Learning Center

Prior Art Database Frequently Asked Questions

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Getting started

  • How do I get started?

    For individuals who wish to gain access to our system, there is no need to pre-register for use. You can click the new-user login which will connect you to the site as 'guest' and allow you to have access to the site's functionality. When you access a function that requires registration (for-fee services) for the first time, a registration will be automatically created and the registration information will be emailed to you.

    Corporate clients will most likely want to set up a corporate account with us in advance so as to take advantage of the additional options available to corporate clients, such as:

    • Sharing vouchers across numerous 'child' accounts
    • Multi-tiered access control for 'child' accounts
    • and more ... see our corporate packages page for more details

    What is the difference between guest and registered users?

    New users are automatically connected to the site as 'guest' users when clicking the 'new user' link from the home page. Guest users have full access to explore the system and use the search features as well as demonstrate the document publishing process. This is a great way to learn how to use our site or demonstrate its use.

    If you attempt to access any of the for-fee features of our web-site, such as downloading a document, purchasing a voucher, or publishing an actual disclosure, an account will be automatically created for you and you will be emailed the registration info.

    If I have an account, why shouldn't I just connect as a guest?

    If you have a registration with us, logging in lets the system know who you are. This allows us to present you with information associated with your user account, such as:

    • access to existing purchased vouchers
    • access to free documents for your user account
    • access to prior downloads and saved documents
    • easy access to your own publications

    If you have registered with the system, it is highly recommended that you log in with that registration information as opposed to connecting as guest. This will help prevent the accidental creation of multiple user accounts for the same person. If you create multiple accounts, there is no way to transfer purchases from one account to the other. The system will also refuse to create more than one account per email address from the web registration page. If you need to have multiple accounts, you may be interested in a corporate package instead.

Rates and Pricing

  • What are the rates/pricing?
    Publishing Vouchers
    # of Pubs Price/Pub Discount Total Cost
    1 $225 - $225

    Page Print Vouchers
    # of Pages Price/Page Discount Total Cost
    1 $45 - $45

    For volume discounts, please Contact us  or call +1.866.473.6826

  • Do you have special corporate packages?

    Corporate Packages

    IP.com offers special packages to our corporate clients in order to assist you in integrating our prior art publishing and searching services with your current workflow.

    We offer:

    • Shared vouchers for multiple users under the same parent account.
    • Multiple levels of user access control. Allow/deny specific functions to users.
      1. Search
      2. Publish
      3. Purchase
    • Even greater discounts for high-volume purchases
    • alternate payment methods (purchase orders, corporate billing)
    • Optional subscription-based download access (no more paying for individual downloads).
    • Optional subscriptions to The IP.com Journal.
    • Available telephone training session with IP.com training staff.

Publishing

  • Why publish?

    Patents are incredibly useful tools in that they give the inventor the right to exclude others from making, using or selling the patented invention. However, this exclusive right must be enforced. If someone is using an invention for which you have a patent, you can sue for infringement to reclaim damages, as well as force the offending party to stop. Unless you initiate the infringement proceedings (or the threat of infringement proceedings), there is nothing to make the offending party stop using your innovation. In essence, patents only have power if you are willing to stand up in court to defend them.

    The problem is that obtaining patents is not a trivial process. Legal fees, filing fees, maintenance fees, and lost time by your R&D staff can be quite costly. Spending this kind of money on a powerful innovation that can return hundreds or thousands of times the investment is clearly worth it. Yet, only a small portion of the items from a typical invention review qualify as such. More often, the majority of ideas that result from an invention review are good ideas that, for one reason or another, do not end up patented.

    Typically, there are a number of inventions on which you may already have partial patent protection. Inventions that improve upon an existing patented invention are good examples. Another reason you may not wish to obtain patent protection on a good idea is that you don't expect to ever gain back the money that would be spent pursuing the patent. This is highly typical for inventions that improve the operation of some aspect of your business, but are not part of your general business strategy. (A computer chip manufacturer that finds a better way of packaging would be a good example. Packaging sales are not part of the core business, and most likely patents in this area would never be pursued.)

    So what happens to the innovation I don't patent?

    Typically, nothing. You are free to use your invention without a patent ... until someone else patents the idea. That's when the problem occurs. At this point, they could force you into paying licensing fees, or to stop using the innovation altogether. In essence, forcing you to stop using an idea you had first, but never patented.

