Patent and Trademark Services at the WSU Library

The Wichita State University Ablah Library became a Patent and Trademark Depository Library in 1991. The library offers access to the CD-ROM patent and trademark database, CASSIS, as well as paper and microfiche products to identify patents and trademarks. We're happy to assist you and answer your questions as you do your own patent search. We cannot give you any legal advice or answer any questions of a legal nature, however.

Call us locally at 978-3622 or at (800) 572-8368. You can also send an e-mail request for a copy of a patent or ask for information from
Nan Myers.

Services we provide:

Patent websites:

• U.S. Patent & Trademark Office offers the fulltext and now full-image patent search databases , online publications, downloadable forms in Adobe Acrobat format, patent fee information and other information regarding patents and trademarks.
• General Information Concerning Patents (USPTO brochure)
• European Patent Office From this site you can get to the trilateral website of the European Patent Office, Japanese Patent Office and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as well. Offers the free patent databases (esp@cenet, Japio, and US Patents) of the three patent offices.
• Patent Citation Database from Community of Science a fully searchable bibliographic file containing all of the approximately 1.7 million U.S. Patents issued since 1975; updated weekly.
• Index of U.S. Patent Classification System (a starting point in classifying an invention)
• Manual of U.S. Patent Classification (the Manual breaks down the further terms found in the Index)
• Classification Definitions the definitions are important in your understanding of each class, plus they provide good hints and notes for searching.
• Sunnyvale Center for Innovation, Invention, and Ideas
• The Seven Step Strategy for Searching Patents
• IBM's Patent Site IBM offers access to 26 years of patent descriptions and the last 23 years of patent images
• The Patent Portal The Patent Portal is an entry point for patent resources.

Patent & Trademark Search Tutorials and Search Aids

• Patent Search Tutorial from the Richard W. McKinney Library, University of Texas at Austin
• Patent Search Tutorial from the Science and Engineering Library, University of California, San Diego
• The Seven Step Strategy for Searching Patents
• Trademark Search Tutorial from the Richard W. McKinney Library, Universty of Texas at Austin

Trademark websites:

• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Access the Trademark Search database as well as information, forms, and trademark processing fee information.
• Basic Facts about registering a Trademark (USPTO brochure)
• Nolo Press Nolo Press is a leading publisher of self-help law books and software and their website has lots of information.
• Thomson & Thomson has been in the Trademark business for 75 years and they provide the database used by Dialog (Knight-Ridder) and other search companies.
• Identity Research Corp. A well-organized site that seeks to "education businesses on the importance of trademark issues and steps to take to secure trademark rights".
• Sunnyvale Center for Innovation, Invention, and Ideas A partnership Patent & Trademark Depository Library that offers expanded services, including trademark searches.
• International Trademark Association See their "Trademark Basics" and "Media Guide".
• American Trademark Company The ATC has a good "Trademark Reference Guide".
• American Trademark & Data Research

Inventor's groups and related links:

• The monthly meeting of the Inventors Association of South Central Kansas is held the last Monday evening of each month at the Wichita Public Library, 223 S. Main in Wichita. Please call Richard Friedenberger at 721-1866 or Evelyn Rust at 775-6060 for additional information.
• Wichita State University's Small Business Development Center the place to go to ask your business and marketing-related questions!
• Attorneys and Agents registered to practice before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (Kansas region)
• Inventor's Digest
• The Inventors World Magazine
• National Patent Association
• National Inventor Fraud Center, Inc. "helping inventors through education".
• "Can you really get a patent without a Lawyer?"
• Don't miss this interesting site from MIT about inventors!

Copyright-related websites

• U.S. Copyright Office (Library of Congress) You can telnet to the Copyright Office to do a copyright search; you'll need to remember locis.loc.gov. For help ask for Nan Myers in the Gov Docs Office.
• The Copyright Website A recommended site for additional copyright information.

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This site was updated on 11/17/99. For comments, please send an email to: Nan Myers