Patents & Trademarks Resources

The Science and Engineering Center at Fogler Library is the home of the only Patent and Trademark Resource Center in Maine. This guide will help you find patents in your area of interest. If you have questions about finding patents related to a certain technology or locating a copy of a known patent, please contact Martin Wallace at the Science and Engineering Center: 581-1678 or martin.wallace@umit.maine.edu. Or, if you are a member of the University of Maine community, you may use the online Ask a Librarian service.

COMPREHENSIVE SEARCHES FOR U.S. PATENTS

Fogler Library's Patent and Trademark Resource Center has all the resources required for doing a comprehensive search for U.S. Patents and Trademarks. A comprehensive search includes all patents back to 1790. Please contact Martin Wallace at the Science and Engineering Center: 581-1678 or martin.wallace@umit.maine.edu, to make an appointment for help with your search. Please view this thirty-six minute patent searching tutorial How to Conduct a Preliminary Patent Search prior to contacting the PTRC.

Disclaimer: PTRCs are neither required nor encouraged to conduct patent and trademark searches for their patrons as that activity may be interpreted as rendering a judgment or opinion. PTRCs are required to instruct patrons in the use of the search tools available at the PTRCs for patrons conducting their own patent and trademark searches.

Patent Resources

U.S. and international patent offices and patent searching interfaces on the internet

• CobaltIP. An integrated suite of search and analysis tools for researching USPTO, EPO, WIPO, and JPO patents. Researchers can automatically find similar patents, view PDFs, auto-detect niche markets and likely buyers of target patents. Due to licensing restrictions, CobaltIP is available to University of Maine students, faculty and staff after a one-time consultation with the patents and trademarks librarian to review terms and establish a personal user account. Commercial use is not permitted. To schedule an appointment, call 581-1678 or email martin.wallace@umit.maine.edu.
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. U.S. patent and trademark information, contacts and application procedures. Almost any question regarding the application process can be answered there. USPTO News. Archive of news announcements.
• U.S. Patent Database. Full page image of patents from 1790 to the present. Searching by title and abstracts words, full text of patent, inventor or assignee is only available for 1976 to the present. Comprehensive searching requires the use of the Patent Classification System. See the tutorial for assistance in utilizing all the capabilities of this database. Current Fee Schedule.
• Electronic Patent Official Gazette. Announcements of issued patents from U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The most recent 52 issues of the Patent Official Gazette are available online. Prior issues of the Gazette are available at the PTRCs. The Electronic Patent Official Gazette allows you to browse or search through the patents issued each week. You can browse by geographic origin of the inventor, inventor or assignee name and patent class and subclass. The Official Gazette includes the summary of the patent and a representative drawing. You can link to the full text of the patent from the Gazette.
• USPTO Patent Assignments. Updated continuously as assignments are recorded. Determine who has the rights to a particular patent or patent application.
• Australian Patents (AusPat). Provided by the Australian Intellectual Property Office.
• British Library. Patents at the British Library. Links to databases, web sites, and patent and trademark information worldwide.
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). Canadian patent, trademark and copyright information.
• European Patent Office (EPO). Use their database:esp@cenet. Search front pages of EP, PCT, Japanese, and other worldwide patents. Espacenet contains inventor/date/title for U.S. patents back to 1920. Search the European Classification System.
• Global list of patent offices. Maintained by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
• Google Patent Search. Over seven million U.S. patents and patent applications available in full-text and pdf formats. Keyword searchable by patent number, title, inventor, assignee, or classification.
• Japanese Patent Office. They maintain the Industrial Property Digital Library (IPDL) which is a database of patents, designs and trademarks extending back to the late 1800's.
• LatiPat. (Spanish Language Website). Provides access to the bibliographic and image data of patent documents published in the Latin American countries.
• Patent Lens. Free full-text patent search engine. Indexes U.S., WIPO, European and Australian issued patents and applications. Unique chemical structure and protein (DNA, RNA) sequence search interfaces available.
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). PatentScope Full Text Database. Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) full-text, bibliographic data and image coverage from 1978 to present, over 1.4 million international patent applications indexed. International Patent Classification system. List of searchable databases hosted by other patent offices.