    If I had the idea first, doesn't that give me the right to use it?

    Unfortunately, having the idea first doesn't do anything for you. The only way to prevent another patent from issuing, or defeating one that has already issued, is by being able to prove not only that the idea already existed, but that it was available to the public as well. This is where technical disclosure comes in. Innovation you do not patent is at risk of being patented by others. Publishing that innovation establishes a clear trail of evidence that you had this idea, and made it available to the public. Therefore, it should be considered "general knowledge" by the patent examiners, and not be allowed to be patented. In effect, allowing you to retain your right to use your own innovation, without the hassle and expense of obtaining patent protection.

  • What should I know before I publish (to be prepared)?

    Before starting the publishing process at IP.com, there are a few steps you should already have complete in order to make the process go as quickly and smoothly as possible.

    Have the document you wish to publish in an acceptable electronic format

    IP.com’s publishing process accepts the most common office file formats, including Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, PDF, RTF, HTML and plain text (TXT).

    Know if you would like to publish with, or without, authorship information

    Certain steps in the publication process are altered (or skipped) if your intent is to keep your identity secret. although IP.com will avoid collecting personally identifiable bibliographic information when you wish to publish without authorship information, it is up to you to make sure you don't overtly disclose your identity. If your intention is to be anonymous, you should re-check your document to make sure you don't have your company name, address, or other identifiable information included. It is also a good idea to make sure your publication does not follow a particular standardized layout, include specific company colors, or contain any other visual cues as to your identity.

    Have any attachments ready for publication

    You may wish to include other files with the document you intend on publishing. These would most commonly be images that you did not embed within the main document, but they can be files of any type. It is not required that you have any attachments to upload, however the publishing process will only allow a single file to be uploaded as the attachment. Therefore, if you have multiple files you wish to attach, you should combine them into a single file with a file zipping utility first.

    Choose a title for you disclosure

    During the publication process, you will be asked for the title of your disclosure. This can be an important component of your disclosure. The title you choose will be the title by which your disclosure appears in search results, as well as the title used in The IP.com Journal for inclusion in the printed index. Additionally, words that appear in the title are searchable, and may help increase the chance of others finding your document when searching the IP.com Prior Art Database.

    Prepare a document abstract (optional, but highly recommended)

    A well written abstract can be critical in finding your document in searches of the IP.com Prior Art Database. Even though IP.com offers full text searching as an option, the bibliographic search option DOES NOT search the disclosure text but DOES have the ability to search the abstract. For these types of searches, a good abstract can be essential in finding your document.
     
    The importance of the abstract is not limited to increasing the visibility of your document in bibliographic searches. The searcher will see a portion of the abstract in the search result listing. This helps the user determine whether or not the disclosure is appropriate for their purpose.
     
    Additionally, some types of disclosures do not contain much text, and will benefit from the description offered in the abstract. Typically, these are disclosures with a large number of images, or disclosures built from pages scanned from paper documents. The search engine is unable to extract text from pictures and scans, so the abstract may offer the only opportunity for the search service to get at the content of your disclosure.

    Have a connection to the Internet, and current browsing software

    The IP.com publishing service is available online, running in secure (encrypted) web space. You should be using a current web browser (Such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 6) to make sure you are taking full advantage of this security.

  • How do I publish my disclosure?

    Publishing your disclosure with IP.com is fast and easy. Our web-based publishing process will walk you through the steps necessary to get your document into the database with a minimum of effort. If you've never published here before, you should read the help file on the Steps to take before you publish to guide you smoothly through the pre-publication process.

    You may also wish to view or print our publishing options page to get an understanding of the different options available to you during the publishing process. If you get lost, online help is available for any feature during the publishing process.

    The easiest way to see how the publishing process works is to experience it. You can click the 'new user' login button to proceed as guest, then choose to 'demo the publishing process'. You'll be able to walk through the publication process the same as if you were actually publishing in order to see the different options and access the online help.

    If you have an actual user account, and you run the publishing process from your normal user account, it will actually publish your disclosure. Therefore, if you only wish to demonstrate the process, make sure to connect as guest. The page header will change to "Demo of publishing: ..." when running as demo.

  • There are a number of publishing options, what do they mean?

    Even if you have published before, your next disclosure may not be the same as your last, and you may wish to publish using different options than you have in the past. This page will give you an overview of the different options available to you during the publishing process. If you get stuck while publishing, don't worry, the publishing process has an inline help system which will give you information on any step by clicking the orange help icon next to any topic.

