Entrepreneurship

Key Intellectual Property Concepts

Patent: Protects an invention

Copyright: Protects an original artistic or literary work

Trademark: A "word, phrase, symbol or design...that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others"

JHU Technologies

JHU Technology Ventures Office

  • Oversees sponsored projects, including contracts, grants and funding opportunities
  • Provides administrative support and resources for JHU researchers, on issues such as compliance, policies and regulations, funding, forms, training and technology transfer
  • Manages a database of JHU technologies and inventions

 

Your Librarians

Social Sciences Librarian

Jim Gillispie 
jeg@jhu.edu
(410) 516-8435

Science and Engineering Librarians

Susan Vazakas 
svazakas@jhu.edu

(410) 516-4153

Stephen Stich 
sstich@jhu.edu

(410) 516-8357

Business Librarians

Email:
businesslib@lists.jh.edu

 

Tutorials

Patent searching is something of an art form.  To do it well, you must be patient, methodical and creative. It's not like doing a Google search, so allow yourself time. View these tutorials before you begin.

Patent Databases

Use these patent databases to protect your ongoing work, discover the latest technological advances, monitor competitors’ progress, and formulate fresh ideas for research.

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

Patents:

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) web site is a good place to learn about patents and the office's mission and activities. Search the full text of patents since Jan 1, 1976. Patents issued from 1790 through 1975 are searchable only by patent number and current U.S. classifications. Page images are available back to 1790.

Trademarks:

The USPTO now offers web access to selected information from its internal trademark database, particularly the trademark data currently available on two of PTO's Cassis CD-Rom products: Trademarks Registered and Trademarks Pending. The text will be updated on a two-month cycle. Images will be added as they become available.

Web Sites

General:

FreshPatents
Find the latest published applications before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) grants or denies them.

Google Patents 
Search over seven million patents through Google's patent search. Use Advanced Search (under Settings) to search by assignee, inventor, or other criteria.

PAT2PDF
Tool for quickly retrieving and downloading particular patents from the USPTO. If you have a patent number, enter it to get a scanned copy of the patent.

Yahoo
Explore these patent and intellectual property resources through Yahoo.

Additional Foreign Patent Resources:

Espacenet
Through this worldwide patent information service from the European Patent Office, freely a
ccess more than 70 million patent documents from over 90 countries for information about inventions and technical developments from 1836 to the present.

Japanese Patents (PAJ)
Your gateway to Japanese patents and trademarks.

United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is the official UK government body responsible for intellectual property (IP) rights including patents, designs, trade marks and copyright.

Articles

To find journal, magazine, or newspaper articles or other publications about patents and trademarks and surrounding issues, use these databases: