Are you interested in protecting your business name or invention with a trademark or patent?
During the current quarantine for COVID-19, you can still begin working on these processes from home. See below for patent & trademark resources from the Free Library and how to get started:
 

Basic Facts: Trademarks, Patents, and Copyrights
We highly recommend first watching this video titled "Basic Facts: Trademarks, Patents, and Copyrights" (USPTO website) explaining the different types of Intellectual Property (IP) for which you can apply.

Patents - Protect your invention

This Patent Process Overview on the USPTO website can show you the outline of the process.

Because a patented invention needs to be something "new" or "novel," a search of existing inventions (called a clearance or "prior art" search) can be helpful. You can get started by entering words to describe your invention into any of these three different patent databases: Google Patents, USPTO, and Espacenet. You can examine the results list to see existing inventions from around the world in your area of technology.

We can also recommend these ebooks concerning patents available in our catalog.

Federal Trademarks - Protect your brand name, logo, or slogan in the most powerful way

Read this online version of Protecting Your Trademark: Basic Facts About Trademarks from the USPTO to find out more about trademark searching and filing an application for a federal trademark.

You can begin searching for existing federal trademarks through the USPTO trademark databases.

We can also recommend these ebooks concerning trademarks available in our catalog.

The Free Library of Philadelphia is one of three Pennsylvania libraries designated as Patent & Trademark Resource Centers (PTRC), part of a national network of libraries maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) "that are designated by the USPTO to disseminate patent and trademark information and to support the diverse intellectual property needs of the public." The Philadelphia PTRC is located in the Business Resource & Innovation Center (BRIC) at Parkway Central Library.

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