    Language

    In order to properly process your disclosure, we need to know what language in which it is primarily written. This allows our search server to intelligently extract the searchable information.
     
    If you are entering a non-English document, and wish to also enter the bibliographic information in the same language, you can. In this case, an additional set of 'Title' and 'Abstract' fields will appear (later in the publishing process) which will be marked for English - this allows you to optionally include an English-translated title and abstract in order to make your document more accessible worldwide.
     
    If you select English as the language, you will not be presented with additional entries for the title and abstract.

    Publishing Type

    You may not want to reveal your identity when publishing your disclosure. Selecting the 'no-authorship' option configures the publishing process to skip some of the steps that collect personally identifiable information. Additionally, selecting this option causes the publishing process to generate a PDF representation of your document, discarding your original uploaded document, to prevent the accidental inclusion of 'META-DATA' which can be used to identify you or your company.
     
    It is important to note, however, that you must make a careful effort not to identify yourself in your disclosure through the use of identifiable company colors, styles, headers, footers, or other means.

    Print in Journal

    All publications get a bibliographic listing in the printed digest The IP.com Journal. For an additional fee, you can choose to have your entire disclosure printed in a special section of the Journal. The publishing process consumes one page-print voucher for each page of your document when this option is selected.
     
    Choosing this option is not required, but is available for those that wish to have a full paper-based representation of their document included in our archives.

    Document Title

    Identify the title of your disclosure to make it easier to find in search results. The publishing process requires you to enter a title for your document.

    Doc Abstract

    Well written abstracts can help others locate your document. We strongly recommend entering an abstract for your disclosure.

    Country

    You can optionally specify a country of origin.

    Classification

    You can optionally apply a WIPO and/or USPTO style classification to your document.

    Copyright

    You can optionally list copyright information for your disclosure.

    Related Persons

    You can optionally list persons related to this disclosure.

    Related Documents

    You can optionally list documents related to your disclosure. When possible, the system automatically builds hyperlinks to the related documents.

    PDF Rendering

    You may optionally choose to have your document automatically converted to PDF format and included with the downloadable package. This can be helpful to others who may download your document, but not have the original software in which it was written.
     
    If you have chosen to publish without authorship, or have selected to print your full disclosure in The IP.com Journal, this option is selected automatically (and not be alterable). This is because both of these publishing options require the generation of this file, for anonymity reasons and print production reasons, respectively.

    Font Subsitition

    This option only applies if we need to create a PDF/print version of your document. If you have used fonts in your document which are not available to the publishing server, you can have the publishing system substitute for a default font by selecting this option.
     
    If you do not allow the publishing process to substitute fonts, upon encountering an unsupported font, it will halt publication of that disclosure and alert you via email. This allows you to select substitution at that time, or correct the error and re-submit the document.
     
    For a complete list of supported fonts, consult the online help during the publishing process.

    Allow Short Searchable Text

    Documents with little or no searchable text are not published without your express authorization. If your document contains little searchable text, it will most likely be difficult to find in searches. This typically occurs in documents where text is embedded in images and not accessible by our system.
     
    Selecting this option instructs the publishing system to ignore this situation and publish the disclosure anyway. It is not recommended that you choose this option, unless you are aware that your document contains no/little text and have decided to publish anyway. If you do not select this option, and your document does not have any (or little) searchable text, you will be informed via email where you can correct the error, or allow the publication to continue.

    Primary Document (& type)

    This is where you upload your disclosure. The system accepts files in a variety of different text/document formats. This is the document this is indexed by the search server, converted into thumbnail images for viewing, and optionally converted to PDF.

    Attachment (& type)

    Optionally attach an additional file to your disclosure for inclusion in the downloadable package. These files can be of any type, but they are not included in the printed representation of the document, are not shown in the thumbnail view of the document, and not indexed by the search server.

    Publishing Agreement

    Once you've agreed to the IP.com publishing agreement, and click the publish button, your document is uploaded and publishing begins.

Searching

  • How do I search the database?

    A number of search methods are available for retrieving publications of interest from the IP.com Prior Art Database. Documents may be previewed on-screen and, for a nominal fee, you can download the original document (including any attached files.)

    How do I find publications in the IP.com Prior Art Database?

