Inventor Links

For additional inventor information, you may want to browse through these online resources. Please keep in mind that clicking on any of the links below will take you to a web site that is not governed by our privacy policy. You will be solely responsible for your interactions with these sites. References to these websites does not imply endorsement by Codman.

General Information & Patent Information

Docie Invention and Patent Marketing is a leading authority on researching, developing, and patenting innovative ideas. The website provides extensive services, including a free evaluation of ideas, insight into researching and marketing inventions at trade shows, and lots of free advice for inventors.

National Inventor Fraud Center (NIFC) provides information to consumers about invention promotion companies and how people can market their ideas and manage their investment with feasible success rates. The goal of the NIFC is to educate and help inventors make the right decisions.

Medscape is a highly regarded database of health-related home pages, organized by specialty, such as Women’s Health, Surgery, Gastroenterology and Urology. Each page is divided into sections, including news, treatment updates, conference summaries, journals, library, practice guidelines and Editor’s Choice. The database is updated daily, and email updates are available. Medscape is free, but registration is required.

Health on the Net Foundation The HON database index is sponsored by a nonprofit foundation based in Geneva. Health resources and medical web sites worldwide are indexed using the National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings. HONSelect searches integrate five types of information - MeSH terms; scientific articles, health care news, web sites and multimedia -- into one search. A Media Gallery includes 2,000 medical images and movies on 1,400 medical topics, including X-rays, videos of surgeries, and articulation. The site also includes an extensive index of conferences and events.

Martindale’s Health Science Guide Contains teaching files, medical cases, online courses and textbooks, tutorials, databases and videos. The site is organized into the Reference Desk and the Virtual Medical Center, which includes categories ranging from anatomy to veterinary medicine. In addition to reference materials, each category includes links to other online resources in each specialty. The site was developed by an individual, Jim Martindale, is hosted by the University of California, Irvine, Science Library and was rated among the top 25 Sites for free reference by the American Library Association.

Free Patent Searching

USPTO is the government agency where you can conduct free patent or trademark searches, or actually file your applications online.

Delphion, Inc. provides searchable databases of value-added patent abstracts.

Fee Based Patent Searching

Derwent provides patent information to help you develop research and business strategies.

Patscan is a fee based patent search and consulting service located in the University of British Columbia Library.

MicroPatent is a leading provider of patent and trademark information offering research, document delivery and document management.

Funding

Inventions & Innovations Program is operated by the US Department of Energy and provides grants and financial assistance for inventors.

Small Business Innovation Research Program is a prolific source of funding for inventors. SBIR offers a highly competitive program that provides incentives for entrepreneurs to commercialize their inventions.

Patent and Intellectual Property Organizations

American Intellectual Property Law Association is actively involved in shaping US intellectual property policy and enforcing the laws of national and international patents.

European Patent Office provides information on obtaining patents that are recognized by nearly all European states.

The Intellectual Property Digital Library maintains a website that provides searchable access to various intellectual property databases.

Micropatent is a leading provider of patent and trademark information offering research, document delivery and document management.

National Association of Patent Practitioners is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting those who work in the field of patent law.

Software Patent Institute is a non-profit corporation that promotes the use of software technology to help improve the patent process.

World Intellectual Property Organization is an international organization dedicated to promoting the use and protection of works of the human spirit.

Inventor Communities

InventNET is the Web’s first inventor organization. Users can share information and experience about developing and marketing their inventions.

Online Inventor offers a free online newsletter with informative articles and easily accessible archives.

Patentcafe.com is a comprehensive site for inventors, which features a weekly community-building chat session.

Technical Resources

Enhanced and Evaluated Virtual Library is and award-winning, free service, which provides access to engineering, mathematics, and computing information available on the Internet. It is created and run by a team of information specialists from a number of universities and institutions in the UK for students, staff and researchers in higher education, as well as anyone else working, studying or looking for information in Engineering, Mathematics and Computing. These resources are independently reviewed and are not sponsored links. They include e-journals, databases, training materials, professional societies, university and college departments, research projects, bibliographic databases, software, information services and recruitment agencies. In addition to Internet Resource Catalogues, EEVL provides targeted engineering search engines.

Materials Science and Engineering Produced by the Materials Science and Engineering Department at SUNY Stony Brook, this site provides links to materials science companies, organizations and societies, academic programs, newsgroups, general materials lists, online coursewear and materials data.

