The following article appears in the journal JOM, 50 (8) (1998), p. 73. JOM is a publication of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society

Using the Internet to Obtain Intellectual Property Information

An enormous amount of information regarding various aspects of intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets, as well as related statutes, rules, and regulations are available through the In-ternet. While an article of this size cannot provide an exhaustive listing of all sources of such information, a number of basic sources can be identified. These sites frequently identify additional web sites and in some instances, provide direct access to these sites. Most sources of information on the Internet permit the user to access and download the information at no charge. In some instances, however, charges are made; in these cases, a user is notified of charges in advance of access and has the opportunity to determine whether to employ the services for which payment would be required.

A complete collection of intellectual property articles that have appeared in this column in JOM is available at http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/matters/matters-index.html. These articles, which cover a wide variety of intellectual property subjects, are identified by author, title, and date of publication.

IBM has an extensive patent web site (http://www.womplex.ibm.com or http://www.patents.ibm.com). After inserting the word "patent" as the subject of the search, the user can click on the word to bring up the database, which contains all U.S. patents issued from 1971 through the present. Patents can be accessed by patent number or through text searching that, apart from subject matter, permits access on the basis of the name of the inventor, the name of assignee, title of the patent, the name of the patent attorney or agent who handled the case, abstract, or claims or combinations thereof. Detailed instructions are contained within the database.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which is the government agency responsible for patents and trademarks, also has a comprehensive web site (http://www.uspto.gov). It provides patent searching capabilities in the same categories as the IBM database and access to the classification manual that provides the technical breakdown identify ing what classes cover what technical subject matter. Patents are also accessible by classes. The site provides news updates, access to order copies of patents, and details regarding Patent and Trademark Office fees. One may also obtain access to U.S. patent and trademark laws and rules of practice, as well as the examining procedures employed by patent and trademark examiners. Other features include cross references to other web sites that are linked to provide direct access by merely clicking on the site of interest. Other U.S. government web sites and intellectual property offices in many countries outside of the United States may be accessed in this manner.

The U.S. Copyright Office site (lcweb.loc.gov/copyright) provides a great deal of information regarding the laws, regulations, forms, and procedures of the copyright office and provides answers to frequently asked questions. There is also information regarding various treaties with other countries and information regarding related Internet resources dealing with copyright subjects. Among the related web sites, which are linked for direct access, are copyright licensing organizations. There are also cross references to United States and international government copyright-related web sites.

The Franklin Pierce Law Center, a law school with a prime focus on intellectual property education, has an extensive web site (http://www.fplc.edu) directed toward a wide range of topics dealing with patents, trademarks, copyrights, and other intellectual-property-law subjects. Many of the items on this web site are directed toward non-lawyers. The site also contains cross references to other sites of potential interest.

There are also a number of professional legal organizations that have web sites and provide valuable information regarding intellectual property. The American Intellectual Property Law Association has a web site (http://www.aipla.org) that provides not only news items regarding intellectual property matters of potential interest, but also the status of bills pending in Congress, rule changes in the U.S. Patent and Trade mark Office, and information regarding the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office. One of the valuable items contained at the site are listings of web sites for various federal and state courts, the U.S. Code, and the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Extensive patent, trademark, and copyright hyperlinks to related sites are also provided.

The International Trademark Association, which is a worldwide organization whose members are either attorneys or others with an interest in trademarks, provides valuable information regarding a wide variety of trademark topics on its web site (http://www.inta.org). The site also contains information about the organization. The web site of the World Intellectual Property Organization (http://www.wipo.org), based in Geneva, Switzerland, contains a great deal of information regarding its activities and international intellectual property information.

The American Bar Association (http://www.abanet.org) has extensive information regarding intellectual property and other areas of the law. For information, click on "LAWLINK," then the topics of interest. Resolutions, articles on intellectual property subjects, reports, news items, and links to other web sites are among the items that can be accessed at the site.

For information beyond what is available at these sites, search engines are effective, easy-to-use sources that enable one to employ retrieval based on key word searches. Some available search engines are Lycos (http://www.lycos.com), Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com), Alta Vista (http://www.altavista.digital.com), Hotbot (http://www.hotbot.com), Excite (http://www.excite.com), Infoseek (http://www.infoseek.com), and Webcrawler (http://www.webcrawler.com).

For more information, please contact A.B. Silverman, Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC, 600 Grant Street, 42nd Floor, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219; (412) 566-2077; fax (412) 566-6099; e-mail ARNIE@TELERAMA.LM.COM.