Links to Other Websites for Inventors
(Please note that these links are provided for your convenience. The author of this page makes no representation as to the accuracy of whatever information you receive from any site.)

If you’re new to the game, you may want to start with a page of Frequently Asked Questions

This is a big page, so you might want to jump to an area of interest by clicking here:
Getting started searching for prior art
Looking for components?
Marketing, Manufacturing and Financial links
Magazines & other info sources
Newsgroups for inventors
Patenting details: forms, rules, etc.
Want to find inventors'  networking opportunities?
Looking for a local agent or attorney?

Patent Search Sites -- Searching skills are required if you want good results

USPTO patent searches – The USPTO’s site is a valuable resource. Here are some tricks for searching it

Google provides a search of US patents (only) that is far easier to use than the USPTO’s site.

The European Patent Office has a site at http://worldwide.espacenet.com/ with search capabilities in English, French and German. Click the link to “Quick Search” to get keyword  access to 30 million patent documents, or click on the “Advanced Search” option for structured searches.

PCT applications can be searched at a WIPO facility

Other popular search sites are:

Australian Patent Office

Canadian Patent Office

 Japanese patent abstracts (in English)

A good search has to use the site’s patent classification system. The two major ones are:

The Manual of Classification of Patents (US) -- which has recently upgraded to include an index, definitions of the classes, and a concordance with the international classification system

The Word Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) has the complete international classification system available

Marketing, Manufacturing & Finance Resources

A guide to tradeshows can be found at TradeShow NewsNetwork

Sources for R&D funding and assistance

Various government agencies set aside some of their R&D funding through Small Business Independent Research (SBIR) programs. These programs are set up to solve real problems identified by the sponsoring agency. They are not set up to fund programs suggested by inventors. Much of the SBIR funding comes from the Department of Defense

Licensing and start-up help

The Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) provides start-up counseling

The Licensing Executives Society

Capital Connection -- financing a start-up, buying & selling a business, business planning & a lot more

Phony Services, Real SCAMS -- If you run across something that sounds too good to be true, take a look at

a Scambuster's check list from the Nat'l Congress of Inventors' Organzations) ;

a similar one from InventorED

or a listing of inventors’ complaints filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office

Websites for Inventors

Invention Dimension:   An inventor of the week & lots of links at this kid-friendly site operated by M.I.T.

InventNet (also maintains the Inventors' Meeting Place list)

"How Stuff Works" -- a very popular site with great explanatory graphics

Other patent & invention information

Download forms from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office

Latest US Manual of Patent Examining Procedures (latest version at USPTO’s site)

European Patent Office -- home page

World Intellectual Property Organization Homepage

Want to register a copyright in the US?

Decisions from the CAFC – court of last resort in most US patent litigation

            Recent decisions are at the court’s website

            Older ones are available from Georgetown University

Inventors' Clubs, Organizations, and On-Line Discussion Opportunities

Inventor’s groups can be very helpful in finding resources, scoping out a marketing approach, and helping you get a ‘School of Hard Knocks’ education without having to suffer the ‘knocks’. Most of this is readily available on the internet. For example:

InventorEd.org  is a site where you can sign up for several of the most active and fruitful of invention-related discussion groups

Need professional help?

The USPTO's Register of Attorneys and Agents is searchable by state and ZIP
 


David A. Kiewit
Registered Patent Agent
5901 Third St. South
St. Petersburg FL 33705-5305
+1 (727) 656-0669 voice

+1 (760) 841-0989 fax
questions to: [email protected]
Copyright 2013 by David A. Kiewit
All rights reserved

 

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