Specialized Patent Databases

• DNA Patent Database (DPD). A resource for policy makers and members of the general public interested in fields like genomics, genetics and biotechnology, the DNA Patent Database (DPD) contains a collection of DNA-based patents and patent applications issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and makes the full-text of such patents and applications available to users at no cost.
• SureChem. Searches over 9 million compounds index by USPTO, EPO & WIPO as well as MEDLINE and JPO abstracts. Search by full-text or chemical structure. Subscription required.

Patent Search Services

Fogler library does not recommend or endorse any patent search service, free or fee based. This list is provided for informational purposes only.

• LegalZoom Patent Search. Comprehensive Patent Search identifies relevant U.S. patents, both issued and pending approval..

Patent Translation Services

• Paterra. Machine translation of Japanese patents.

Internet Sites Providing PDFs of U.S. Patents

• Free Patents Online. Provides access to U.S. patents from number 4,000,000 to the present.
• Micropatent. Pay service providing the world's largest commercial collection of patent data, with over 50 million full-text and front-page records from the USPTO, European and World Patent services, Japanese Patent Abstracts, and over 70 other countries and patent authorities.
• Patent Retriever. Provides free PDFs of US, EPO and PCT patents and applications.
• Patents on Cloud 8. Charge is $0.49 per patent. They provides patents from many countries and will send them zipped together in PDF format.
• PatentStorm. Provides PDFs of U.S. patents from 1976-present.
• Pat2pdf.org. Provides U.S. patents granted from 1838 to present.
• SumoBrain. Full-text searching of US and EP documents, PCT applications and Japanese patent abstracts. Users can save, organize, annotate and share documents in workfiles. Patents in workfiles can be merged, moved and exported in CSV or Excel formats. SumoBrain also allows users to save searches and create search alerts.

Exporting Patent Information to EndNote and Excel

• Patent Tools sponsored by Greenberg Traurig. Offers a variety of export tools, both free and fee based, for exporting to Excel, HTML, and others. Other tools included allow for generating charts, tables, claim trees, and automated summaries.
• SumoBrain. Full-text searching of US and EP documents, PCT applications and Japanese patent abstracts. Users can save, organize, annotate and share documents in workfiles. Patents in workfiles can be merged, moved and exported in CSV or Excel formats. SumoBrain also allows users to save searches and create search alerts.

Non-Patent Literature Databases (Journal Articles, Technical Reports, etc.)

Maine Statewide Databases or Free Internet Databases

These databases are useful for checking for journal articles, technical reports, and news announcements about similar products and technology. If an idea has been published anywhere, it cannot be granted a patent.

