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.
- Guide to Patent SearchingFrom the University of Michigan Library.
- Understanding Intellectual PropertyStreaming Video Introduction to Managing Intellectual Property (from the Films On Demand collection).
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.
- Derwent Innovations IndexOver 14,800,000 national and international patents with links to cited and citing patents, cited articles, and full-text patent data sources. Search by topic, inventor and assignee, and analyze results accordingly. Offers comprehensive overview of inventions in the global marketplace in these categories: chemical, electrical, electronic, and mechanical engineering. Patent coverage back to 1963; citations to 1973
- Nexis UniClick on Search by Subject or Topic menu to search the Patents section under Legal, or do a company search for profiles which contain an Intellectual Property section. Provides patent searching back to 1790. Text available but no diagrams. Includes some European and Japanese patents.
- Cortellis Competitive IntelligenceUse this database from Clarivate Analytics to track over 60,000 individual drugs throughout their development cycle. Generate reports and visualizations on patent filings, companies & universities, clinical trial stages, and funding deals—searchable by disease, process, drug characteristics, developer, location of developing entity, etc. View the extensive collection of research reports, conference presentations, and upcoming conference previews. Access through SSO (single sign-on) with your JHU ID/password.
- ReaxysElsevier's web-based search and retrieval system for chemical compounds, chemical reactions, chemical properties, related bibliographic data, and substance data with synthesis planning information. It replaces Beilstein Crossfire and Gmelin Crossfire. Chemical patent literature and associated properties are also included.
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 access 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:
- ABI INFORM CollectionSearch worldwide business periodicals for in-depth coverage of business and economic conditions, management techniques, theory, and practice of business, advertising, marketing, economics, human resources, finance, entrepreneurship, computers, and related topics.
- AgricolaAGRICOLA includes over 3.5 million citations to material acquired by the National Agricultural Library and cooperating institutions. AGRICOLA abstracts articles, audiovisual materials, books, book chapters, computer databases and software, maps, manuscripts, serials, and sound recordings.
- CompendexCompendex is the most comprehensive interdisciplinary engineering database in the world with over 9 million records referencing 5,000 engineering journals and conference materials dating from 1884.
- Lexis-Nexis AcademicContains the full text of articles from law journals, wire services, country economic reports, government publications, magazines, newspapers, news digests, and industry-specific newsletters and periodicals.
- PAISThe PAIS International database contains references to more than 460,000 journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and other publications. Newspapers and newsletters are not indexed.
- Scifinder WebSciFinder is the online version of Chemical Abstracts, covering more than 52 million compounds. SciFinder sources include journals, patents, conference proceedings, dissertations, technical reports and books.
You can include the contents of MEDLINE and OLD MEDLINE in searches. Years covered include 1907 to the present, plus selected pre-1907 items. Search options include topic, author, CAS registry number, patent number, CAS abstract number, chemical name, chemical structure, or molecular formula.
Access to SciFinder is limited to those directly associated with Johns Hopkins Institutions. Users must have current JHED credentials (Johns Hopkins Enterprise Directory) and have a Johns Hopkins issued email address. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory is excluded from this license and has separate site license. All users must first register and create their own account, using a Johns Hopkins issued email address. - ScopusScopus is an abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed research literature, indexing over 19,000 titles from more than 5,000 international publishers. Scopus covers the scientific, technical, medical and social sciences fields as well as arts and humanities. Scopus includes scholarly journals, book series, conference proceedings, trade publications and Open Access journals.