2. New research initiatives being developed in institutions,
universities and organizations
◦ Drexel no exception
◦ Multidisciplinary Fields: Nanoscience, Medical Robotics,
Plasma Medicine, Biology, Biomaterials, Tissue
Engineering, Translational Research and many more
◦ More research being done and more expected
Huge potentials for innovation
◦ Patents and Intellectual Property Implications
Increased need for faculty and students to learn about
inventions
3. What is a patent?
◦ “A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to
the inventor.”
Patent Granting Institutions:
◦ US Patent and Trademark Office
◦ Canadian Intellectual Property Office
◦ European Patent Office
◦ China Patent & Trademark Office
◦ Japan Patent Office
◦ and many others…
4. IP scene at Drexel encompassing many
subject areas
Engineering, Sciences, and College of
Medicine, etc.
Interdisciplinary focus - (Nanotechnology,
Biomaterials, Chemistry, Bionanotechnology)
Graduate and Undergraduate Research
5. Drexel, Penn and Ben Franklin partners
form the Nanotechnology Institute in 2000
◦ Facilitate commercialization of IP discoveries by
NTI –member institutions
◦ NTI accelerates regional economic development
by connecting industry with university assets
◦ Vision for region’s economic growth as new
technologies emerge in the marketplace
◦ Implications of research and courses being taught
at Drexel
◦ Need to increase awareness of patents and patent
searching is growing fast
The Office of Technology Commercialization at
Drexel
6.
7.
8. Challenges
◦ Interdisciplinary Field
◦ Diverse Student Background
◦ Interdisciplinary – students needs understanding
of those subject areas
◦ Patent searching and understanding necessary
Need for learning about basics of patent searching
crucial
Engaged learning through class assignments (an
example of integrated learning)
9. A successfully completed project must include (over
the two terms) detailed design/response to: ..
What are the current state of the art available
solutions?
What is the impact on the medical workflow of the
system?
What are the challenges in introducing the
solution to the market?
What are the drawbacks of the proposed solution?
What is the Intellectual Property (IP) landscape for
the proposed system?
What is IP protectable design of the system?
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16. ◦ What is a USPC classification schedule?
System using a 3 digit class. Subclass is a number up to 6 digits -last
three digits are decimal places.
See http://www.intellogist.com/wiki/US_Patent_Classification_System
Similar grouping of patent art.
A single invention in multiple classification codes (U.S. Patent
Classification Code)
For example, 318/568.21 ; 318/560; 318/567; 318/568.1;
318/568.11; 318/568.2
◦ See Classification Help
and Glossary
◦ How does classification help in searching for patents?
17.
18. Keyword searching problematic
◦ Searches locate words not concepts
◦ Difficult to search all the terms representing a
concept
◦ Language issues
◦ International databases miss non-English
documents (using only English keywords)
◦ USPC – 470 classes, app. 150,000 subclasses
19. United States Patent 8,541,970
Software center and highly configurable robotic systems for surgery
and other uses .
Current U.S. class: 318/568.21 ; 318/560; 318/567; 318/568.1;
318/568.11; 318/568.2
http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/uspc318/sched318.htm
Class 318: ELECTRICITY: MOTIVE POWER SYSTEMS
Subclass 568.21 ….Including end effector (e.g., gripping jaw, micromanipulator,
etc.)
Clicking on ‘P’ retrieves all patents for class 424 subclass 9.1.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31. Find one patent using class 977/774.
◦ What is the title of the patent you found?
◦ What type of patents are we going to find in this
class/subclass combination?
◦ Find a patent on “Quantum Dots’?
◦ What is the patent application number? When was
this patent filed?
◦ What other classes/subclasses your patent
recommends for additional references?
◦ What is the Current International Class for this
patent?
32. For more information:
Patents, FDA approved medical devices and Intellectual
Property
(Search in Library Website using keyword - patents
Classification
http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/index.htm
World Intellectual Property Organization – International Patent
Classification - http://www.wipo.int/wipogold/en/
Questions: Jay Bhatt, Liaison Librarian for Engineering
bhattjj@drexel.edu
Notas del editor
Web 2.0 tools are effective ways to share, generate and distribute knowledge among researchers – shared communicationStephen Abrams thinks that Web 2.0 is “about a much higher level of interactivity and deeper user experiences…”Potential for more academic and research based collaborations
Something that will be useful to you when you're researching your design project is patent searching. Literally millions of inventions have been patented through the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). You will probably find it very valuable to see what other designs are out there, similar to your project.