• Academic Search Complete. Provides full text for over 3,200 scholarly publications.
• AGRICOLA. Produced by the National Agricultural Library. Resources encompassing all aspects of agriculture and allied disciplines, including animal and veterinary sciences, plant sciences, forestry, etc.
• AGRIS/CARIS. Provides access to a large collection of world literature covering all aspects of agricultural sciences and technology, including grey literature which is not available through normal publication and distribution channels. Sponsored by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. 1975 to present.
• Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts.
• ASCE Civil Engineering Database (CEDB). ASCE's CEDB covers bibliographic records of ASCE documents published back to 1958, including journals, conference proceedings, books, standards, manuals, magazines, and newsletters. Fogler Library also has the print copy of "Cumulative Index to ASCE Publications," 1950 - 1979: Sci Index TA1.A53. 
• Business Source Complete. Provides full text for over 2500 business journals.
• Citeseer.com. Scientific Literature Digital Library. NEC Corp. Indexes Postscript and PDF research articles on the Web. Has citation searching component.
• CogPrints. CogPrints is an electronic archive for papers in many areas of Computer Science. Full text of the cited references is available.
• Collection of Computer Science Bibliographies. Some links to the online fulltext.
• Computing Research Respository (CoRR). Preprints in computer science. Mechanisms for searching, downloading and submitting preprints are provided.
• Cooperative Extension Websites by State. Many full-text reports.
• Cooperative Forestry Research Unit Publications Database.
• DOE Information Bridge. Full-text reports for 1995 to present.
• DTIC (Defense Technical Information Center) Scientific and Technical Information Network. PARTIAL FULL TEXT DATABASE. Access to all unclassified, unlimited citations to documents added from late December 1974 to present, many from 1998 to present in full text.
• EECS Technical Reports. A searchable database of computer science technical reports from over 100 institutions worldwide. Over 20,000 reports are available in full text.
• E-Print Network. Maintained by the Dept. of Energy. Allows simultaneous searching of a variety of preprint servers.
• Electronic Orange Book. Find patent and other useful information on pharmaceutical drugs. Search by patent number, company name, active ingredient or proprietary drug name. Database provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
• Energy Citations Database. U.S. Department of Energy database. Coverage is 1948 to present.
• Electric Power Research Institute. (EPRI).
• Entrez Search and Retrieval System. National Library of Medicine sponsored databases including protein and nucleotide databases and PubMed.
• Fire Research Information Services (FRIS). FIREDOC database. Made available by the Building and Fire Research Laboratory BFRL), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
• IEEE Xplore & IEEE/IET Electronic Library (IEL). Complete full-text access to the IEEE/IET Electronic Library (IEL). Includes over 160 journals published by the IEEE and IET, transactions, conference proceedings and active IEEE standards. Indexing extends back to 1988 for all journals and conference proceedings and further back to 1913 for selected publications. Offers an alerting service, saved searches, and other valuable Web 2.0 capabilities for users who register for free personal accounts.
• Ingenta. (Formerly UnCover). Coverage is 1988 - Present.
• LexisNexis Academic. Besides indexing a broad range of news, business and legal publications, LexisNexis also includes the ability to search full-text patents, patent legal information, patent family documents in INPADOC, English translations of Japanese patent abstracts, and more.
• MasterFILE Premier. Provides full text for over 1,830 general reference, business, consumer health, general science. Full text extends back to January, 1990. Indexing and abstracts is available for an additional 1,000 journals.
• MEDLINE. Index produced by the National Library of Medicine. Includes over 3,600 journals covering all areas of clinical and experimental medicine, nursing, dentistry and health administration. Updated weekly. Coverage is 1947 to present.
• National Environmental Publications Internet Site (NEPIS). Index to over 9,500 full-text EPA reports.
• NASA Technical Report Server (NTRS). This database collects, archives, and disseminates aerospace information produced by NASA and other relevant worldwide research.
• National Technical Reports Library (NTRL). Provides indexing to a collection of more than 2.2 million historical (pre-1900) to current U.S. government-sponsored technical reports archived by the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). Over 700,000 documents are available in full-text format. Subject coverage includes engineering, computer science, transportation, medicine, biology, energy, communications, agriculture, and more.
• New York Times Article Archive. 1851 - present. Full text of articles can be purchased online or use the microfilm collection in Fogler Library.
• OSHLINE with NIOSHTIC Database. Occupational safety and health resources.
• Recent Advances in Manufacturing. Covers over 500 journals.
• SciCentral. Gateway to the best scientific research news sources
• Science Accelerator, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Department of Energy. Search collections of DOE research results, project descriptions, and accomplishments. These collections enable you to find out about ongoing research projects, explore significant DOE discoveries, learn about DOE Nobel Prize Winners, access and search scientific e-prints, locate science conference papers and proceedings, patents, and more.
• ScienceDirect. FULL TEXT FOR UMAINE SUBSCRIBED JOURNAL TITLES ONLY (1800+). Online access to full text from 1995 for most titles. Sign up for automatic notification when new issues are published.
• Scirus. produced by Elsevier. Use for searching instead of ScienceDirect interface. Use this Advanced search which provides many options for full text searching and across a variety of databases.
• TRID: the TRIS & ITRDDatabase. TRID is the world's largest and most comprehensive bibliographic resource on transportation research information. It is produced and maintained by the Transportation Research Board of the US National Academies with sponsorship by State Departments of Transportation, the various administrations at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other sponsors of TRB's core technical activities. ITRD is produced by ITRD member organizations under the sponsorship of Joint Transport Research Centre (collectively JTRC) of the International Transport Forum and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and ITRD. TRID covers all modes and disciplines of transportation and contains more than 900,000 records of published research. Over 64,000 records contain links to full-text documents. A Transportation Research Thesaurus is available to download and provide guidance on searching TRID.
• U.S. EPA Web Search. Provides advanced searching of the EPA web site.
• U.S. Forest Service. Publications database.

