Patents and Trademarks:  A Research Guide
United States Government Documents Collection of Princeton University Library

 
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has a strong web site at http://www.uspto.gov/  Here will be found a  search engine to help identify patents and trademarks, and the full text, including the art work, of all U.S. patents. Issued Patents are available full-text since 1976, full-page images since 1790.  Patent Applications are available since 15 March 2001. Also available here is access to the Trademark Electronic Search System, TESS, which contains more than 3 million pending, registered and dead federal trademarks.

External indexes can be useful in identifying patents by subject and also in some other searches.  The Derwent World Patent Index, covering patents issued from 1968 to the present, is powerful and easy to use and is found on the Library Web Page under Databases and Reference Tools.  Several patent indexes, as well as the full text of the patents of several countries outside the United States, are available through the Dialog Service, available by talking to a librarian in the Social Science Reference Center on A Floor of Firestone Library.

Princeton University is not a Depository Library for the Patent Office.   The two patent depositories in New Jersey are the Newark Public Library which holds patents on microfilm from 1790 to the present, and the Library of Science and Medicine of Rutgers University whose microfilm patent holdings begin with 1976. New York Public Library and the Free Library of Philadelphia are also nearby patent depositories.  Staff in these depository collections can help in identifying and locating patents.  Also available in depository libraries is a CD-ROM index called "CASSIS."  It provides access to current patent classification information for all patents. 

The following paper publications can still be useful in doing a patent search. Most are available in Documents Reference area of the Social Science Reference Center on A floor of Firestone Library.

  • Basic information about patents

    • Location:  SSRC Documents Reference
    SuDoc Number: C 21.16/2: (Current volume only)
  • Index to the U.S. Patent classification.

    • (Docs Ref) C 21.12/2: (Current volume only)
    Alphabetical list of subject headings referring to specific classes and subclasses; this is the best place to start for those unfamiliar with patent classification. 
  • Manual of classification.

    • (Docs Ref) C 21.12: 
    Lists all classes and subclasses of inventions. Includes subject index. 
  • Patent classificiation definitions (microfiche) 

    • Docs Ref C 21.3/2: (CV only) 
    Describes new and revised classes and subclasses and changes in patent classification.
     
  • Official gazette...patents.  Princeton holdings include: 1871-1959 (9051.922.3 Annex IV); 1960-January 1971 ((Film) 9051.922.3); February 1971- ((Film) 9051.922.32).  Patent summaries and drawings; issued weekly since 1872; trademarks included through January 1971. 
    • Index of patents. Part 1 - List of patentees; Part 2 - Index to subject of inventions. CV on (Docs Ref) C 21.5/2: 1926-1973 (9051.922.001 Annex B); 1974- T223.D3.  Annual index to the Official Gazette: can be searched by names of patentees and assignees, by class and sub class number, and class title. 
    • Concordance: United States patent classification to international patent classification.  (Docs Ref) C 21.14/2: C 74/ (CV only).  Guide which relates U.S. patent classification system to international patent classification 


    Comments and suggestions for this page are welcome, and can be directed to docs@Princeton.edu.
    Last updated August 16, 2002 in the Social Science Reference Center of Princeton University Library