Skip to Main Content
Syracuse University Libraries

Engineering Management: Patents

Patent Tutorials & Search Strategy

Recommended Reading on Patents & IP

Basic Terminology

A few key definitions excerpted from the Oxford English Dictionary:

Patent

"...A licence conferring the sole right to manufacture, sell, or deal in a product or commodity; (now) spec. a licence from a government conferring for a set period the sole right to make, use, or sell some process or invention; a right conferred in this way."

Intellectual Property

"...A general name for property (such as patents, trademarks, and copyright material) which is the product of invention or creativity, and which does not exist in a tangible, physical form."

License

"...To give (a person) permission to (do something)."

Trademark

"...A mark (secured by legal registration or, in some countries, established by use) used by a manufacturer or trader to distinguish his goods from similar wares of other firms; usually a distinctive device or figure, a fancy name or trade name, or the name of an individual or firm, marked or impressed on the article or upon the package, etc., in or with which it is sold."

Patent Search Guidance

Receive expert patent searching strategies and guidance with conducting a patent search from the Syracuse University College of Law Innovation Law Center (ILC) in collaboration with the Blackstone LaunchPad at Syracuse University Libraries. For more information, email LaunchPad@syr.edu.

Patent Search Tools

These tools allow you to do quick, keyword, searches for patents. You can also search by inventor and assignee (the person or company that holds the rights to that patent).

Classification Searching

Patent classification is a way the that patent examiners arrange documents according to the patent's technical features. Classification searching allows searchers to quickly find a document disclosing the invention identical or similar to the invention for which a patent is claimed. Patents may have more than one classification.

Additional Databases

These databases that you may already be using also include patents:

Trademarks

Below are a few resources recommended by the above article when conducting a trademark search:

Business, Management, and Entrepreneurship Librarian

Profile Photo
Stephanie JH McReynolds
she/her/hers
Contact:
*Online meetings are 25 minutes. If you would like more time, you can schedule two meetings in a row.

**If none of the online meeting times or office hours work for you and you would like to schedule a meeting, or if you simply want to email a question, please do email me. I will reply to your email as soon as possible, usually that same business day. However, if my schedule is especially busy that week, it may take one or two business days to receive a reply. If you would like immediate assistance from a library staff person, especially if it is after "business hours," consider using SU Libraries' Get Help options, which include a 24/7 chat service.

Office Hours: Drop in to in-person office hours at the Whitman School of Management and the Blackstone LaunchPad to ask questions, learn about business research resources, or just say "Hi!"

Whitman Office Hours Tuesdays, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
Whitman (table by the main entrance on the first floor)
Note: Last day for Whitman office hours will be April 25.

LaunchPad Office Hours Wednesdays, 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm
Blackstone LaunchPad (on the first floor of Bird Library)
Note: No LaunchPad Office Hours on March 22. Last day for LaunchPad office hours will be April 26.