U.S. Patent Resources in Fogler Library

• Index to the U.S. Patent Classification. (SciPTDL T223.A25) December 2003. Also see the online version. Provides a starting point to look for classification numbers.
• Manual of Classification. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. (SciPTDL T223.F4U5a) Updated for 2002. Also see the online version. Can scan through the classes to find possible appropriate class number to search.
• U.S. Patent Classification System Classification Definitions. (SciPTDL Microfiche, C21.3/2) Also see the online version. (Need to choose the definitions.) Provides in depth scope notes and see references for how the classification system is applied by the examiners.
• Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP). 8th ed., Rev. 6, 2007. U.S. Patent Office.
• Subject-matter index of patents for inventions issued by the United States Patent Office, 1790 to 1873. (SciPTDL T223.D7A45 1976 v.1 - 3). Helpful subject index which provides patent number, date of registration, inventor, and inventor residence. For newer indexes, see Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents and General Index of the Official Gazette, below.
• Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents and General Index of the Official Gazette. 1840-2002. Indexes by inventor and assignee name and by general subject or title words. They provide the patent number, registration date and the volume and page number where it can be located in the Official Gazette. These are the most effective method for starting an investigation of an older patent or inventor. (SciPTDL T223.D3). Also, limited online availability from University of Michigan MBooks Project. For older indexes, see Subject-matter index of patents for inventions issued by the United States Patent Office, 1790-1873, above.

Canadian Patent resources in Fogler Library

• Canada. Intellectual Property Office. Patent Office. Patent Office Record. Located in Canadian Documents, 3rd Floor Fogler Library. CAN RG42-1. 1980 - present. Latest issues in Current Periodicals Room.
• Canadian Patent Office Record. Orono Microfiche, Serials. 1873 - 1900. Index located at the beginning of each year by inventor and title, keyword. At the end of each month are listed the copyrights and trademarks granted. Issued as part of the CIHM/ICMH microfiche series.

Patent Tutorials and Workshops

• From Patent to Profit. Tips on writing applications, getting prototypes, marketing plans, licensing advise, etc.
• How to Conduct a Preliminary Patent Search. Thirty-six minute patent searching tutorial.
• Inventing 101 Online Course. Presented by the National Congress of Inventor Organizations. (NCIO).
• Inventor's Handbook. Created by the Lemelson-MIT Program. MIT School of Engineering
• Ironman Inventing. Articles on the invention process by Andy Gibbs.
• National Inventors Hall of Fame. Workshop on how to patent. Basic introduction.
• Patent FAQ. Idea to Invention to Patent..
• University of Maine. Patent Searching on the Internet.
• University of Texas McKinney Engineering Library Patent Searching Tutorial. Recommended by the USPTO training team, thorough and easy to follow tutorial for conducting a patent search.