Clinical Literature, Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Pub Med is teh U.S. National Library of Medicine's (NLM) search engine for MEDLINE, a premier database for clinical medical literature. MEDLINE is international in scope, indexing journals from over 70 countries. Coverage includes medicine, nursing, veterinary medicine, preclinical sciences and the healthcare system, and goes back to 1966. The database provides information about the article and an author-written abstract. It does NOT include the fulltext of articles.

MedlinePlus - The National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus, NLM's consumer health site, provides links to general medical encyclopedias, dictionaries and glossaries, etc. Includes: AMA Medical Glossary, Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, and the Multi-Lingual Glossary of Technical & Popullar Medical Terms in Eight Languages. A link also takes users to additional lists.

Citeline.com An edited search engine for healthcare information on the Web. "Unlike generic search engines, CiteLine doesn't aim to index the Web in its entirety, only quality sites of interest to professionals in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. Every topic from R&D combinatorial chemistry to medical economics is covered, with sites carefully screened by the subject specialists in our editorial team."

On-line Anatomy

Anatomy of the Human Body by Henry Gray Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body on Bartleyby.com contains 1,247 vibrant engravings, with many in color, from the classic 1918 edition. The subject index of 13,000 entries ranges from the Antrum of Highmore to the Zonule of Zinn.

Bristol Biomedical Image Archive This categorized archive maintained by the University of Bristol, United Kingdom, contains more that 20,000 medical and veterinary images for teaching. A search engine allows for retrieval of images on specific topics or conditions. Users can search and browse the archive without registering, but, to download full-size images, users must complete a free registration process. Free use of the images for teaching and educational purposes is permitted.

Statistics

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) This federal center is responsible for collecting, analyzing and disseminating statistics on health and illness in the U.S., the impact of illness and disability on the economy, health care utilization, health resources, and births and deaths. Many of the free documents are available in full text, usually in PDF format. This complex site has four sections: Health United States, including life expectancy, morbidity and utilization data; Vital and Health Statistics Series, including publications from NCHS survey data; FastStats AtoZ, with statistics on diseases and state-specific data; and the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, available in full text back to 1993.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) The AHRQ, formerly the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, takes the lead in supporting policy-relevant research on the cost, quality, access and medical effectiveness of health care. Resources available on the extensive AHRQ website include: evidence-based practice reports, such as "Endoscopic Procedures in Plastic Surgery" clinical practice guidelines; health technology assessments and reviews; and Translating Research into Practice fact sheets on such topics as managed care and healthcare costs, and several items on healthcare quality assessment. The section on Data & Surveys include the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and the Healthcare Cost & Utilization Project (HCUP). HCUPnet is a searchable, interactive database for comparing Medicare statistics on hospitals at the national, regional and state level.

National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) The SEER Program is the most authoritative source of information on cancer incidence and survival in the U.S. The database includes information on over 2.5 million cancer cases, based on population cancer registries. Links to incidence, prevalence and survival data for all types of cancer and links to other cancer registries are provided. SEER publications include: SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1973-1996; Cancer Prevalence Statistics; and Cancer Rates and Risks, 4th Ed, 1996.

FedStats The federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy maintains this site as a means of easy access to statistics compiled by more than 70 agencies. Search by title and keyword, or use the "A to Z" feature to browse. Click the "Statistical Reference Shelf" link to find online books of statistics available in their entirety in PDF format. These include Health, United States, 2000 (includes birth and death rates, morbidity and health status, use of ambulatory care and inpatient care, health personnel and facilities); Statistical Abstracts of the United States (statistics on social and economic conditions in the U.S.); and the State and Metropolitan Area Data Book (data at the state and metropolitan area level).

Just For Fun

Totally Absurd Inventions features over 100 of the goofiest patents issued in the US and other countries.

The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation The Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation was founded in 1995 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History through a generous gift from the Lemelson Foundation. The Center's mission is to document, interpret, and disseminate information about invention and innovation, to encourage inventive creativity in young people, and to foster an appreciation for the central role invention and innovation play in the history of the United States.

The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation The Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation was founded in 1995 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History through a generous gift from the Lemelson Foundation. The Center's mission is to document, interpret, and disseminate information about invention and innovation, to encourage inventive creativity in young people, and to foster an appreciation for the central role invention and innovation play in the history of the United States.