Boston Public Library
Patent, Trademark and Copyright Information

Government Information

United States Patent and Trademark Information

• United States Patent and Trademark Office sites:
  • Search Patents via USPTO
  • Search Trademarks via USPTO (TESS)
  • Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR)
  • Resources for Independent Inventors
  • Inventors Eye – US Patent Office electronic journal
• Google Patents (full text searching of US patents)
• PAT2PDF.ORG — This free site enables the user to download a pdf file of a patent and to search several patents simultaneously. It covers all numbered patents from 1838 to the present. The user must know the patent number in order to search this database.
• Free Patents Online

Foreign Patents and Trademarks

• Foreign Patents 1920-present via Esp@cenet
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office
• China State Intellectual Property Office
• Chinese Patent Information Center, patent translation service
• European Patent Office
• French National Institute of Intellectual Property
• German Patent Office (DPMA)
• Japan Patent Office
• Russian Agency for Patents (ROSPATENT)
• United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office
• World Intellectual Property Organization
• List of foreign patent holdings at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PDF)

Massachusetts

• Trademarks and Service Marks

Guides and Help

• BPL Full-Text Patent Holdings
• FAQ about Patents and Trademarks
• Guide to Patent Searching at the BPL
• Guide to Patent Searching (University of Texas)
• Guide to Trademark Searching at the BPL
• Introduction to Patent Searching (PDF)
• Invent Now
• Inventors Association of New England
• Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation — Smithsonian Institute
• Stop Fakes resource page — International Trade Administration, US Dept. of Commerce
• US Patent Full Text Database Help

Copyrights

• Library of Congress Copyright Information
• Search Copyrights
• Stanford University Copyright Renewal Database
• When US Works Pass Into the Public Domain

In Library Fees/Charges

Patrons coming to the library may search free of charge. There is a $0.15 per page charge for printing from the Internet or the Cassis Machine.  

Mail and Telephone Requests

Patents will be reproduced and mailed at $0.35 per page plus $1.00 handling fee and $1.50 mailing fee.

Boston Public Library — A United States Patent and Trademark Depository Library

The Boston Public Library has the largest patent collection in New England and this collection is housed in the Government Information Department. The collection includes U. S. patents from 1790 to the present, and British patents from 1617 to 1994, as well as patent and trademark journals. We have all the research materials to search U.S. patents and trademarks.