Primary Sources

Executive summary:

The amount of intellectual property source material on the world wide web is growing at an amazing pace. Before long, all of the primary sources used in intellectual property law will be available for free over the web. Even at the present time, a large subset of the necessary legal information is available. This index is designed to bring this material together in a single annotated list. This index has been expanded to include those primary source materials available directly through BitLaw.

You may wish to skip directly to one of the following subheadings:

Treaties
U.S. Statutes
U.S. Regulations
U.S. Cases
Special Governmental Reports
Rules, Procedures, Policies, and Forms
Patents
Basic Reference Materials

Treaties:

Patents

Patent Cooperation Treaty (BitLaw)

A hypertext enhanced version of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Provided by BitLaw.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's PCT Site

This site provides basic information about the PCT and allows the downloading of PCT forms in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format as well as some word processing formats. The site is maintained by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and unfortunately restricts access to some PCT documents due to copyright concerns (the copyright in certain PCT documents is held by the World Intellectual Property Organization).
Paris Convention

Paris Convention Treaty (BitLaw)

A hypertext enhanced version of the Paris Convention Treaty (1979). Provided by BitLaw.

Paris Convention (University of North Carolina)

Text version of the Convention Treaty (Stockholm 1967), provided by UNC.
Copyright

Berne Convention, as Revised (Cornell University)

Searchable hypertext version of the Berne Convention Treaty (Paris 1971) provided by Cornell. The Berne Convention is the most important of the Copyright treaties in terms of its effect on international copyright protection. Major changes to U.S. copyright law in the late 1980s were brought about because the U.S. became a member of this treaty.

U.S. Statutes:

U.S. Constitution

The Constitution of the United States

A full-text searchable version of the U.S. Constitution.

Constitution of the United States (Emory)

A complete hypertext version of the U.S. Constitution and amendments.
Complete Set

The U.S. House of Representatives - U.S. Code

Searchable index to the entire U.S. Code provided by the U.S. House. Includes historical commentary on each section.

United States Code (Cornell University)

Flexible searching options make this version of the U.S. Code very useful.

The House of Representatives - List of Statutes

List of sources for U.S. Statutes.

GPO Access on the Web

This site provides a searchable index to the numerous federal documents, including the U.S. Code (as of 2003 with annotations indicating changes), the Federal Register, Congressional Bills and the Congressional Record.
Patent

U.S. Patent Act (BitLaw)

A hypertext enhanced version of the U.S. Patent Act. Provided by BitLaw.

U.S. Patent Act (Cornell University)

A searchable, hypertext version of the Patent Act. Provided by Cornell.
Copyright

Copyright Act (BitLaw)

A hypertext enhanced version of the U.S. Copyright Act. Provided by BitLaw.

Copyright Act (Cornell University)

Searchable hypertext version of the Copyright Act, provided by Cornell.
Trademarks

U.S. Trademark Act (Lanham Act) (BitLaw)

A hypertext enhanced version of the Lanham Act. Provided by BitLaw.

U.S. Trademark Act (Lanham Act) (Cornell University)

Searchable hypertext version of the Lanham Act, provided by Cornell.

U.S. Regulations (C.F.R.):

Complete Set

GPO Access

Searchable index to the entire Code of Federal Regulations.

Cornell

Access to the entire Code of Federal Regulations.
Patent

Patent Rules (BitLaw)

A hypertext enhanced version of the patent rules. The BitLaw version provides direct hypertext links to cited statutes and cross-cited rules.
Copyright

Copyright Rules (BitLaw)

A hypertext enhanced version of the copyright rules. The BitLaw version provides direct hypertext links to cited statutes and cross-cited rules.
Trademarks

Trademark Rules (BitLaw)

A hypertext enhanced version of the trademark rules. The BitLaw version provides direct hypertext links to cited statutes and cross-cited rules.

U.S. Cases:

Finding Aids

The Federal Court Locator

This index to federal court web sites was created by the Villanova Center for Information Law and Policy.

U.S. Federal Courts Finder (Emory)

This index of federal circuit court opinions on the World Wide Web is provided by Emory University. Many of the court opinions are available through Emory's own web sites, but other Courts are merely linked to by this site. The amount of federal circuit court opinion on the web is still small, but it varies by circuit. The Eighth Circuit, for instance, only contains opinions since November, 1995. This site is similar to The Federal Court Locator.
Case Summaries

Recent Intellectual Property Law Developments on the Internet

By R. Mark Halligan, Esq.
U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Supreme Court Cases since 1937 (FindLaw)

Provided by FindLaw, a very useful legal information web site.

