The Patent Assignments file can be used to locate assignment data on patents. A patent is considered personal property, and as such may be transferred or sold by one party to another. This transfer is accomplished by an instrument in writing, referred to as an assignment. This file contains records of those assignments. Each can be considered a link in the chain of the ownership of a patent. This file can be used to find patents assigned to companies; search for assignment record(s) of a patent by patent number; search for the assignment record(s) of patents by words in the patent titles; or search for assignment record(s) of patents by assignor and/or assignee name.
To access this file, select the patents section from the main menu of the CASSIS workstation, then click on the "Patents Assign" selection and the search mask for the file will appear on the screen. The file is searchable on the following fields:
Patent Number: The number of the patent that you want information on.
Issue Date: The date that the patent was issued by the Patent and Trademark Office.
Serial Number: The 8-digit serial number of the assignment document.
Dated Recorded: The date that the assignment document was recorded at the Patent and Trademark Office.
Reel/Frame Number: The reel number of the microfilm that contains the document.
Assignor Name: The name of the party (or parties) assigning the patent rights to someone else.
Assignee Name/Add: The name of the party (or parties) receiving the patent rights from someone else. "Add" is a reminder that any patent number located this way should always be searched by itself in order to locate any prior assignment history.
Execution Date: The date that the assignment papers were signed.
Brief: This is the brief for the different kind of assignment transactions.
Patent Title: Use this field to search by words in the title of a patent.
Correspondence Add: This field contains the name and address of the party to whom the deed is returned after being recorded.
Related Patent Numbers: The numbers of any patents that are related to this assignment.