Patent and Inventors Internet Sites

• Bioentrepreneur: From Bench to Boardroom. Web portal provided by Nature Publishing for scientists interested in commercializing their research.
• Entrepreneur Network. See the For Inventors Section.
• Everyday Edisons. Popular PBS reality series that documents the development process of 14 inventions and the parallel stories of the people who invented them. Selected from thousands, the 14 Everyday Edisons learn how their extraordinary ideas are taken from a sketch on a napkin to a store shelf.
• FindLaw for Legal Professionals. Good sections on small business and intellectual property law.
• General Information Concerning Patents. Learn about patents and the patenting process from this fact-packed guide published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
• How to Protect and Benefit from your Ideas.
• Idea - Invention - Patent. Compiled by a registered patent agent.
• Intellectual Property Mall (Franklin Pierce Law Center).
• Intellogist. Free website that aims to help patent searchers locate sources of patent information, evaluate public and commercial patent search systems and exchange best practices in prior art searching; useful to both novice and experienced patent searchers.
• InventNET.com.
• InventorEd.org. Nonprofit organization that provides education and news for inventors.
• Inventors About.com. Contains excellent historical information on inventions and also guides on how to obtain a patent and avoid patent scam firms.
• Inventors' Alliance. San Francisco. Marketing and licensing resources.
• Inventor's Digest Online. A great deal of helpful for information for the first time inventor.
• Inventor's Handbook. Created by the Lemelson-MIT Program. MIT School of Engineering
• InventorSpot. Provides daily articles about the latest inventions, innovations and interesting ideas from around the world. Includes information for inventors by experienced inventors and other experts, an active invention advice forum and inventor community, and tools for inventors such as a free Invention Gallery where inventors can promote their inventions.
• IP Newsflash. Keep current on IP news from around the world.
• Ironman Inventing. Articles on the invention process by Andy Gibbs.
• Legal Information Institute. Provided by the Cornell University Law School.
• Library of Legal Resources on the Internet. Guide to intellectual property law.
• Minnesota Inventors Resource Center.
• National Inventor Fraud Center, Inc. Good reading for anyone considering hiring the services of an invention promotion firm. How to profit from your ideas and license your patent.
• National Inventors Hall of Fame. Workshop on how to patent. Inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
• New Product Marketing Series.
• Nolo Press. Detailed information on the patenting and trade marking process for the do-it-yourselfer, from a well-known publisher of legal information for the lay-person.
• PantrosIP. Formerly Patent Cafe; free and fee based services.
• Patent Alert. A free email alert service through which you will receive periodical updates about recent U.S. Patents in your chosen theme or subject.
• Patent Buddy. Provides data on registered patent attorneys and their employment histories. Search for an attorney and see what patents they have worked on.
• Patent FAQ. Idea to Invention to Patent. Site compiled by a patent attorney. Interesting tips on the patent process and provisional applications and hiring an attorney.
• Patents.com. Conduct a patent search, file a patent application, find a patent attorney, or search available technology through the Patent Exchange; create a profile, interact with members, post articles, and more.
• Promote the Progress. Portal of patent caselaw information built on a foundation of timely, accurate and considerate reviews of appellate level court decisions.
• University of Maine. Patent Searching on the Internet.

Electronic Journals

• Entrepreneur Magazine Online. Coverage is 1997 to present - full text of articles.
• Invent Resources.
• Inventors' Digest.
• Managing intellectual property. A leading international magazine for owners of patents, trademarks and copyrights; provides news, comment, data and authoritative analysis, including the World IP Survey. Fogler Library has access from July 1998 up to 1 month ago.
• Patent Information News. Quarterly publication of European patent information published by the European Patent Office (EPO).
• WIPO Magazine. Published by the World Intellectual Property Organization. 2000+ is online.
• World Patent Information. The International Journal for Industrial Property Documentation, Information, Classification and Statistics. Subscription e-journal, requires authentication.

Books and eBooks

• WIPO guide to using patent information. Geneva: World Intellectual Property Organization, 2009. (T210 .W675 2009eb). Explains what a patent is, the information contained in a patent document, where patent information can be found, and basic search strategies.

Invention Promotion Firms and Government Agencies

• U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Consumer Alert.Spotting Sweet-Sounding Promises of Fraudulent Invention Promotion Firms. Facts for Consumers.
• U.S. Patent Office. Independent Inventors. Scam Prevention. Includes 10 questions to ask a promotion firm - get answers in writing. Public Forum for Invention Promoters/Promotion Firm Complaints and Responses.
• Better Business Bureau.
• Environmental Technologies Opportunities Portal. Links to funding sources for the private sector that has new environmental technologies to develop.
• Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer. Brings together federal laboratories and companies or entrepreneurs to develop new technologies into products for the marketplace.
• Invent Resources (IRI). Invention promotion firm located in Massachusetts.
• Inventors Assistance League. Work with you to develop market potential before sinking money into a patent.
• Inventors Awareness Center. From the United Inventors Association.
• Inventors Workshop International. Services, software products and education for inventors.
• National Congress of Inventor Organizations. Scambusters.
• National Technology Transfer Center. Work with inventors to provide technology assessment, technology marketing, assistance in finding strategic partners, and electronic-business development services.
• Office of the Maine Attorney General. Consumer Protection.
• Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer. U.S. Federal Agencies offering funding to small businesses.
• United Inventors Association (UIA). Non-profit organization dedicated to inventor education and support. UIA's Mission is to provide reliable information to inventors, as well as certification to groups and service providers who comply with rigorous professional and ethical standards.

