Patent Application Information Retrieval

The proceedings of reexaminations can be viewed on the USPTO s Public Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) web page. 

A U.S. provisional patent application is not published or becomes publicly available until a regularly filed application that claims priority to it is published. At the time the regular application is pubhshed, the file history then becomes available to the public, including any provisional applications from which the regular application claims priority. Electronic file histories for recent U.S. patent applications are available for free at the USPTO s website under the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) menu. 

In a further case relating to the structure of data stored on or in a record carrier used in a picture retrieval system, the European Patent Office s Boards of Appeal have considered the issue of patentability of a data structure [22]. Initially the patent application had been rejected on the grounds that the presentation of data was excluded from patentability (see above). However, in accepting an appeal filed by the patent applicant, the Board pointed out that there was a difference between the functional data, which controlled the technical working of the system, and the cognitive information, which represented the picture that could be retrieved and displayed. The Board stated that functional data relates to data that control the technical operation of the system. These data do not relate to the presentation of information, and thus data structures containing this information should be patentable. On the other hand, the cognitive information relates to the picture that could be retrieved and displayed. 

Information Retrieval (PAIR) status of pending U.S. published applications and granted U.S. patents and U.S. trademarks. 

Monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or yearly, you may have to compose or contribute to a written resesirch report. A well organized one effectively indexes your work, so it makes retrieving information easy. You ll find yourself consulting your own reports long afterward when you seek data for a patent application or a scientific publication. An old report will refresh your memory and so speed your efforts to contribute to the application or publication. Composing a research report sharpens your appreciation of your own work, even if you recently completed the job. It can point out omissions that you can rectify, foster fresh interpretations of old data, and thereby suggest new directions to take. Reviewing work done several weeks or months ago prepares you to appraise your own performance, which you may do once or twice a year. 

It would require a Herculean effort to prepare a complete discussion and review of every report related to the synthesis, reaction, or application of an oxazole while tabulating every oxazole, oxazolone, oxazoline, and chiral bis(oxazoline) prepared and evaluated during the period of 1983-2001. Such an undertaking is beyond the scope of this review. Furthermore, the ease with which electronic databases, including the patent literature, can be searched, the data retrieved, and the information tabulated would render such a project somewhat redundant. 

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