Jamail Center for Legal Research
Tarlton Law Library

• Manual of patent examining procedures (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep)  The current 8th and all earlier editions since the 1998 7th edition are available for viewing online at this site.

• World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO (http://www.wipo.int/)  This is the official site for the UN's specialized intellectual property agency.  WIPO is responsible for the promotion and protection of intellectual property throughout the world by fostering cooperation among states, and for the administration of various multilateral treaties dealing with the legal and administrative aspects of intellectual property.  The site includes information about treaties administered by the WIPO (http://www.wipo.int/treaties/index.html), and also provides English translations of foreign intellectual property laws, transmitted by the intellectual property offices of each country (http://www.wipo.int/clea/en/index.html). 

• Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/bpai/) The judges of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences review adverse decisions of patent examiners and it determines the priority when an applicant claims the same patentable invention that was already claimed by another applicant or patentee.  On this Web site the Board publishes the full text of its precedential opinions, final decisions, forms, procedures and other information.

• US Court of Appeals for the federal circuit (http://www.fedcir.gov/) The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reviews the decisions of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences.  The court's Web site contains court opinions, rules, forms, and other court information.

• US federal judiciary (http://www.uscourts.gov/links.html) The Administrative Offices of the US Courts maintain this Web site of links to Internet-based resources of the federal courts, including decisions.

3. Patent searching - government sources

• US patent & trademark office (http://www.uspto.gov)  This is the primary database for patent searching in the US.

  - patent searching (records from 1790 to present) (http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html)

• European patent office (http://ep.espacenet.com/)  This Web site permits free searching of English language patents filed in the patent offices of the EU, WIPO, United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan.  There are also documents with English abstracts and titles from patent offices in over 50 countries.

• Department of Energy Patent Database (http://www.osti.gov/gencoun/search.easy.jsp)  This is a searchable database of patents and patent applications resulting from DOE sponsorships or owned by DOE or its contractors or assignees.

• Canadian patent database (http://patents1.ic.gc.ca)  Produced by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), this database provides access to over 75 years of patent descriptions and images.

• Japanese patent office (http://www.jpo.go.jp/)  English language access to Japanese patent laws and information.

 

• Delphion (http://www.delphion.com/)  This is a subscription-based site for patent searching. Includes US, European, Japanese, WIPO and INPADOC patent information.  Provides pdf. images of patents.

• Lexis-Nexis (http://www.lexis.com)  Lexis includes several databases of patent law and patent grants and applications.  The databases contain full text and images from patents.  US, European, INPADOC patents are available in English, along with Japanese abstracts in English.

• MicroPatent (http://www.micropat.com/)  This commercial site has several patent searching features, including full-text searches of patents by major classification from US, European, WIPO, and searches of the abstracts of Japanese patents.

• Questel-Orbit (http://www.questel.orbit.com/)  This patent resource provides PlusPat, a fee-based database of patent documents from 70 worldwide patenting authorities.  The databases allows family searches (discovering if the same invention is patented in multiple jurisdictions.)  The database uses standardized patent data formats, including standardized names of corporate patent holders.

• Westlaw (http://www.westlaw.com)  This commercial information provider includes several databases of patent law and patent information, including patent applications and grants in English for US, European, French, and WIPO sources.  It also includes Japanese patent and abstracts and the Derwent Patents Citation Index.

   

• Intellectual property and technology forum at Boston College Law School (http://www.bc.edu/iptf)  The publication is an innovative online Web site that has scholarly articles, current awareness news reports, and a community forum to help readers share ideas.

• Tulane Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property (http://www.law.tulane.edu/tuexp/journals/jtip/index.html)  This new journal discusses issues of intellectual property, including casenotes of recent legal developments

• UCLA Journal of Law and Technology (http://www.lawtechjournal.com/)

• Virginia Journal of Law and Technology (http://www.vjolt.net/)

   

• Lexis-Nexis (http://www.lexis.com)  Under "Area of Law by Practice" there is a section for "Patent Law."  This section allows for full-text searching of a large number of legal and technology publications related to patent law.

• Westlaw (http://www.westlaw.com)  Provides a section dedicated to intellectual property law.  This includes USPQ, decisions of the Patent and Trademark Office, European and UK cases, and a variety of news sources.  Also available is the full text of patents issued by USPTO since 1976.

Both Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw permit stored searches to be set up, which provide periodic updates (or clipping services) for the researcher who wants to keep up with a particular topic or area of law.

