Patents and Trademarks

This guide is designed to help patrons locate accurate, user-friendly information on patents and trademarks. Birmingham Public Library is a designated Patent and Trademark Resource Center. Trained staff members are available to assist you with your patent or trademark search Monday-Saturday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. Call 226-3665 for more information.

BOOKS and WEBSITES

General Info

• General information concerning patents

• Nolo's plain-English law dictionary

• Patent and trademark information : uses and perspectives

• Patent searching made easy

• Successful patents and patenting for engineers and scientists

• Trademark : legal care for your business & product name

• Trademarks, the fingerprints of commerce : an educational guide to understanding the importance of trademarks

African-American Inventors

• African American firsts in science & technology

• African-American Inventors of the 18th Century

• African-American Inventors II

• African-American Inventors III

• Black inventors in the age of segregation : Granville T. Woods, Lewis H. Latimer, and Shelby J. Davidson

• Created equal : the lives and ideas of Black American innovators

• The entrepreneurial spirit of African American inventors

• To fathom more : African American scientists and inventors

• The inventive spirit of African Americans : patented ingenuity

• The real McCoy : African-American invention and innovation, 1619-1930

Women Inventors

• Alabama Woman Stuck in NYC Traffic in 1902 Invented the Windshield Wiper

• Buttons to biotech : U.S. patenting by women, 1977 to 1996 : 1996 update report

• Feminine ingenuity : women and invention in America

• Patently female : from AZT to TV dinners : stories of women inventors and their breakthrough ideas

• Women inventors

LOCAL RESOURCES

• Alabama Inventors: Additional Resources

• Alabama Inventors Database

• Alabama Inventors Subject Guide

• Black History Month Highlight: Early Black Inventors

• Index of Black Inventors by State or Country of Residence, 1834-2008 (from the Illinois State Library)

• Patently Amazing: Finding your Family in Patent Records

• Patents as Genealogy Resources

• Patents Issued to Alabama Residents by the Confederate Patent Office

PATENT DATABASES/TUTORIALS

• Application Filing Guide, Design Patents

• Application Filing Guide, Utility Patents

• Attorneys and agents registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

• Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) System

• Espacenet (the European Patent Office)

• Free Patents Online

• Patent Public Search

• Patent Public Search Micro Tutorials

• Google Patents

• How to Conduct a Preliminary U.S. Patent Search: A Step by Step Strategy

• Index to the U.S. Patent Classification System

• List of National Patent Databases from the World Intellectual Property Organization

• Official Gazette for Patents

• Patent and Trademark Resource Centers

• A Patent Search Strategy: Keyword Semantics and Classification Searching

• The Seven Step Strategy

• Understanding "patentese" - A Patent Glossary

• United States Patent and Trademark Office

• U.S. Patent Classification Class Numbers and Titles

• Utility Patent Flow Chart

TRADEMARK DATABASES/TUTORIALS

• Alabama Secretary of State's Corporation Search

• Alabama Secretary of State's Trademark Database

• State Trademark Information

• Trademark Basics

• Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)

• Trademark Official Gazette

• The Trademark Process

INVESTORS ASSISTANCE CENTER (USPTO)

Inventors Assistance Center
The Inventors Assistance Center (IAC) provides patent information and services to the public. The IAC is staffed by former Supervisory Patent Examiners, experienced Primary Patent Examiners, various intellectual property specialists and attorneys who can answer general questions concerning patent examining policy and procedure.

TRADEMARK ASSISTANCE CENTER (USPTO)

Trademark Assistant Center
The Trademark Assistance Center (TAC) is the main support center for all customers, from first-time filers to legal professionals and experienced trademark applicants. We can answer your questions on a variety of trademark topics.