Sunday, July 4, 2010

Using the PTO’s Patent Classification System – Online Patent Searching Made Easy

If you are planning on performing online patent searches to see if your new product idea has already been patented, or for a variety of other possible reasons, then you should familiarize yourself with the USPTO’s (United States Patent and Trademark Office) patent classification system.


Statutory Classes

Congress established five classes for patents
• process or method
• machine
• article of manufacture
• Composition
• “New use” of one of the four previous classes.

In order for your invention to be patentable it must fall into one of the statutory classes. It may fall into more than one class since there is some overlap in the classes.

Processes

A process is a way of doing something or making something. A process has one or more steps that describe an activity or the manipulation of a real physical object. Some examples of patentable processes or methods are specific chemical reactions that create a real physical change in something, heat treating, some type of software as long as produces a useful tangible result, and even methods of doing business.


Machines

A machine is an object or device that is used for accomplishing a task. Often software is considered a machine and a process. It isn’t too important which statutory class is used, as long as your invention fits under at least one statutory class.

Articles of Manufacture

Articles of manufacture, more often referred to as “manufactures”, are as one would expect, things made by human hands or by a machine. You can’t patent things like rocks, mice, or wood. Manufactures are simple objects that don’t usually have moving parts as an important feature.

Examples of manufactures would include such things as picture frames, cigarette lighters, chairs, tools, wigs, etc.

Compositions
Compositions are typically homogeneous chemical compositions whose chemical nature is of primary importance and whose shape is of secondary importance. Examples of compositions are asphalt, gasoline, paper, soap, plastics, and the like.

Some naturally occurring things do get patents such as medicine extracted from herbs, and chicken eggs with high levels of vitamin E (U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,717).


New Uses of the Previous Four

New-use inventions are fairly rare. You need to discover a new use for something old. It must be a non-related function. For example, if you discover that your can opener can be used to remove weld spatter from a work piece then you can patent that.


Arranged by subject matter

The USPTO arranges patents by grouping them together by subject matter. Examples of some classification titles included with their class numbers include: amusement devices (472), bearings (384), buckles, buttons, clasps, etc (24), earth working (172), pumps (417), all the way to x-ray or gamma ray systems or devices (378). Each class has sub-classes.

Search the USPTO database using the classifications

The USPTO website has listings of the classifications by class numbers & titles and by numbers only. You can browse through the titles and find the class you are looking for and then go directly to the list of inventions within that class. It’s all pretty easy.

As an example, since I am currently developing a selective asparagus harvester lets suppose I wanted to see what other asparagus harvester patents I will have to deal with when I write up my patent application.

Using the USPTO patent classification system

First I go to the USPTO website home page and at the top of the page I click on “Patents”, which takes me to a page with a box of links on the left side. I click on “Resources and Guidance” which opens a submenu. Next I click on “Patent Classification in the submenu and on the right there is a long list of links.

You should probably browse around and check out some of the information available on the site including the “Handbook of Classification, “Classification Definitions, Patent” , and “Classification Index, Patents”. There is a lot of good information and everything you need to know about patent classifications.


Doing the search

I will now click on the link “Classification Index, Patents” to go checkout asparagus harvester patents. I am presented with the alphabet and I click on “A” for asparagus. This presents me with a list of the classes with the corresponding number on the right. The class numbers on the right are links.

I scroll down and low and behold, nestled between “Ash” and “Asphalt” is “Asparagus Harvester” Class 56 / 327.2. I click on the “56”and another giant list appears. Here are the titles of all of the patents under Class 56 which is actually “Harvesters”.

At this point you I scan down the list looking for anything that looks like it may be similar to my invention. When I find something interesting I can click on a link at the left which instantly brings up a list of the actual patents. Then I can click on any interesting looking patents and see the actual patent, and of course study it in detail.

After an hour or so of practice you will be able to do an effective online patent search. There are some limitations to the online patent searching. The full text patents only go back as far as 1976 and you won’t find foreign patents.

If you are really serious about patenting your new invention idea and binging a new product to market I highly recommend you get a good book about patents and related topics.

One of my favorite books on the subject is “ Patent It Yourself” by David Pressman. It provides you with a clear understanding of not only how patents work, but also covers other intellectual property rights such as trade marks, trade secrets, copyrights, licensing, etc. and how they apply to your invention. It’s quite comprehensive and well worth the price if you want to be a serious inventor. If you are planning on performing online patent searches to see if your new product idea has already been patented, or for a variety of other possible reasons, then you should familiarize yourself with the USPTO’s (United States Patent and Trademark Office) patent classification system.


