JD: Is it possible for the general public to search USPTO records by the name of a law firm? On a few systems, I see “attorney name” as an operator, but I can’t find anything that lets you search by the law firm name.
Yes, you can do that at the USPTO Patent Center. Let me walk you through it.
First, go to the USPTO Patent Center and click on the home page. They recently updated this about a year ago. From the Patent Center, go to the “Patents” dropdown menu and select “Search” under “Patent Public Search.” Then, do a basic search.
For example, if I want to find recent patents issued by Bold Patents, our firm, you would go to the dropdown menu and select “Attorney/Agent/Firm.” It’s a bit odd how they’ve set this up because they only allow one-word entries. So, you have to put in “Attorney/Agent Bold” and “Attorney/Agent Firm IP” for intellectual property, then hit search.
It looks like they’re having some network issues at the moment. Ah, classic. Well, once you do that, you’ll be able to search and find the results using their system.
Okay, it looks like it’s starting to work now. Nice. Here are some of our patents: Fishing Lure Systems, a Method for Verifying User Identification, Shoe Insert, Zipper Charms. These are some of the recent patents that have been issued in the past couple of months. You can see the date, the inventor’s name, and the title of the invention.
From this screen, you can actually see the filing and do a quick preview, which is unique. The site has improved a lot. You can also download the whole PDF right here.