History of Inventions and Inventors

Directories of Products and Companies

Registered Agents and Attorneys

• Maine Intellectual Property Lawyers. Law Firm directory from Martindale.

Search to see if a similar product is already being sold.

• Building Materials by McGraw-Hill Sweet's. Construction industry marketplace that lists close to 60,000 products.
• eMolecule. Find Suppliers and Information for over 8 Million Unique Chemicals.
• GlobalSpec.com.
• Hoover's Online. The business information authority.
• ManufacuringNet. The manufacturing marketplace
• MatchProduct. An online business-to-business marketplace that offers companies of all sizes an easy and convenient way to sell products or find new product opportunities. Includes a searchable product directory.
• Thomas Register. Lists over 173,000 U.S. and Canadian manufacturers.
• Thomas Register of European Manufacturers.

Trade Shows and Inventors Congresses

See TSSN.com: The Ultimate Trade Show Resource. Searchable index of trade shows by state, city and industry.

• Invention and New Product Exposition (INPEX). America's largest annual invention trade show.
• Inventors' Digest. Trade Shows and Workshops.
• Minnesota Inventors Congress.
• New England Products Trade Show (NEPTS). Best of New England - business to business show.
• TradeShow Handbook. A Comprehensive online resource guide for the trade show industry. Find detailed information, guides, tutorials and directories for trade shows, exhibitions, public events and conferences.

Inventor and Entrepreneur Education Opportunities in Maine

• Maine Business Works. The most comprehensive workshop and event listing for small business entrepreneurs in Maine.
• Maine Patent Program. Supports innovation in Maine by providing education and assistance with the patent process of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to companies, inventors and entrepreneurs in the State.
• MaineToday.com.
• Maine Technology Institute. Calendar.

Trademark Resources

• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
• U.S. Trademarks Page. Basic Facts About Registering a Trademark. Defines trademarks and details the registration process and filing requirements. A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office publication.
• U.S. Trademark Electronic Search System. TESS. (First choice in the center column) TESS contains more than 3 million pending, registered and dead federal trademarks. Starting point for determining if a name is already in use.
• U.S. Trademark Electronic Application System. TEAS. TEAS allows you to fill out a form, check it for completeness, and then submit the form directly to the USPTO over the internet, making an official trademark application online.
• U.S. Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure. TMEP. 4th edition. This work contains the practices and procedures applied to trademark applications.
• U.S. Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval (TARR). Retrieve status information about pending and registered trademarks from the USPTO’s internal database by simply entering a valid trademark serial number or registration number.
• U.S. Trademark Assignment Query Menu. Trademark assignments recorded 1955 to present.
• U.S. Electronic Trademark Assignment System (eTAS). Forms to complete to assign or change ownership of a trademark.
• U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeals Board (TAAB). Board that settles trademark disputes.
• All About Trademarks. From G. H. Guillot.
• Basic Facts About Registering a Trademark. Defines trademarks and details the registration process and filing requirements. A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office publication.
• U.S. Trademarks Official Gazette. The Trademark Official Gazette allows you to browse or search through the trademarks issued each week. The most recent 52 issues are available online. Prior issues of the Trademark Gazette are available at the PTRCs. The Trademark Official Gazette is available as a PDF file and you must use the Find within Adobe to locate information in a particular weekly issue.
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office.
• Canadian Trademarks Page.
• Canadian Trademarks Database.
• Franklin Pierce Law Center. Trademarks and Business Goodwill.
• Hathi Trust Digital Library − Index of trademarks issued from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1927-1991 (incomplete)
• International Trademark Laws, Rules, Databases and Treaties.
• Madrid Protocol Forms and guidelines.
• National Index of Trademark Offices. Find the trademark registration office in your state. Also see State Trademark Agencies and Databases for listing of available state trademark databases.
• Overview of Trademark Law. Harvard Law School
• State of Maine. Dept. of the Secretary of State. Search for trademarks that are registered within the state of Maine. The Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions provides information on conducting business in Maine and the Trademark guide, forms and fees. Also Search for Maine trademarks and corporate names.
• State Trademark Agencies and Databases. Provides address and website information for the state agencies and links to databases for each state to search for trademarks registered in those states.
• Trademark Law: an overview. Cornell University. Law School.
• USPTO News. Archive of news announcements.

