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Inventors alert: You can search patents and trademarks via University Libraries

February 1, 2007

Did you know that the University of Nevada, Reno Libraries is an official Patent & Trademark Depository Library? Since 1983, they have helped inventors, business people, entrepreneurs and others in Nevada find what they need to know about patents and trademarks.

A official depository receives and houses copies of U.S. patents and patent and trademark materials, making them freely available to the public, and actively disseminates patent and trademark information.

The University's  patent and trademark collection and services are situated in the Business & Government Information Center on the 2nd floor of Getchell Library. There, visitors can avail themselves of the following services:

• High-resolution images of all U.S. patents from 1790 to the present on a set of DVDs. The image files may be exported or printed.
• Scanned images of all U.S.-registered trademarks on DVD, including expired registrations.
• Search capability for U.S., European, and Japanese patents in the PubWEST database. PubWEST is available only in Patent & Trademark Depository Libraries. (Only two such libraries are in Nevada and only about 80 exist in the entire United States.)
• Staff assistance on how to formulate a search for prior art, a necessary step in preparing a patent application.
• A collection of current self-help literature on a variety of intellectual property-related topics, including patents, trademarks and copyright.

Nevada Inventors Database

The Business & Government Information Center has also produced the Nevada Inventors Database, which provides free, easy access to patents issued to Nevada inventors from the 1860s through 1926. This database will eventually cover patents issued through 1975.

Links in the database lead to scanned images of U.S. patents hosted on the website of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The Nevada Inventors Database is of interest to historians, genealogists, and other researchers.

Contact BGIC

You can contact the Business & Government Information Center at (775) 813-6496, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

For further information, go to Patent, Trademark & Copyright information on the University Libraries website, or the Nevada Inventors Database.

To read more IT Update columns, visit the Our Workplace Archives.