Here are some helpful books about patents from our own collection:
United States Patent and Trademark Office
http://www.uspto.gov
"The official site of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Learn about the application process; search USPTO patent and trademark databases; download and print forms and fee schedules, get USPTO updates, and more."
General Information Concerning Patents
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/index.html
"This page offers comprehensive general patent information, including definitions of the different types of intellectual property, description of the patent application process, information about the Patents and Trademarks Depository Library Program, and a searchable database of USPTO-certified patent attorneys."
Tutorials
University of Central Florida Libraries: Patents
http://library.ucf.edu/GovDocs/PatentsTrademarks/Patents.asp
"Patent searching tutorial and other patent-related links from the University of Central Florida."
U.S. Resources
USPTO: Patent Full-Text and Full-Page Image Databases
http://patft.uspto.gov
"PatFT contains the full-text of over 3,000,000 patents from 1976 to the present, plus limited bibliographic data for over 4,000,000 patents from 1790 to 1975, with links to the Web Patent Full-Page Images Database (PatImg). AppFT contains all Published Applications from March 15, 2001 through the present week."
Google Patent Search
http://www.google.com/patents
"Provides user-friendly searching of full-text patents from the 1790's to 2006. Does not include patent applications, U.S. patents issued since mid-2006, or international patents."
International Resources
Esp@cenet: Europe's Network of Patent Databases
http://www.espacenet.com/index.en.htm
"Search patents from the European Patent Office's member states via quick search, advanced search, number search, or classification search. Beginners will benefit from the e-learning modules found on the Getting Started page. Esp@cenet is available in English, French, German, and Japanese."
International Patent Applications
http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en
"Search over one million international patent applications published in accord with the Patent Cooperation Treaty, available from 1978 to the present."
