What is the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)? I will give you a brief overview and then show you how to search for patents and trademarks, how you can inspect the online files – all the correspondence with the USPTO for each published patent and trademark – and how to file patents and trademarks online. The United States Patent and Trademark Office is located in Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington D.C. and is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Inventors and companies can protect their intellectual property rights like patents, trademarks and designs by filing the corresponding application with the USPTO. http://www.uspto.gov/ The Patent Act of 1836 created the first official Patent Office in the US – more than 50 years after the first patent was handsigned by then president George Washington in 1790. Today, the USPTO has over 12,000 employees and receives over 600,000 patent applications and more than 500,000 trademark applications each year. http://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USPTOFY15PAR.pdf So, what can you do on the website: You can search for patents: you hover over "Patents", then click on "Patent Search", and then you click on "USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database": http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html If you choose "Basic Search", you can choose the field, e.g. "Inventor Name", type in any name and then get a list of all patents, where this person was inventor. Make sure to use a semicolon between the last and the first name. You can search for trademarks: you hover over "Trademarks" and then click on "Searching Trademarks". Then you click on the link "Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)". In the basic search you can enter any trademark name and it will show you all trademarks with that name: http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=login&p;_lang=english&p;_d=trmk You can inspect the online file, i.e. the whole correspondence between the USPTO and the applicants by searching for a trademark as described above and then clicking on TSDR or directly going to http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/check-status-view-documents The same can be done for patents here: http://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair You can file patents online here http://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/applying-online/about-efs-web And you can file trademarks online here: http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/filing-online However, I strongly suggest that you enlist the help of a patent attorney or trademark attorney to help you with filing these IP rights. About Rolf Claessen Rolf is partner of IP boutique law firm Freischem. The firm is managing about 4500 trademarks and 6500 patents and patent applications for mostly domestic medium sized clients in Germany in many technical fields. The focus of his practice is the prosecution of trademarks and patents and other intellectual property rights. His expertise in patent prosecution encompasses a deep understanding of patent law, prior art searches, prosecuting patent applications, patent drafting, opposition and defending against competitors. With the team at Freischem, he strives to be the external IP department for many medium sized companies. Rolf has been included in the Patent 1000 rankings of the IAM magazine ever since 2013. And he is included in the WTR1000 ranking in 2015. He is a prolific writer mostly writing for law journals such as GRUR or IP Rechtsberater. He is host of his two podcasts Markenpod and IP Fridays. Rolf is also volunteering his time in the worldwide volunteer organization Junior Chamber International (JCI), where he served as executive congress director for the JCI World Congress 2014 in Germany. He enjoys spending at least the weekends with his three kids and his wife. Rolf wishes to have more time for hobbies like sailing. Contact Rolf at Dr. Rolf Claessen Patent Attorneys Freischem Salierring 47 - 53 (12th floor) D-50677 Cologne Germany Telephone: +49 (221) 270 5770 Facsimile: +49 (221) 27057710 http://www.freischem.eu Legalese and Disclaimer You have been watching a video by Rolf Claessen. The views expressed by the participants of this program are their own and do not represent the views of nor are they endorsed by their respective law firms. None of the content should be considered legal advice. This video should not be construed as legal advice or legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances. The contents of this video are intended for general informational purposes only and you are urged to consult your own patent attorney on any specific legal questions. As always, consult a patent attorney.

• published: 21 Jan 2016
• views: 17