    IP.com offers both bibliographic and full text searching of the database. Using the bibliographic search, you can compose complex queries utilizing Boolean logic, as well as field matching operators such as "field contains" or "field begins with", to achieve precise results. The full text search function allows you build queries that contain (or do not contain) specific words, word fragments, or forms of words. Both search methods allow limiting of results based on certain criteria, such as language, country, and publication date.

    Access to the most recent publications as well as to a specific IPCOM publication is also available. In addition, a simple search option utilizes our full text search engine without presenting complex options.

    Why are prices sometimes lower for some users?

    There are a number of reasons a document may be discounted/free for a particular user:

    • the user has an annual subscription allowing unrestricted download access
    • the user is from a world patent office (documents are free to patent offices)
    • the user is the author of the document (your own documents are free)

    However, in order for the system to accurately display pricing, the system needs to know who a user is (user cannot be connected as guest). Once you are logged in under your own user account, the system is able to determine if any discounts are in effect for you.

    If you are a corporate user and are interested in an annual subscription, please Contact Us. If you are an examiner at a patent office and do not have an account to enable your free downloads, please Contact Us. (To qualify for patent office access, your e-mail address must be from a verifiable patent office domain.)

  • Can I cite a website as prior art?

    Yes but there are serious risks in citing a website in an article. First, soon after you cite the website, the url might change or the site could be down all together. The problem with this is not only that the reader will go to a dead link, but this could seriously devalue the article. Depending upon the relevance or importance of the linked content, a dead link could be the equivalent of having several paragraphs of an article deleted prior to publication. Second, and even worse, the link might be live, but, since content on a web page can, and often does, change day-to-day, there is no way for the reader to know that the linked content is the same as it was at the time the webpage was referenced. If the content has changed the reader would be mislead. It could significantly change the readers? view of the article (or the author) and ultimately impact the conclusions or decisions made by the reader based upon the content. Simply put, there is no way for a reader to know whether the referenced (linked) content is the intended content. If that reader happens to be a patent examiner, they cannot rely upon anything outside of the four corners of the article, even if the cited link is live.

  • The time on my document doesn't seem to match when I published it, why?

    Since the IP.com Prior Art Database is available around the world, it would be confusing to list times specific to any particular time zone. Therefore, documents published with IP.com have their times recorded in UTC (Universal Time Coordinated). UTC is a worldwide standard for specifying times. To convert to your local time, you either need to add or subtract hours, depending on your time zone.

    You can use world time server to help you lookup your own time zone and see how it relates to UTC.

Journal Contents

  • Is there any difference in the information available online vs. the information in the Journal?

    It is important to remember that The IP.com Journal is composed of two very important elements, the printed digest, and the CD-ROM. The printed digest consists of bibliographic data of the disclosures published during the previous month via the IP.com Prior Art Database. For the full disclosure, including any attached files, you must access the data from the CD-ROM (or from the website).

    In the first quarter of 2002, IP.com introduced the ability to include a full printed copy of your disclosure in the 'book' portion of the Journal. In addition to the standard bibliographic listing, you may optionally choose to have your entire disclosure printed in the Journal (for an additional fee).

    The IP.com Journal also contains a printed listing of all certification records for every document that has been certified by IP.com during the prior month. The certification records contain a datestamp and fingerprint for each certified file.

    As a result of our expanded print capabilities, IP.com is now also able to offer the ability to release 'print-only' disclosures to existing corporate customers. These disclosures will appear in their entirety in The IP.com Journal but will not be searchable online, nor appear on the CD-ROM portion of the Journal.

  • When do disclosures published online appear in the Journal?

    The IP.com Journal is published semi-monthly. The information in the journal is from the IP.com Prior Art Database available at http://priorartdatabase.com. It contains the digitally notarized disclosures submitted and made available since the last publication. It also contains previous disclosures that were marked to first appear in this journal. The closing date for each journal is the 15th and the last day of each month. Depending on the volume of disclosures, this journal may be split into multiple sections.

    It is important to note that publish dates and times are calculated in Universal Time (UTC) , therefore, the '15th or last day of the month' may differ by as much as 12 hours from your local time.

    Universal Time

    Since the IP.com Prior Art Database is available around the world, it would be confusing to list times specific to any particular time zone. Therefore, documents published with IP.com have their times recorded in UTC (Universal Time Coordinated). UTC is a worldwide standard for specifying times. To convert to your local time, you either need to add or subtract hours, depending on your time zone.

