Author Archives: mjwhitekingston

Wikipedia References Increase

Posted on February 15, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

The Jan. 29 of CNET’s Buzz Report has a funny rant about Apple’s recently issued patent on a multi-touch graphical user interface. (US 7479949) Complaining about the USPTO’s examination practices, reporter Molly Wood cites examples of existing prior art on … Continue reading →

Posted in Patent references, Wikipedia | 11 Comments

Titles Added to Cited References in FPO

Posted on February 15, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

US patent records in FreePatentsOnline now display titles of cited US patent documents. This is a nice improvement since it provides more information about the reference without forcing you to leave the current document. Titles of cited references available in … Continue reading →

Posted in FreePatentsOnline, Patent references | 1 Comment

Inventor of TASER stun gun dies at age 88

Posted on February 15, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

Jack (John) Cover, inventor of the TASER stun gun used by thousands of police departments worldwide, has died at the age of 88. According to his obituary in the Washington Post, Cover, a former NASA scientist, invented the nonlethal device … Continue reading →

Posted in inventors, Jack Cover, TASER | 1 Comment

Top Inventor Receives 577 US Patents in 2008

Posted on February 12, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

The other rather surprising statistic in the Boliven Patents Top 25 Report for 2008 was number of patents secured by the top-ranked inventor, Kia Silverbrook, founder of Silverbrook Research, a private R&D firm based in Sydney, Australia that specializes in … Continue reading →

Posted in Boliven, inventors, Patent statistics, Silverbrook | 3 Comments

Chinese University Ranks 10 in US Patents

Posted on February 12, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

This week Boliven Patents released its first Top 25 Report for 2008. Some rather unexpected statistics caught my attention. The first was in the university assignees category. Not surprisingly, US schools dominated the list. The top five included the Univ. … Continue reading →

Posted in Patent statistics, universities | 1 Comment

Canadian Patents Database – Representative Drawings

Posted on February 10, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

The CIPO’s Canadian Patents Database now displays representative drawings in patent records. This is a great improvement as it allows searchers to immediately see drawings as they scan search results instead of requiring them to open up the drawing image … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Canadian Patents Database, CIPO | 1 Comment

New USPC Classification Orders: #1881-1884

Posted on February 10, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

The USPTO’s patent classification office has been busy the past few weeks. Four new classification orders (#s 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884) have been published since January 1, not including the one that I mentioned the other day that established Class … Continue reading →

Posted in classification orders, USPC | 1 Comment

New USPC Class: 850 – Scanning Probe Techniques or Apparatus

Posted on February 8, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

The USPTO has created a new USPC class for inventions related to devices that scan or probe at the nano-scale. The full title is Class 850, Scanning-probe techniques and apparatus; applications of scanning probe techniques, e.g. scanning probe microscopy (SPM). … Continue reading →

Posted in 850, classification orders, USPC | 1 Comment

Consolidated Glossary of USPC Terms

Posted on February 8, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

A new Consolidated Glossary of U.S. Patent Classification Terms is now available on the USPTO patent classification website. The glossary consists of a comprehensive list of terms taken from the classification definitions of the USPC. Terms are listed in alphabetical … Continue reading →

Posted in glossary of USPC terms, USPC | 1 Comment

New Patent Databse from Boliven

Posted on February 5, 2009 by mjwhitekingston

Boliven, a New York-based company, has launched a free patent database called Boliven Patents Beta. The database contains data and images for US patents from 1976 to present, EP documents from 1978 forward, WO applications from 1989 forward and JP … Continue reading →

Posted in Boliven, Patent databases | Leave a comment