The U.S. Commerce Department's New Internet Patent and Trademarks Database

April 22, 1999

[Sen. Patrick Leahy has long encouraged the U.S. Department of Commerce to make patent and trademark information available online. Leahy, known as the "cyber senator" for his interest in Internet issues, successfully coauthored an amendment to the Omnibus Patent Act of 1997 that would have required the creation of computer networks to provide electronic access to patent information. That legislation, with the Leahy amendment, was never enacted, but the Commerce Department's new database unveiled Wednesday (www.uspto.gov) achieves the Leahy goal of universal electronic access to trademarks and patents. Leahy is the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over patent laws.]

"This proposal truly reinvents how the government does business and how business innovation can flourish with government's help. This online database will help erode some of the traditional barriers that have hindered business innovation in small, rural states like Vermont.

"The prior painstaking process of searching existing patents and trademarks was a timeconsuming frustration for inventors. This new system of instant online access to the entire patent application including the drawings will greatly promote innovation and technology by showing researchers what the current science is. With this new database, there are now two million complete patents online dating back to 1976 and one million trademarks dating back to 1870.

"Advancements in medicine, information technology, pharmaceuticals, transportation, environmental protection, manufacturing, agriculture, entertainment and countless other areas of science depend on patents. New inventions build on existing science, and existing science is now available to anyone with Internet access whether they live in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont or Nome, Alaska or Silicon Valley, California.

"This free Internet access changes the dynamic for American independent inventors and for corporate giants. I have supported and pushed this development for several years and am delighted that it is fully up and running. Citizens who simply want to learn more by browsing the Web, students doing school projects, independent inventors and corporate research departments now can search this vast database. More than 20 million pages of data comprise the patent database, as well as 100 years worth of marketing trademarks."