Statutory Classes

Congress established five classes for patents
• process or method
• machine
• article of manufacture
• Composition
• “New use” of one of the four previous classes.

In order for your invention to be patentable it must fall into one of the statutory classes. It may fall into more than one class since there is some overlap in the classes.

Processes

A process is a way of doing something or making something. A process has one or more steps that describe an activity or the manipulation of a real physical object. Some examples of patentable processes or methods are specific chemical reactions that create a real physical change in something, heat treating, some type of software as long as produces a useful tangible result, and even methods of doing business.


Machines

A machine is an object or device that is used for accomplishing a task. Often software is considered a machine and a process. It isn’t too important which statutory class is used, as long as your invention fits under at least one statutory class.

Articles of Manufacture

Articles of manufacture, more often referred to as “manufactures”, are as one would expect, things made by human hands or by a machine. You can’t patent things like rocks, mice, or wood. Manufactures are simple objects that don’t usually have moving parts as an important feature.

Examples of manufactures would include such things as picture frames, cigarette lighters, chairs, tools, wigs, etc.

Compositions
Compositions are typically homogeneous chemical compositions whose chemical nature is of primary importance and whose shape is of secondary importance. Examples of compositions are asphalt, gasoline, paper, soap, plastics, and the like.

Some naturally occurring things do get patents such as medicine extracted from herbs, and chicken eggs with high levels of vitamin E (U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,717).


New Uses of the Previous Four

New-use inventions are fairly rare. You need to discover a new use for something old. It must be a non-related function. For example, if you discover that your can opener can be used to remove weld spatter from a work piece then you can patent that.


Arranged by subject matter

The USPTO arranges patents by grouping them together by subject matter. Examples of some classification titles included with their class numbers include: amusement devices (472), bearings (384), buckles, buttons, clasps, etc (24), earth working (172), pumps (417), all the way to x-ray or gamma ray systems or devices (378). Each class has sub-classes.

Search the USPTO database using the classifications

The USPTO website has listings of the classifications by class numbers & titles and by numbers only. You can browse through the titles and find the class you are looking for and then go directly to the list of inventions within that class. It’s all pretty easy.

As an example, since I am currently developing a selective asparagus harvester lets suppose I wanted to see what other asparagus harvester patents I will have to deal with when I write up my patent application.

Using the USPTO patent classification system

First I go to the USPTO website home page and at the top of the page I click on “Patents”, which takes me to a page with a box of links on the left side. I click on “Resources and Guidance” which opens a submenu. Next I click on “Patent Classification in the submenu and on the right there is a long list of links.

You should probably browse around and check out some of the information available on the site including the “Handbook of Classification, “Classification Definitions, Patent” , and “Classification Index, Patents”. There is a lot of good information and everything you need to know about patent classifications.


Doing the search

I will now click on the link “Classification Index, Patents” to go checkout asparagus harvester patents. I am presented with the alphabet and I click on “A” for asparagus. This presents me with a list of the classes with the corresponding number on the right. The class numbers on the right are links.

I scroll down and low and behold, nestled between “Ash” and “Asphalt” is “Asparagus Harvester” Class 56 / 327.2. I click on the “56”and another giant list appears. Here are the titles of all of the patents under Class 56 which is actually “Harvesters”.

At this point you I scan down the list looking for anything that looks like it may be similar to my invention. When I find something interesting I can click on a link at the left which instantly brings up a list of the actual patents. Then I can click on any interesting looking patents and see the actual patent, and of course study it in detail.

After an hour or so of practice you will be able to do an effective online patent search. There are some limitations to the online patent searching. The full text patents only go back as far as 1976 and you won’t find foreign patents.

If you are really serious about patenting your new invention idea and bringing a new product to market I highly recommend you get a good book about patents and related topics.

One of my favorite books on the subject is “ Patent It Yourself” by David Pressman. It provides you with a clear understanding of not only how patents work, but also covers other intellectual property rights such as trade marks, trade secrets, copyrights, licensing, etc. and how they apply to your invention. It’s quite comprehensive and well worth the price if you want to be a serious inventor.
Patent It Yourself: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Filing at the U.S. Patent Office
Happy hunting!