US CaseLaw Search

A meta-searching site for all U.S. caselaw, this useful site was created by Peter Faris QC, an Australian Barrister.

U.S. Supreme Court Cases Since 1967 (USSC)

USSC, a company which provides CD-ROMS of U.S. Supreme Court cases, also provides a web based server containing Supreme Court Cases since 1967. The cases are full-text searchable through a Folio search engine, or are also available through a very useful topic index.

U.S. Supreme Court Oral Arguments (Northwestern)

This site, provided by Jerry Goldman and Northwestern University, provides oral arguments in Real Audio format for of the most influential cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Opinions and Briefs (Hermes)

FTP archives of Supreme Court decisions and briefs.
U.S. Circuit Courts
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Since 1995 (Georgetown)

Provided by the Georgetown University Law Center Library, this site allows the searching, listing and downloading of U.S. Federal Circuit cases decided since 1995. Cases are available in HTML, WordPerfect, Word and ASCII versions. See also Emory University's site.

Circuit Courts Natural Language CompassWare Search (Law Journal Extra)

This database provides for natural language searching of all decisions in Circuits 1-10 since October 1994.

LLR Browser Selection Page

A search engine allowing the search of federal court opinions as well as state court opinions from almost every state.

US CaseLaw Search

A meta-searching site for all U.S. caselaw, this useful site was created by Peter Faris QC, an Australian Barrister.
The Circuit Court Home Pages:
- First Circuit (Emory)
- Second Circuit (Pace). See also Touro Law Center and Pace University.
- Third Circuit (Villanova)
- Fourth Circuit (Emory)
- Fifth Circuit (Texas)
- Sixth Circuit (Emory)
- Seventh Circuit (Chicago-Kent). See also Emory.
- Eighth Circuit (Washington University).
- Ninth Circuit (Villanova)
- Tenth Circuit (Emory)
- Eleventh Circuit (Emory)
- D.C. Circuit (Georgetown)
- Federal Circuit (Georgetown). See also Emory.
U.S. District Courts

LLR Browser Selection Page

A search engine allowing the search of federal court opinions as well as state court opinions from almost every state.

Federal Courts BBS Listing (U.S. Government)

Directory of electronic bulletin boards (BBSs) offered by the federal judiciary, including PACER, ABBS and VCIS.

Federal Civil Trials (Cornell)

A searchable database of basic statistical information about 3.5 million federal district-court civil cases that have been terminated over the last 16 years.
Recent Internet Related Decisions

BNA's Recent Decisions

BNA is one of the best sources on the Internet for the full-text of recent Internet related legal opinions.

John Marshall Law School

John Marshall's Cyberspace Law Cases page is another good source for full-text legal opinions.

David Loundy's E-LAW Page

David Loundy's E-LAW locator contains the full-text of numerous intellectual property and Internet related cases.
State Courts

LLR Browser Selection Page

A search engine allowing the search of federal court opinions as well as state court opinions from almost every state. See also the LLR listing of state statutes and state constitutions.

State and Local Government on the Net (Piper Resources)

A comprehensive, searchable listing of most every state, county and city agency currently on the web, including state judicial sites. The site is indexed by state, and divides each state index by branch of government and local entities. The site was created by Piper Resources.

The World Wide Web Virtual Library: Law: State Government

Another searchable listing of state and local government sites on the Web, maintained by the Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington.

The State Court Locator

An HTML listing of state court sites created by the Villanova Center for Information Law and Policy.

Legal-Online

Legal-Online contains a listing of state statutes available on the Internet.

Special Governmental Reports:

Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure (the "White Paper"): Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown, Chairman of the White House Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF), released this report on Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure. The Report, written by the IITF Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights chaired by Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks Bruce A. Lehman, explains how intellectual property law applies to Cyberspace and makes legislative recommendations to Congress to fine tune the law for the digital age. Also available at Ladas and Parry.

Procedures, Policies, and Forms:

U.S. Courts

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Cornell)

A complete hypertext version of the rules provided by Cornell.

Federal Rules of Evidence (Cornell)

A complete hypertext version of the rules provided by Cornell.
Patent Office

Manual of Patent Examining Procedures (USPTO)

Web page with link to ftp site for downloading the M.P.E.P. This manual is used by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to determine the procedures used with patent application.

Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (Kuesterlaw)

Hypertext version created by Kuesterlaw, the web site for Louis T. Isaf, P.C.

Examination Guidelines for Computer-Related Inventions (BitLaw)

An hypertext enhanced version of the final guidelines. The draft version of the Guidelines is also available. Provided by BitLaw.

