Web Favorites & Patent Searching

I love trivia and interesting statistics. Here is a listing of the most visited sites (as of June 2, 2010) compiled by Google.

1. Facebook – never heard of it, although I read somewhere recently that by 2013 it is estimated that everyone in the online community will have an account (maybe by 2013, I’ll actually want one, or not)
2. Yahoo
3. Live.com – a personalized homepage like iGoogle or My Yahoo (anybody using this?)
4. Wikipedia.org – great for beginning research…As a librarian I do use it (for crossword puzzle clues)…but please don’t cite Wikipedia articles (it makes the librarians cringe!)
5. MSN.com
6. Microsoft
7. Blogspot – which I am certain is happy to be hosting the PCL Reference blog
8. Baidu.com – a Chinese and Japanese search engine
9. QQ.com – IM service in China
10. Mozilla.com

Free access to patent materials
A joint effort between Google and the US Patent & Trademark office offers users free access of patents and applications from 1790 forward. This may be a great resource for those thinking about next year’s history day project. Type of information offered includes:

* Patent grants and published applications
* Trademark applications
* Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) proceedings
* Patent classification information
* Patent maintenance fee events
* Patent and Trademark assignments

Search Google patents (for more focused results use the advanced patent search)

The above information provided by Resource Shelf, A daily newsletter with resources of interest to information professionals, educators and journalists.

Free patent searching is also available at http://www.freepatentsonline.com

Advanced Patent Search

Both of these patent resources will be listed on PCL's
History Day wiki as well as the Science Fair wiki.