[LINK] Google Patent Search

[Roger Clarke]

[Comments at bottom]

>Search Google Patent Search... for Google Patents
>12/14/2006 10:45:44 AM, by Eric Bangeman
>http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061214-8419.html
>
>Google has expanded the scope of its search activities once again 
>with the beta launch of Google Patent Search. The patent search 
>engine allows users to search through the full text of over 7 
>million patents issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office and 
>works much like Google's Book Search.
>The interface itself is clean and spartan, like Google's other 
>products. Users can type in a patent number or any other search term 
>and are presented with a list of responses like any other search. An 
>advanced search link offers the ability to search by inventor's 
>name, assignee, date filed, date granted, and other critera.
>Searches of older patents like this 1894 patent for a trawl-line 
>will turn up an image of the original patent text along with 
>relevant drawings. More recent filings, such as this 2001 patent for 
>welding equipment return text abstracts and descriptions along with 
>any images included with the patent filing. Users can scroll through 
>pages and zoom in just as they can using Google Book Search.
>
>Ironically, Google Patent Search didn't turn up any results for 
>Patent D533561, which was just granted on December 12. Patent 
>D533561 is for a "Graphical User Interface" describing the various 
>results page layouts for Google searches. The patent is limited to 
>design, meaning that it covers the look and feel of Google's those 
>pages, not how the search engine works.
>Are we going to hear sighs of relief from the thousands of patent 
>attorneys and other intellectual property specialists who are 
>grateful to have an alternative to the US Patent and Trademark 
>Office's cumbersome interface? Not yet, says Raymond Zenkich, a 
>partner at IP consulting firm Red Chalk Group. "The interface is 
>nice when you click through to a patent," Zenkich told Ars. "They've 
>got the lowest common denominator, and it's free, but it's not quite 
>where it needs to be for professionals in the industry."
>On the other hand, fee-based patent search engines such as Delphion 
>and MicroPatent may find themselves alarmed by Google Patent Search. 
>"The core part of their offering is now free," noted Zenkich. 
>"Google does not yet have the other value-added offerings that the 
>fee-based engines provide, but the alarm bells are certainly going 
>off."


[Readily-available free-text across the USPTO patents database is handy.

[But:
-   there are lots of other patents databases
-   free-text search is only a fraction of what's needed.  Patent research
     is one of the most awkward of all 'semantic search' problems

-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/

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Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW