Since patents require the inventor to publish the invention, and since patents have a limited life span, any competitor can duplicate the invention after its patent expires. Trade secrets, on the other hand, are secret, and have no pre-set life span. We also have a printed list of agents and attorneys registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in the patent research area. In addition, many agents and attorneys advertise in telephone directories. In general, PTDLs provide access to the Cassis TM databases, the Official Gazettes, and microfilm copies of patents.
Staff is available to provide assistance with the mechanics of doing searches.
In general, PTDLs cannot do searches for people, make subjective decisions for people, or provide legal advice. No, because we can't decide for you what class numbers to search. Yes, because this requires no subjective decision-making. No, because we can't decide for you what alternatives to search, and if we find anything we can't decide for you whether it constitutes a reasonable likelihood of confusion. Again, this doesn't require any subjective decision-making.