Four new database providers are trying to provide alternatives for online legal research and are competing for subscribers who might not be able to afford Lexis and Westlaw.  These providers are worth watching as they continue to expand and offer lower-cost alternatives for the legal researcher.

• Loislaw (http://www.loislaw.com)  At the present time, Loislaw consists of appellate level court opinions, regulations and statutes from the federal government and all 50 states.  Loislaw has GlobalCite, which is similar to a citator. Loislaw also offers a "clipping" service to alert users of new developments in law.  The services also includes access to the Apsen line of legal treatises.

• National Law Library (NLL) (http://www.itislaw.com)  The NLL, which is based in Houston, is another new service.  It is available to Texas Bar members through the My Texas Bar portal (http://www.mytexasbar.com) 

• Quick Law America (http://www.quicklawamerica.com/)  This database has federal and state statutes and caselaw for the US and Canadian law.

• Versuslaw (http://www.versuslaw.com)  Versuslaw has appellate court opinions and links to US statutes at an extremely low cost.

1. Treatises and texts

• Chisum, Donald S., Understanding Intellectual Property Law (New York, NY: M. Bender, 1996)

• Nolff, Markus, TRIPS, PCT, and Global Patent Procurement (London, Boston: Kluwer Law International 2001)

2. Looseleaf services

• Adelman, Martin J., Patent Law Perspectives (New York, NY: M. Bender)

• Chisum, Donald S., Chisum on Patents: A Treatise on the Law of Patentability, Validity, and Infringement (New York, NY: LEXIS) Beginning in 2001, includes : Chisum on Patents Case Reporter.

• Dratler, Jay Jr., Intellectual Property Law: Commercial, Creative, and Industrial Property (New York, NY: Law Journal Seminars-Press)

• Horwitz, Ethan & Lester, Patent Litigation: Procedure & Tactics (New York, NY: M. Bender)

• Jacobs, Alan J. and Nancy H. Morowitz, Patents Throughout the World 4^th Ed. (New York, NY: C Boardman)

• Lipscomb, Ernest, Walker on Patents 3d (St. Paul: West Group). This includes legislative history for patent legislation.

• World Patent Law and Practice: Patent Statutes, Regulations, and Treaties [compiled] by John P. Sinnott. (New York, NY: M. Bender) This set includes a collection of accurately translated patent statutes and rules.

3. Reporters and updating services

• United States Patent Quarterly
  This publication includes the full text of patents and decisions from the US court system and the US Patent Office tribunals.

• BNA's Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal
  Each month this newsletter reports on new developments in intellectual property law and publishes the full text of regulations, statutes, reports, and decisions related to patents and intellectual property

4. Journals and annual publications

• Albany Law Journal of Science and Technology also available at (http://www.albanylawjournal.org/)

• Berkeley Technology Law Journal also available at (http://www.law.berkeley.edu/journals/btlj/)  The online version includes links to other intellectual property resources.

• Boston University Journal of Science & Technology Law.

• Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal

• Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts

• Columbia-VLA Journal of Law & the Arts

• Federal Circuits Yearbook: Patent Law Developments in the Federal Circuit (New York, NY: Practicing Law Institute)

• Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal

• Idea - The Journal of Law and Technology also available at (http://www.idea.fplc.edu/)  This journal is produced by the Franklin Pierce Law Center.

• Intellectual Property and Technology Forum at Boston College Law School

• Intellectual Property Law Review (New York, NY: Clark Boardman)

• Journal of Intellectual Property produced by the Chicago-Kent College of Law.

• Journal of Intellectual Property Law from the University of Georgia School of Law and is also available at (http://www.law.uga.edu/jipl/)

• Loyola Intellectual Property & High Technology Journal

• Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review also available at (http://law.marquette.edu/cgi-bin/site.pl?2130&pageID=158)

• Minnesota Intellectual Property Review

• Stanford Technology Law Review also available at (http://stlr.stanford.edu/STLR/Core_Page/index.htm)

• Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal from the Intellectual Property Law section of the State Bar of Texas and the University of Texas School of Law. It is also available at (http://www.utexas.edu/law/journals/tiplj/)

• University of Baltimore Intellectual Property Law Journal also available at (http://law.ubalt.edu/iplj/index.html)

• West Virginia Journal of Law & Technology archives available at (http://www.wvu.edu/~wvjolt/)

• World Intellectual Property Report

Originally prepared by Kumar Percy, head of faculty & research services.
Last updated: September 19, 2005.