Brown & Michaels

Information on PATENTS

Patent Basics

Frequently Asked Questions about Patents
Frequently Asked Questions about Provisional Applications
Representative Patents - We're proud of our clients - here are some of their inventions.
How much will it cost? Look at our Budget Estimator and listing of Patent Office fees
How Long will it take? Our Patenting Timeline sets out important dates in the life of a patent
"How do I..." - a collection of "how to" pages on patents - how to read a patent, how to understand an Office Action, a Patent Glossary, etc.

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)

The PCT allows you to delay your time to file in many (if not most) foreign countries. We have a collection of pages explaining the PCT:

Description
Latest Updates
Complete Country List
List of countries not in the PCT, with addresses of their patent offices.

For Inventors...

Get your invention down on paper - download our: Invention Disclosure Form
Invention Promoters: I've seen their ads on TV and heard them on radio - what about those Invention Marketing Companies? Are they for real? (hint - the answer is "no". Read the page to find out why)
I've got a great idea... what next?

Just for Fun

"It seemed like a good idea at the time"- our popular Weird and Wonderful Patents page.
Test your Patent IQ: take our Patent Quiz

Patent Links

Patent Databases (offsite links)
- USPTO patent databases - issued US patents and published applications (keyword searchable for patents after 1976 and all published applications)
- Google Patents (beta) - US patents, keyword searchable back to 1789, in theory (in practice, the OCR process for older patents can be unreliable)
- Delphion (formerly IBM)(subscription required) - US, PCT, Japanese and European patents
- Espacenet - the European Patent Office database - patents from many countries
- Depatis - German Patent Office database - patents from many countries
- Canadian (CIPO) patent database
- Japanese patent databases
- List of standard data codes on printed patents (INID codes)
More Information on Patents:
Our page of links to Other Intellectual Property Resources
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)'s own website
Official Gazette of the USPTO listing recently issued patents (offsite link)

Home || Intellectual Property || Patents || Trademarks || Copyrights

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400 M & T Bank Building
118 North Tioga Street - The Commons
Ithaca, NY 14850
Phone: (607) 256-2000 · Fax: (607) 256-3628
e-mail: bpm@bpmlegal.com