Small Business Resources for Patents & Trademarks

• Maine Manufacturing Directory. Tower Publishing. 2007 edition. ORO Reference HD9727.M2M335 Not available on the Internet.
• Bizoffice. Small and home-based business resources.
• Business.USA. sponsored by the Small Business Administration. Provides a pathway through the maze of business regulations and resources by the U.S. government.
• BUZGate.org. Business Utility Zone Gateway. Provides access to a multitude of Maine resources for small businesses. Chose "Maine" from the state listing.
• Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. Searchable database of federal grant programs.
• Center for Entrepreneurship and Small Business. University of Southern Maine. School of Business.
• Export.gov. U.S. Government export information. Expand your business outside our borders.
• Finance Authority of Maine.
• Maine Business Works. This web site brings together business development resources for Maine.
• Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.
• Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
• Maine Patent Program.
• Maine State Bar Association. 1-800-860-1460 or 1-207-622-1460.
• Maine Technology Institute.
• Maine's Applied Technology Development Centers.
• Maine Women's Business Center.
• Morebusiness.com.
• Penquis Community Action Program. Penquis CAP. Economic Development Programs.
• SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) Association. Maine Offices
• SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) Association. Chapter 53, Portland Maine. Counselors to Americas small business.
• Small Business Development Centers, Regional Offices. of Maine.
• Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer. U.S. Federal Agencies offering funding to small businesses.
• Small Enterprise Growth Fund. Maine's Venture Capital Fund.
• U.S. Small Business Administration. Provides information on starting a business, writing a business plan and securing financing. Many online legal and business resources are provided. They also sponsor the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program which provides funding to entrepreneurs working on innovations. Maine District Office.
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Intellectual Property for Small Businesses Series. Free downloadable e-books covering patents, trademarks and copyright for small and medium size business enterprizes.

Internet Directories of Patents & Trademarks

• British Library. Patents page.
• European Patent Office. Patent Information on the Internet.
• Lemelson - MIT Program: Links and Resources.
• Patent and Trademark Resource Center. Online Resources.
• SciTechResources.gov. U.S. Government web sites
• Yahoo: Patents.
• Yahoo: Trademarks.
• Yahoo: Business and Economy: Small Business Information.

Patent and Trademark Organizations

• American Intellectual Property Law Association. They have made available the publication How to Protect and Benefit from your Ideas.
• American Society of Inventors (ASI). Based in Philadelphia.
• Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO).
• International Trademark Association.
• InventNET.
• Inventors' Association of New England.
• Maine Patent Program. See schedule for Maine Inventors Forum.
• National Association of Patent Practitioners (NAPP).
• National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance (NCIIA).
• National Congress of Inventor Organizations (NCIO).
• National Intellectual Property Researchers Association (NIPRA).
• National Inventors Hall of Fame. Workshop on how to patent.
• Patent and Trademark Resource Centers Association.
• Patent Information Users Group.
• United Inventor's Association. Their focus is education of potential inventors and assistance with starting regional inventor's groups.
• World Intellectual Property Organization. (WIPO)

Related Information Sources

Fogler Library's Patent and Trademark Resource Center website; describes steps involved in patent and trademark searching, locating patents, and the services we offer.

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Created by: Martin Wallace | Revised: 02/13/2013