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Please go to www.siberkhem.com which was originally a mirror of this site (i.e., about 1 year ago), but which is now being updated regularly. 20061219
The scope of influence of patents and other types of intellectual property in our society is quite extensive. Products marked with "patent pending" or "TM" clearly warn would-be infringers (e.g., illegal copiers of the protected product) of the possibility of legal protection of the product or trademark. The Constitution of the United States, in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8, states: "The Congress shall have the power...To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;...". It is quite unfortunate that the word "Discoveries" was included in this very important clause, since a patent cannot be granted (or "issued") for a "discovery", specifically, a "discovery" of a natural phenomenon is not entitled to a US patent. Nevertheless, the Constitution was written and approved in 1787 and the US Patent System was established a few years later, on July 4, 1790.
To go to the main patent search and application services/resources page, please click on the "Main Page" hyperlink on the upper left. If you are in a hurry and you want to learn very basic techniques for obtaining free patent information online right away, you will probably want to click on the "Basics" hyperlink. Please visit every few months to find the information you want as the content in this website grows.
The main objective of this website is:
- to provide a free wide-ranging online guide for independent patent searchers and for small inventors; and,
- to explain the methodology I use and why it is superior in its thoroughness, thereby obtaining the maximum possible quality patent search
There will undoubtedly be many professionals in the Intellectual Property field who may find a large portion of the information provided herein to be either overly basic in its content and/or divulge already well-known techniques to uncover relevant patents. However, it is also quite clear that a patent searcher must balance the amount of available time and available budget with the level of quality of the report of patent search results. This level of quality varies considerably among a range of variables, including the particular patent searcher, the search firm (and their report "template", search philosophy, etc.), and technology of the inventive concept searched. This website is intended to cover all of these important aspects.
Therefore, an attempt is made in this website to quantify and explain important aspects of searching so that a meaningful determination can be made by the patent searcher regarding how to structure the search effort and when to stop the search and to prepare the report for the client. The techniques, structures, and quantizations of the various qualitative parameters disclosed in the webpagtes of this website are based on a vision that I have developed over the past 26 years, including the recent 16 years I have been working specifically in the intellectual property field, to present technical subjects in a clearer and more understandable manner than found elsewhere.
If you wish to perform your own online patent search (or you wish your client learn how to do this on their own), select the "Basic" hyperlink on the left. Alternatively, you can click on "Main Page", then click on "Education" for the free online patent searching/application writing classes that are now being developed. The patent searching course was started in December 2005. Perhaps a standard can ultimately be established?
Comments and suggestions are most welcome at franlorin@mail.com
Fran Lorin
latest update: 20070305