Q: How do I search for a patent granted to a young William Gates III between the years 1967-71 for a silicon chip or proces
I believe it to be a patent I sent him to the patent office with.
A:
This is not easy as the USPTO tools for searching fields such as name do not apply to patents from that time frame.
The assignment database goes back to 1980. The full text search tool on USPTO goes back to 1976. While the images of the earlier patents can be retrieved by patent number, that won't help you.
You could try looking at Microsoft patents from 1976 to 1980 as it is common for a company to list their earlier patents when filing a new patent application and those lists may reach back to the 1967-1971 time frame.
You can also use Google Patents as they seemed to have OCR'd a number of older patents so you can do field based searches.
Here is a start -- https://patents.google.com/?inventor=William+Gates&before=priority:19801231&after=priority:19670101
Finally, you can contact a research librarian at a major engineering school near you. They may have knowledge of old directories of inventors or other tools that can help you.
I hope this helps.
Kevin E Flynn
Justia Ask a Lawyer is a forum for consumers to get answers to basic legal questions. Any information sent through Justia Ask a Lawyer is not secure and is done so on a non-confidential basis only.
The use of this website to ask questions or receive answers does not create an attorney–client relationship between you and Justia, or between you and any attorney who receives your information or responds to your questions, nor is it intended to create such a relationship. Additionally, no responses on this forum constitute legal advice, which must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. You should not act upon information provided in Justia Ask a Lawyer without seeking professional counsel from an attorney admitted or authorized to practice in your jurisdiction. Justia assumes no responsibility to any person who relies on information contained on or received through this site and disclaims all liability in respect to such information.
Justia cannot guarantee that the information on this website (including any legal information provided by an attorney through this service) is accurate, complete, or up-to-date. While we intend to make every attempt to keep the information on this site current, the owners of and contributors to this site make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to from this site.
