Author Archives: mjwhitekingston

Plant Patent Article in Gardening Newsletter

Posted on June 18, 2007 by mjwhitekingston

Plant patents don’t usually get much attention in the news, so I was delighted to see a short well-written article on plant patents in the June 2007 issue of Lee Valley & Veritas gardening newsletter. Lee Valley & Veritas is … Continue reading →

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Italian Design and Patents

Posted on June 17, 2007 by mjwhitekingston

Italian designer Gianfranco Ferre died yesterday from an apparent massive brain hemorrhage. He was 62. He achieved international fame during his career at Christian Dior, where he was top designer from 1989-1996. Fashion designers work in the space between art … Continue reading →

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PCT Publication Date Changes – May 17, Sept. 7, Dec. 21

Posted on May 25, 2007 by mjwhitekingston

According to the WIPO, official holidays in Switzerland this year will delay the date of publication for PCT applications as follows: Ascension: Thursday May 17, 2007 – Publication date: Friday, May 18, 2007 Jeune Genevois: Thursday, September 6, 2007 – … Continue reading →

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Searching 19th Century Patents

Posted on May 22, 2007 by mjwhitekingston

During a recent visit to the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, I snapped this photo of a handsome iron matchbox on display in the museum’s 19th century general store. The cover is embossed with a hunting scene… a dog carrying a … Continue reading →

Posted in 19th century patents, Date of Issue | 2 Comments

U.S. Patent Counts – Jan-Mar 2007

Posted on May 8, 2007 by mjwhitekingston

The USPTO issued 47,332 patents in Q1 of 2007, a 5.9% increase over the same period a year ago but only a tiny increase over the previous quarter. Published applications (PGPubs) were also up 5.9% over a year ago, reaching … Continue reading →

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Patents Key to Reducing Poverty?

Posted on May 2, 2007 by mjwhitekingston

Two recent studies suggest that patents have a key role to play in raising state per capita incomes and overcoming persistent poverty. A working paper published almost a year ago by two staffers of the Federal Bank of Cleveland and … Continue reading →

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World’s Most Prolific Inventor: Who is Shunpei Yamazaki?

Posted on April 12, 2007 by mjwhitekingston

Last night’s Final Jeopardy! answer was “Shunpei Yamazaki”, an inventor who holds more than 3,200 patents, a world record. According to the USPTO web site, Yamazaki has 1,688 issued U.S. patents and 1,261 published applications. A search in Patent Lens, … Continue reading →

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Withdrawn Patents on FreePatentsOnline

Posted on April 3, 2007 by mjwhitekingston

Withdrawn patent data is now searchable on FreePatentsOnline. Withdrawn patents may be retrieved by searching the term “withdrawn” in the title field. This search retrieves approximately 22,600 withdrawn patents, the oldest being No. 4,246,372, withdrawn in 1981. Allowed U.S. patent … Continue reading →

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Patent Lens Adds Predicted Expiry Date for US Patents

Posted on March 15, 2007 by mjwhitekingston

Patent Lens, a public patent database containing more than 6 million US, EP and WO patent documents, now allows searchers to limit searches by the predicted expiry date for granted US patents. The date is displayed in the body of … Continue reading →

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Worth Repeating: PatentScope Graphics

Posted on March 15, 2007 by mjwhitekingston

This week the WIPO formally announced the newest feature in its PatentScope database: the ability to display search results in graphic format. The tool has been available in beta version for several months. The tool converts search results into four … Continue reading →

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