By Godson Umejiego, Bureau Chief, The Americas

To provide a more modern, improved user experience for visitors to www.uspto.gov, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has launched an updated tool to search for general information. The improved search experience introduces new features, functionality, and customization for visitors using the search bar that appears at the top of our webpages. 

The website search tool is a result of a five-month testing period where the USPTO collected valuable customer feedback on the new search system. The tool now includes more control over search results, giving customers the ability to more quickly and accurately narrow results to find content they are looking for, whether it’s an upcoming event, a blog article, or information about how to protect their intellectual property. 

“We are excited to launch this newly enhanced search tool, which will provide website visitors with a better, more efficient search experience,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO Kathi Vidal. “We are committed to strengthening the accessibility, design, and overall satisfaction with all our tools and programs so that we can continue to provide America’s innovators with the highest quality service.”

The updated search tool now includes prominent links to intellectual property (IP) databases, such as the Patent Public Search tool (PPUBS) and Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) for users searching for patents and trademarks.

USPTO invites stakeholders to continue to share their feedback on this updated search tool, and to stay up to date on its ongoing website improvements.