Formerly IBM's patent database, users may register for limited free access to basic information found on the first page of a patent. Full-text is available for a fee.

Free pdf versions of U.S. patents that start with number 4,000,000 and above.

The official website of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Full-text available since 1976, full-page images since 1790. Full text of an entire patent can be printed without images. Original full page images may be printed (use print icon on menu bar within the page and not from the File menu in browser) only one page at a time-- TIFF viewer, available on the site, needs to be downloaded for viewing. Site includes patent applications published since 15 March 2001. All information on this site is provided free of charge to the public.

This colorful, entertaining tutorial, prepared by librarians at University of St. Francis in Joliet, IL, outlines the basics of copyright as well as new legislation, such as the TEACH Act.

Copyright information from the American Library Association. This web page highlights copyright and intellectual property issues important to librarians and information professionals.

Copyright and intellectual property information from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Includes news, information on recent statues, copyright and IP legislation, CONFU, court cases, legal decisions, and international copyright information. Contains a federal relations e-newsletter.

The Chilling Effects Clearinghouse is a collaboration among law school clinics and the Electronic Frontier Foundation which aims to support lawful online activity against unwarranted legal threats.

This resource presents a code for fair use to guide educators using media literacy concepts and techniques.

Created by Kenneth Crews, founding director of the Copyright Advisory Office at Columbia University, this site contains information on identification of copyright holders, copyright scenarios, court case summaries, and more.

Provides an overview of copyright as pertains to public performances, including both theatre and dance, and provides guidelines for obtaining permissions for legal use of copyrighted works.

Sponsored by the American Library Association Office for Information Technology policy, this site serves as a resource for librarians who have copyright questions.

Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) serves as an intermediary between copyright holders and content users, facilitating the exchange of reuse rights and royalties through its licensing services. CCC manages the rights to over 1.75 million works and represents more than 9,600 publishers and hundreds of thousands of authors and other creators.

Copyright guidelines, provisions, and resources, from the Music Library Association.

Links to Cornell University's copyright policies, guidelines, services, and resources.

Chart maintained at Cornell University, listing copyright terms of various types of published and unpublished works, with dates those works fall into the public domain.

From the Copyright Committee of the American Association of Law Libraries, this page offers an excellent overview of copyright law, "hot topics," current issues, and resources.

Creative Commons is a non-profit organization dedicated to flexible copyright licenses for creative works.

A bibliography of current copyright news.

The Association of Research Libraries' (ARL) White Paper on Educational Fair Use, authored by Jonathan Band, a lawyer in private practice, adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, and noted intellectual property and Internet expert.

This tool can help educators assess whether they may, under U.S. Copyright Law, use copyrighted works in their teaching without first seeking permission of the copyright owner.

Maintained by the Copyright Advisory Office at Columbia University, this checklist can assist in evaluating whether or not a use of a copyrighted work might be considered a fair use.

This tool, developed by Michael Brewer in cooperation with the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy, can help assist in evaluating whether or not use of a copyrighted work could be considered a "fair use" under the United States Copyright Law.

From the University of Texas System, this is a detailed guide to searching for copyright owners and asking permission to use copyrighted works. This site includes information on textual works, as well as art, music, plays, movies, and foreign works. Also discusses unidentifiable or unresponsive owners.

Circular 22 from the United States Copyright Office on how to investigate the copyright status of a work.

From the Columbia University Libraries Copyright Advisory Office, this guide provides the basics on locating and contacting authors, publishers, and other copyright owners.

From the Columbia Law School, this site seeks to teach creators about the set of rights included within copyright and inform them about options to maintain some or all of those rights.

From the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, this step-by-step guide outlines the process of identifying and locating copyright owners for researchers.

From the Columbia University Libraries Copyright Advisory Office, this site offers advice as well as a model letter for seeking formal copyright permission.

The University of California System provides an excellent overview of the permissions process, along with a sample letter.

From the North Carolina State University Office of the Provost, this guide to seeking copyright permissions is in a question-and-answer format and provides sample letters for a variety of scenarios, including classroom use.

From the Citizen Media Law Project hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, this blog entry explains the four factors of Fair Use.

This sliding copyright tool, developed by Michael Brewer in cooperation with the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy, helps determine if a work first published in the United States has fallen into the public domain.

From the University of Texas System Crash Course in Copyright, a straightforward sample copyright permissions letter is provided, adaptable to a variety of material types.

This tool, developed by Michael Brewer in cooperation with the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy, can help librarians and archivists determine if reproducing all or part of a work is allowed under Section 108 of the United States Copyright Law.

Maintained by Stanford University, this site provides links to copyright information, plus commentary and analysis by legal and library professionals.

From the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), this curriculum is written for K-12 teachers to present basics on copyright to students, including copyright history, the concept of fair use, peer-to-peer file sharing, and more.

Links to key publications, including informational circulars; application forms for copyright registration; links to the copyright law and to the homepages of other copyright-related organizations, and more.

Search records of registered books, music, art, periodicals, and other works, and documents recorded by the U.S. Copyright Office since January 1, 1978. Includes copyright ownership documents.

Created by attorney Georgia Harper, this is a step-by-step tutorial designed for the academic community and contains information on the basics of fair use, how to determine who owns copyright on a work, and how to obtain rights to use copyrighted works. The Ask A Lawyer service is limited to the UT System community.

Patent and related information held in the British Library.

Includes all copyrights which were registered as of October 1, 1991, pursuant to the Copyright Act. In some cases, registrations prior to 1991 were entered into the database due to request for certified copies. This includes traditional copyrights (original literary, artistic, dramatic and musical works) and copyright in other subject-matter (performer's performances, sound recordings and communication signals), as well as information on licences and assignments. Links to the CIPO Canadian patent database and trademark database may also be found.

Germany's patent databases site, in German.

Search patent databases worldwide or individually. Provides basic patent information and an abstract.

Provides access to intellectual property data collections hosted by the World Intellectual Property Organization. These collections include PCT (Patents), Madrid (Trademarks), Hague (Industrial Designs), Article 6ter (State Emblems, Official Hallmarks, and Emblems of Intergovernmental Organizations) and others. Frequent users who would like to maintain a search query history across connections should set up a free user account.

Allows searches for patent families complete with their legal status based on INPADOC data.

Korean patents information from the Korean Industrial Property Rights Information Services (KIPRIS). Users must register to start searching. Basic information is in English.

Free searching of specific databases. Basic information in a combination of English and Russian; full-text in Russian. Drawings available as file downloads

Intellectual property database of the People's Republic of China. Includes basic patent information and a brief abstract.

An information and intellectual property (IP) portal through which you can search for information relating to the biotechnology, IT, telecommunication and manufacturing industries and more.

Access to patent, design, and trademark journal of the UK. Results are in pdf format.

Patent application retrieval, electronic filing and more.

Administers a nationwide network of public, state and academic libraries designated as Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries authorized by 35 U.S.C. 12 to: 1) disseminate patent and trademark Information; and 2) support diverse intellectual property needs of the public.

Nice coverage of the basics of patent searching.

Introductory article about patents and patent searching written by Alice Kawakama, originally published in Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 19:Summer 1998.

Forms printing and electronically filing patent and trademark applications.

Information about and access to online tools for searching for trademarks.

Firstgov interface to searching for patents and trademarks.