I Define, Conceive, Prove, Document
Chapter 4 Defining the Design Problem
4.3 Sources of Information
4.3.2 Patents and Patent Search
What is a patent? The definition for a patent is provided by the United States Trade and Patent Office (USPTO) website as: “A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office Generally, the term of a new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from the date an earlier related application was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees US patent grants are effective only within the United States, US territories, and US possessions Under certain circumstances, patent term extensions or adjustments may be available
The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute and of the grant itself, “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling”
the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell, or import, but to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing the invention Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the USPTO”
So, a patent is a legal right granted to the inventor to exclude others from using their invention unless the inventor reaches a legal agreement with interested parties to allow (exclusively or not) them to create products or services commercially The inventor may sell or reach a licensing deal with interested parties and profit from their invention
Many capstone design projects have the potential to generate new inventions If the project sponsor is a corporate entity or an individual entrepreneur, then they will be interested in having full rights to the intellectual property generated from the design project While it is possible to engage in negotiating intellectual property rights with corporations, it is a deterrent for some companies to work with universi- ties Regardless, any agreement regarding the sharing of intellectual property rights must be negotiated at the start of the design project
US laws provide for three types of patents: utility, design, and plant patents Utility patents are granted to inventors of any “new and useful process, the machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof” Design patents are granted to inventors of “new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture” Plant patents are granted to inventors of “a distinct and new variety of plant reproduced asexually”
In capstone design, we are interested in utility and design patents because of their relevance Past inventions may provide clues and information in the design project Figure 47 shows the number of US patents issued per year since the start of the patent office in 1790 There has been a significant increase in the number of utility patents issued over the past decade The new ideas present in the patent database is a fantastic resource for designers both to learn from what has been discovered and to check if your ideas are unique and not patented previously
Searching the patent database is different than conducting an internet search, so it requires knowing how the patent database is structured and how to properly explore the database to obtain useful results for your project Some of the patent databases have been captured by Google and is available through scholargooglecom It can be searched using the same methods that you know how to use
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The US patent office recommends using a seven-step strategy for searching the patent databases
Step 1 is to brainstorm keywords that best describe what you are interested in based on the purpose, composition, and use This step is challenging to many students because the first inclination is to think of keywords similar to what you would use for a Google search This bias in thinking of keywords will produce poor results with a patent office search Focus on keywords that describe the purpose, composition, and use of your design For example, consider the automated pill dispenser that we intro- duced in Example 42 After some brainstorming, the students on that team came up with the following keywords: device or container for dispensing pills and tablets
Step 2 is to use the keywords or description of the use or function that you listed under step 1 and perform a classification search at wwwusptogov In the site search box, type in “CPC Scheme,” and then the keywords or description CPC stands for Cooperative Patent Classification, which is based on the International Patent Classification (IPC) For example, for the pill dispenser, type in “CPC Scheme device or container for dispensing pills and tablets” Figure 48 shows the USPTO home page and the search box for entering the keywords or descriptions Figure 49 shows the search results If the search results are not helpful, consider changing your keywords or description Keep in mind that this method of search is different than the typical Google search If the results are not helpful, another option is to search the world intellectual property organization (https://wwwwipoint/classifications/
ipc/ipcpub/?notion=catchword) site for catchwords
0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 400000
1790 1810 1830 1850 1870 1890 1910 1930 1950 1970 1990 2010
US Patents Issued Per Year
Utility Patents Design Patents
FIGURE 4.7 The number of US Utility and Design patents issued per year since 1790 (US Patent and Trademark Office)
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Step 3 is to find some applicable CPC or IPC classification numbers to advance your search further You will need to be persistent about looking through the results returned to find valuable results After all, this is not a Google-style inter- net search! In the case of our search for the pill dispenser-related patents, we found class A61J: CONTAINERS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR MEDICAL OR PHARMACEUTICAL PURPOSES; DEVICES OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR BRINGING PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS INTO PARTICULAR PHYSICAL OR ADMINISTERING FORMS; DEVICES FOR ADMINISTERING FOOD OR MEDICINES ORALLY; BABY COMFORTERS;
DEVICES FOR RECEIVING SPITTLE
Step 4 is to search the Application Full-Text and Image Database (AppFT) (http://
appftusptogov) using the CPC classification number Figure 410 shows the Patent Full-Text Databases home page Links are provided to both patents issued and patent applications Full-text search is available from 1976 when the USPTO changed the way that they store the patent information Figure 411 shows the flow chart for a patent FIGURE 4.8 The first step in patent search, classification search
FIGURE 4.9 Results from classification search for pill dispenser
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search which can be used to navigate the process The most valuable links are “Quick Search” and “Advanced Search” A quick search provides for a simplified search of terms with simple Boolean operations: “AND,” “OR,” “ANDNOT” Figure 412 shows the quick search screen
The next step is finding relevant patents related to your project from the quick search result list Finding relevant patents is not guaranteed, but usually, ideas can be stim- ulated by reviewing what has already been invented (for example, see Figure 413) If you do not see any relevant patents, then you should re-examine your keyword list Should you eliminate some keywords based on the results you see? Do you have enough keywords? Should you modify some keywords?
You can refine your search by using “Advanced Search” if you have too many results or have learned enough information from “Quick Search”
4.3.2.1 Patent Search Assignment
Consider your design project Follow the steps described in this section to create a list of relevant keywords to conduct a patent search See the electronic patent search assignment document provided for guidance on the steps to conduct your search and document the results for your project You should coordinate with your team to agree on a standard set of terms and then divide the patent search task so that each team member can experience the process and develop a set of results that the team will share FIGURE 4.10 USPTO Patent Full-Text Database
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