Copyright differences between Patent Documents and Technology Documents

Pete Fenner, October 26 2022 - Government Information | Patent Search

What are the potential Copyright differences between Patent Search documents and other Search  result documents files saved on your computer:

  1. Patent text and drawings are typically not subject to copyright restrictions unless those sections are specifically identified as described  in  37 CFR 1.71(d) & (e)
  2. Documents from Technology and other Search Database sites may be covered by Copyright protections. Many Databases holding Copyrighted material prevent your access using  Access Authentication  Protocols. 
  3. As a result, Search Real Fast asks you, our users, to save Non-Patent Documents in your computer files   Then you may then use the Express-V4  “Compare Files” tab to create a Scored Sentences CSV file. Our Express-v4 server returns that data only to you, our registered user.  You then import that CSV file into your Spreadsheet for text analysis.
  4. If you have the legal right to save that document on your computer, then you may supply it to our Express-V4.2 application to process it into a Scored Sentences CSV file which we return only to you. Search Real Fast does not keep a copy of that document’s text unless you authorize us to keep a private log of your Express activity.

PATENT DOCUMENTS are generally Public Government Information, and their text and drawing are typically not subject to Copyright restrictions.

US Patents are published as part of the terms of granting the patent to the inventor and are Both Subject to limited exceptions reflected in 37 CFR 1.71(d) & (e) and 1.84(s)  The text and drawings of a patent are typically not subject to copyright restrictions unless those sections are specifically identified as described  in  37 CFR 1.71(d) & (e):

  • (d) A copyright or mask work notice may be placed in a design or utility patent application adjacent to the copyright and mask work material contained therein. The notice may appear at any appropriate portion of the patent application disclosure. For notices in drawings, see § 1.84(s). The content of the notice must be limited to only those elements provided for by law. For example, “© 1983 John Doe” (17 U.S.C. 401) and “ *M* John Doe” (17 U.S.C. 909) would be properly limited and, under current statutes, legally sufficient notices of copyright and mask work, respectively. Inclusion of a copyright or mask work notice will be permitted only if the authorization language set forth in paragraph (e) of this section is included at the beginning (preferably as the first paragraph) of the specification.
  • (e) The authorization shall read as follows:
  •  A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to (copyright or mask work) protection. The (copyright or mask work) owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all (copyright or mask work) rights whatsoever.
  • The US Department of Labor website has a pretty clear statement on the public-domain status of patent text and images: https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/copyright 

TECHNOLOGY and DOCUMENTS obtained from online PUBLIC and SUBSCRIPTION Databases, particularly databases that require USER ACCESS AUTHENTICATION, are likely to contain Copyrighted information.

To protect you and your organization and Search Real Fast from Copyright Legal issues,  Express-V4 and our web server do not directly access those Subscription databases.

  1. To protect you and your organization and Search Real Fast from Copyright Legal issues,  Express-V4 and our web server do not directly access these Subscription databases as we do with Public Patent web pages.
  2. Instead, you download and SAVE your DOCUMENTS  in your computer’s File system before using our Express-V4 “Compare Files” tab. Express-V4 allows you to choose and upload those DOCUMENT texts to create your Scored Sentences CSV file.
  3. Express-V4 and our server code do not store or save your uploaded Document Text files on our servers.
  4. If you enable express-V4 logging, only you and authorized members of your group are provided access to your saved Log files. They are not Publically available to other Registered users except for your registered Group Administrator and SRF maintenance staff.
  5. Many users may have legal, authorized access to Copyrighted Technology Documents in Subscription Databases. To avoid possible Copyright Legal issues, Search Real Fast does NOT attempt to access those subscription databases directly or using your access authorization. Instead, we ask our user’s to save documents in the computer’s File System and then select files for  Express-V4 to process.
  6. The current US law governing what Copyrighted documents a Web Service like Search Real Fast may directly access from a Subscription Database is not fully decided by the US Courts.
  7. A recent Appeals Court decision “Opinion in hiQ v. LinkedIn – the platform can enforce anti-scraping terms,” makes it illegal for a Service Provider like SRF  to access and “scrape” web data with Copyrights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
  8. This website article Van Buren v. the United States, reviews the latest Supreme Court decision in the digital domain  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Buren_v._United_States.
  9. However, this Van Buren Supreme Court decision highlights some issues with this  DMCA law. “The CFAA is an old, 1986 law when computers and technology were far different than they are today. There is conduct that may not be criminalized under the CFAA that should be and vice versa. It remains to be seen if Congress will amend this statute soon. With the increasing use and importance of this statute in criminal and civil enforcement, it should be updated to reflect the realities of today’s technology.”
  10. To avoid potential legal issues for our Express-v4 users, Their Organizations, and Search Real Fast, we require all documents text EXCEPT  Google Patent and Free Patents Online web pages to be saved in our user’s device files before we Extract the Text from those stored documents and build a Scored Sententece CSV file for use a Spreadsheet for Analysis.
  11. Search Real Fast DOES NOT keep a copy of any uploaded User Files or the text extracted from each file unless the User specifies we keep Private log files of their uploads.