"This book should be a valuable aid to most inventors. an excellent starting point for first-time inventors." Entrepreneur Magazine "This book thoroughly explains how to search for previously issued U.S. patents, using resources available on the Internet and at PTDLs. The explanations are helpful for both computer expert and newbies." Booklist "Today you can find many patent-searching resources online, and David Hitchcock's Patent Searching Made Easy details how to make the best use of them. Hitchcock covers search strategies and gives specific search tips for the two key patent sites, PTO and IBM, and for international online offices.

" Keri Hayes Troutman, Computer Currents "A word of caution before trying a search at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website -- first read Patent Searching Made Easy." Jim Wilson - Popular Mechanics "Hitchcock, a physicist, engineer, and inventor who has worked as a computer consultant and on patent searching and new technology, explains how to do a patent search with only a small amount of effort and cost. He details how the Patent and Trademark Office classifies different types of inventions, how to assign an idea to the right class, how to compare it to similar ideas in the same class, and how to decide whether it is new enough to qualify for a patent. He covers the basics of patents, patent searching, and patent databases, including how to come up with keywords to describe an invention; how to perform simple and advanced internet patent searches through the Patent and Trademark Office website, European Patent Office, Google, and additional sources; and how to use resources at the nationwide network of Patent and Trademark Resource Centers, including the Classification System/>, Definitions/>, CASSIS (Classification and Search Support Information System), WEST (West-based Examiner Search Tool), and EAST (Examiner Automated SearchTool)." Eithne O'Leyne, Editor, ProtoView.