Examination Guidelines for Computer-Related Inventions

This USPTO site includes links to WordPerfect and Word versions of the final version of these guidelines.

Guide for Filing Design Patent Application

An in-depth explanation, including links to forms.

Guidance on Treatment of Product and Process Claims in light of In re Ochiai, In re Brouwer and 35 U.S.C. 103(b)

This guidance is presented to USPTO personnel and the public in light of recent cases involving product by process claims.

Downloadable Forms Usable for United States Patent Applications (USPTO)

Cover sheets, transmittal letters, and small entity declarations as provided by the U.S. Patent Office.
Copyright Office

Copyright Office Forms

This site provides links to copyright registration forms in Adobe Acrobat format.

Copyright Office Circulars

This gopher listing links to all of the Circulars provided by the Copyright Office.
Trademark Office

Trademark Manual of Examining Procedures (BitLaw)

This hypertext enhanced version of the T.M.E.P. provides hypertext links to cited statutes and regulations, as well as links to cross-cited sections of the T.M.E.P. Each section of the manual is divided into separate pages, for ease in downloading and research. Provided by BitLaw.

The ftp location of the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure as provided by the USPTO.

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Manual of Procedure (USPTO)

This web page includes a link to the FTP site where the TBMP may be downloaded in ASCII and PDF formats.

Identification of Goods and Services Manual (BitLaw)

A hypertext version of the Trademark Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual. Use of this manual allows proper classification of goods and services, and helps to prevent the rejection of trademark applications for failure to acceptably identify the goods or services covered by the mark.

Identification of Goods and Services Manual (USPTO)

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office provides a searchable index to the Trademark Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual.

Registration of Domain Names in the Trademark Office (USPTO)

These useful guidelines have been removed from the USPTO web server, and have not yet been replaced.

Patents:

Free: PDF Versions of U.S. Patents

Free Patents Online

Free full-text searching, PDF, and TIFF copies of U.S. patents and published applications. Also includes some European patent documents.

Pat2PDF.org

Not affiliated with Pat2PDF.com, this site converts TIFFs taken from the PTO website into a single PDF for download. Free, but slow for large documents.

Patent Fetcher

Free site pulls TIFF files from the US PTO web site and converts to a PDF document. The previously created PDF files are stored for fast retrieval. There is a limit of five downloads per day per IP address. Also has a pay per download site.

PDFPatents

Free site, but describes itself as "slow" to encourage use of the pay service. Limited to five patents per week.
Free: PDF Versions of European Patents

European Patent Office

PDF versions of European and PCT applications, patents, and patent file contents.

Free Patents Online

Free full-text searching, PDF, and TIFF copies of U.S. patents and published applications. Also includes some European patent documents.

Patent Fetcher

Free site pulls images from the European Patent Office web site and converts to a PDF document. The previously created PDF files are stored for fast retrieval. There is a limit of five downloads per day per IP address. Also has a pay per download site.
Free: Full-Text Searching

Free Patents Online

Free full-text searching, PDF, and TIFF copies of U.S. patents and published applications. Also includes some European patent documents.

esp@cenet (European Patent Office)

Free searching of European, U.S., PCT, and many other national patents

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Patents)

Boolean search interface to text of U.S. patents.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Applications)

Boolean search interface to text of published U.S. patent applications.
Free: Patent File Contents

European Patent Office

PDF versions of European and PCT applications, patents, and patent file contents.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (External Pair)

PDF access to published applications and the patent file contents (limited to recently published applications).
Fee-Based: PDF Versions of Patents

Pat2PDF.com

Pat2PDF provides fee-based access to U.S., European, French, German, Swiss and U.K. patents. Costs as of October 2005 range from $5 per patent, $25 per day for unlimited access, and $125 per month for unlimited access. Currently, one account is allowed for multiple users in the same company.

Patents On Cloud 8

This site allows batch downloading of multiple patents. Cost as of October 2005 is $0.55 per patent. Includes U.S. and European patents.

Patent Fetcher

This fee based server is associated with the free Patent Fetcher sites. Prices start at $0.65 per patent, but subscription services are available that vary in price depending on number of users (as of October 2005). Batch downloads will soon be available. Includes US, EU, PCT, and other countries supported on the European Patent Office web site.

PDFPatents

Prices range from $1.00 per patent to $0.60 per patent, depending on volume (as of October 2005).

Basic Reference Materials:

Dictionaries

Web based Webster dictionary

A web based dictionary, with links to a thesaurus. This interface is also available at a U.C.S.D. site.
Thesaurus

WordNet 1.5

A web based thesaurus. A Java interface is available at through Princeton