USPTO unveils new and improved patent search tool
USPTO unveils new and improved patent search tool
By David Schwartz
Published: September 30th, 2015
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently debuted a web-based
patent search tool that could help shed light on how inventions impact the
economy, and could also help TTOs dig for relevant IP.
The new site, Patents View, allows users to search four decades of patent
data by title, name of inventor and a range of other keywords. Charts and
graphs illustrate search results, and users can download large amounts of data
for in-depth analysis.
Using USPTO’s old patent search system, it might take someone hours or days
to piece together data that Patents View can now combine in seconds, according
to the agency.
“Our goal in this was to better understand how innovation functions and what
its impact is on the economy,” says Alan Marco, the agency’s chief economist.
“We’re happy when anyone can use it.”
Ideally, Marco adds, the system will be able to track what agency-funded
research led to patents, aggregate related patents in more sophisticated ways,
and create elaborate webs showing connections between inventors.
So far, USPTO has only received a small amount of feedback on Patents View,
and is hoping to hear more. “Where we’re going with it really is going to be in
large part where the community wants us to go,” Marco says.
Source: FedScoop