An excellent patent database roundup via Patent Librarian's Notebook

I came across Queen's University (Kingston, Ontario) librarian Michael White's excellent review of updates, additions, and changes to major online patent databases while I was gathering information to write a post about Patent Lens that I'm no longer going to write.*

I tend to focus mostly on the USPTO's web databases, but this is a reminder that there are plenty of other resources out there. I'd urge any patent searcher to give any of the databases mentioned in this post a try.

*True confession: I always check his excellent Patent Librarian's Notebook to see if he's reviewed a site before I go ahead with my post. Lazy blogging, perhaps, but also efficient information dissemination, right?

Inventors Eye newsletter from the USPTO

Support for small inventors is an emerging theme for the new USPTO administration. The latest evidence of that commitment is Inventors Eye, a recently launched bimonthly newsletter for the independent inventor community.

Judging by the first issue, the newsletter will be a source of tips for inventors, links to resources, and communication about upcoming policy changes within the USPTO.

Of particular interest in the inaugural issue is a piece by USPTO Director David Kappos laying out some key points about proposed patent reforms including reduced fees for small entities, faster turnaround on applications, and stronger patents through a post-grant review process.

Also noteworthy is Inventors Assistance Center boss John Calvert's interview with Pam Turner, inventor of the Spiral Eye Needle, one of those simple yet undoubtedly useful innovations that can inspire us to think differently about every day objects.

Inventors Eye is avaible on the USPTO website, where you can sign up to receive an email version of the newsletter.

USPTO Director Kappos to headline Menlo Park event this weekend

The Bay Area Chapter of the Inventor's Alliance, a support and educational group for independent inventors, will host USPTO Director David Kappos at their meeting in Menlo Park this Saturday.

Mr. Kappos is expected to talk about proposed patent legislation reform and will be soliciting feedback, so this is an excellent opportunity to voice your opinion.

This should be a good event: Kappos is pushing some pretty hefty reforms at the USPTO and he seems to be very receptive to comments from the independent inventor community.

Tickets are $15 for members and $25 for nonmembers, and the Alliance's website claims that they will sell out fast.

Alright, independent inventors, here's your chance to connect with the big cheese at the USPTO!

Merry merry king of the bush prevails in copyright suit

Earlier this month, the Chronicle reported that an Australian court ruled that 80's pop band Men at Work lifted a portion of the melody from classic Australian folk song "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree" in their hit "Down Under."

A judged ruled that the band used a significant portion of the song for the "flute riff" (one doesn't often see those two words together except for references to Jethro Tull) in the 1983 hit. The song was a big hit for the band and has been used in countless commercials and movie soundtracks.

The songwriters will appear in court again next week to work out how much they'll have to pay the publishing company that owns the song.

In praise of: Percy Julian

Chemist Percy Julian was like an alchemist with soybeans. He developed a soybean-derived foam that was used to put out fires during World War II. At Glidden Company, he developed a soy-based coating for papers, textiles, and paints that was much less expensive than the casein that had been used prior. He derived sterols from soybeans, which singnificantly reduced the cost of cortisol treatments for those suffering from arthritis.

He also took breaks from soybeans to develop other important developments: a drug treatment for glaucoma and synthesized progesterine and testosterone, to name two.

Despite his genius, Dr. Julian had a difficult time getting into school; after he managed to finish school at the head of his class, he had a hard time finding a job.

Dr. Julian was born in 1899 in Montgomery, Alabama, only two generations removed from slaves. (His grandfather, who had been a slave, lost two fingers when his captors realized that he could write.) Because of his race, Julian attended a private school with poorer resources than the local white-only schools. When he was admitted to De Paw Unitersity, he was admitted as a "sub-freshman" and had to take high school calsses alongside his college classes. Four years later, in 1920, he graduated valedictorian of his class.

Though he finished his program at the top of his class, Dr. Julian's attempts to enter graduate school were denied because of his race. He took a position at Fisk University, a Historically Black College in Nashville; after two years teaching, he was awarded a fellowship to earn his masters degree at Harvard. Again, though his studies were successful at Harvard, he was denied the chance to continue his work because of his race.

This pattern would continue for much of his career as a chemist. After Harvard, he taught at West Virginia College for Negroes, then Howard University. He was awarded a fellowship to earn his Ph.D. at the University of Vienna, then returned as a professor to Howard and then De Pauw, but he couldn't get a tenured position. He turned to private industry and, after being rejected for a position at Appleton, Wisconsin-based Institute of Paper Chemistry because of his race, he took a position at Glidden Company. After acheiving success and recognition at Glidden, he founded his own Julian Laboratories, which he sold to Smith, Kline, and French in 1964. Though retired, he continued to publish and direct projects until his death in 1975.

Dr. Julian's accomplishments stand on their own, but the challenges he faced because of his race -- the professional challenges, being denied entry into professional conferences at segregated halls, a 1950 arson attack of his home, to name a few -- are truly phenominal. Recognition of this has come slowly, but his fascinating life is finally being celebrated. After being denied admission into the National Inventors Hall of Fame four consecutive years, he was inducted in 1990.

Most of the information in this post came from James Michael Brodie's Created Equal: The Lives and Ideas of Black American Innovators, which you can find at the Main Library's (fellow blogger) African American Center and a few other locations.

Julian was also the subject of a recent PBS movie Percy Julian: Forgotten Genius, also available from the library.

In Praise of: George Carruthers

Judging by his bio at the National Inventor's Hall of Fame, George Carruthers is one those rare people who find a vocation at an early age, stick with it, and achieved great success.

Dr. Carruthers was born in Cincinnati and moved to Chicago's South Side when he was 12. He built his first telescope when he was 10; he enjoyed reading about science and visiting local museums throughout his youth.

At the University of Illinois, Dr. Carruthers received a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering, a masters in Nuclear Engineering, and a doctorate in aeronautical and astronautical engineering. In 1964 he began his long career with the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C., an agency whose post-war activities included pioneering space research.

It was in this capacity that Dr. Carruthers filed and was granted patent number 3,478,216 for an Image Converter for Detecting Electro-Magnetic Radiation Especially in Short Wavelengths. The patented technology was the basis for a camera used on the Apollo 16 mission to record the Earth's hydrogen atmosphere. The camera allowed scientists to study part of the Earth's atmosphere that extends too far out for vessels in Earth's orbit to study. In his own words:

"What we had proposed to do was set up a camera on the surface of the moon to observe the Earth and study its hydrogen atmosphere, which extends out to many thousands of miles. Even the space station and the shuttle can't get far enough away to really study the higher atmosphere."

Read more about Dr. Carruthers online at the National Inventors Hall of Fame and in these features from MIT and University of Buffalo.

If you're up for visiting the Main Library, check out Black Inventors from Africa to America by C.R. Gibbs, the book I consulted for much of the information in this post. The book can be found in the African American Center, which is a terrific collection of in-library-use materials that serves as an introduction to African American and African history and culture throughout the Black Diaspora.

The African American Center has recently launched a top-notch blog called Habari Gani that I highly recommend. Have a look at http://habariganisfpl.blogspot.com/.