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FreePatentsOnline Rolls Out First Ever Patent Map
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Patents Localized by Inventor and Company on Google Maps
Baltimore, MD -- FreePatentsOnline, the most-visited web site in the world for patent information, has launched a patent map.
The Google Map mashup is located at www.localpatents.com, where today 3,143,630 patents and patent applications are shown in their respective locales, based on inventor and assignee cities. An assignee is the entity that holds the rights to the patent.
Users can zoom in and out, drilling down to see the number of patents in a given location, and can also see the patent numbers and titles, with the ability to click to obtain the full text of any document.
Consider, for example, Walcott, Iowa (population: 1,528). Eight patents are shown in Walcott, some belonging to the CAT Scale Company (www.catscale.com). Founded in 1977, CAT Scale has the largest truck-weighing network in the world, with over 1,200 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada.
"A big reason we now show patents on a map is for job searching," said Erik Reeves, CEO of Patents Online, the company behind FreePatentsOnline. "You may imagine that where you live, or where you're moving, is a place with limited innovation. But with a few clicks in a given geographic area you may discover one or more companies inventing new products or services of great relevancy to your job interests. And, to interview armed with knowledge about a company's intellectual property makes you a much better prepared candidate."
LocalPatents.com can also help guide journalists to compelling, timely local stories. For example, in LaBarge, Wyoming, a recent invention is "Natural Gas Recovery System & Method," U.S. Patent Application 20090095153.
About FreePatentsOnline.com
FreePatentsOnline (FPO), launched in 2004, is the leading worldwide web property in terms of audience for patent search (www.freepatentsonline.com). The company also has a free service called SumoBrain, created for users who require more advanced features in seeking, storing and sharing data relating to intellectual property. SumoBrain allows an individual user to maintain up to 20,000 documents of patent storage in an account, among other capabilities.
SumoBrain and FreePatentsOnline are trademarks of Patents Online, LLC. All other product and company names are the trademarks and property of their respective owners.
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