    Lookup your own time zone and see how it relates to UTC.

    Volume 1, Number 1 of the Journal is an exception to the above rule. Since it was the first printed edition of the Journal it includes all disclosures notarized prior (and including) December 31, 2000.

  • What is the difference between the 'standard' and 'full' listing options when publishing?

    By default, all documents published to the Prior Art Database receive the standard listing in The IP.com Journal for no additional charge. This entails listing the document's bibliographic information, as well as the filenames and fingerprints generated for the uploaded file(s), in the print portion of the Journal. The document in its entirety is available on the CD-ROM.

    For an additional fee, at the time of publishing you can choose to have your full disclosure printed in the Journal. In addition to the standard listing described above, disclosures published with this option will also be included in their entirety* in the print portion of The Journal. By including your document in its entirety, you will be allowing any reader to view the full contents of your disclosure directly from the Journal without the need for a computer to either access the online database, or the included CD-ROM.

    Samples of both types of listings are included in the downloadable sample of The IP.com Journal.

    * - Only the primary document will be printed for disclosures that contain attachments. All files will be available on the CD-ROM. Due to differences in printing methods, the document as it appears in The Journal may use more/fewer pages than the original. See the online help during publishing for more details.

Journal Delivery and distribution

Legal/Tech FAQ

  • What is the site's cookie policy?

    What cookies does IP.com use, and why?

    Our web service spans multiple servers to allow for load balancing and performance tuning. Each web server utilizes a session cookie (one that is erased when you close your browser) for maintaining data persistence while you are connected. This allows for faster page access times, as it reduces the number of database lookups. As you traverse our site, you may encounter a number of these cookies (up to four, one for each of our four servers.) If you have your browser alert you for each cookie, you will recognize these cookies by the name 'JSESSIONID' when they are set. These cookies contain no personally identifiable information, and are solely used by the individual servers to help maintain state information.

    When you login to our site (either as a registered user or as a guest) a single login cookie is sent to your browser to communicate your login status across the web services. This cookie is also a session cookie, meaning that your browser is instructed to remove the cookie when you exit your browser. This cookie is required to maintain connection with our online software. This cookie is set to only be re-transmitted over secure HTTPS connections, therefore in order to maintain login, you must have a browser that supports HTTPS.

    Additionally, you may encounter a persistent cookie (one that your browser will keep for an extended period of time) if you utilize the 'My Documents' feature of the website. This feature allows you to save documents you wish to purchase at a later date. If you do not use this feature or purchase any documents for download, you will not be presented with this cookie.

    We recommend accepting all cookies that our site generates in order to use the service properly. Most of the cookies are session-based, and do not require any information be saved by your browser. All cookies set by our servers are returned only to our servers and are not accessible by third parties.

  • Does publishing with IP.com satisfy the legal requirements for prior art?

    Given the compelling reasons for publishing your technical disclosures, it's not a question of whether to publish, but rather a question of where to publish. IP.com's online publishing services are the fastest, easiest, and most cost-effective way to release your innovation to the public. However, many people are skeptical of the validity of electronic publications and their status in the courts.

    What is the opinion of the USPTO regarding electronic documents?

    A white paper by the United States Patent and Trademark Office states that "An electronic publication, including an on-line database or Internet publication, is considered to be a "printed publication" within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. 102(a) and (b), provided the publication was accessible to persons concerned with the art to which the document relates."

    Does IP.com have an independent legal opinion of the service?

    The legal opinion on IP.com's publication process by McDermott, Will & Emery states that "Based on the above analysis, it is our opinion that invention disclosures made available on IP.com's website can be authenticated, satisfy the hearsay rule or the business records exception, and satisfy the requirement of an original in a patent infringement action in federal district court in connection with an assertion of invalidity under 35 U.S.C. §§ 102 and/or 103."
    (read the entire document - 70Kb PDF)

    What steps does IP.com take to ensure document longevity?

    In addition to the online maintenance of disclosures, IP.com publishes a monthly printed (i.e. paper-based ' non-electronic) publication, The IP.com Journal, which is available to libraries worldwide. The presence of The IP.com Journal in libraries means that not only do you not need to fear the "electronic-only" publication, but it provides publicly accessible archive copies in the instance the IP.com database becomes unavailable online.