December 07, 2005


Rethink(IP)

Things We Hate About The USPTO.gov Website: search navigation



by Stephen M. Nipper




Here's one thing that drives me nuts...patent searching on the USPTO site.

Let's say I go to the USPTO's search page and search for patents to Idaho inventors. I would type "is/ID"
Capture11-29-2005-3.06.41 PM.jpg
and hit the Enter key. That would give me the following results:
Capture11-29-2005-3.07.30 PM.jpg
Whoa! Too many results (blame it on Micron and HP). I better narrow my search. I'll change the search to include "ic/Boise" and I'll hit the Enter key. What do I then get:
Capture11-29-2005-3.07.59 PM.jpg
Say what? Result 51 of 100?

What happened? The focus didn't follow my cursor. When I selected the input box and added "ic/Boise" the focus remained on the "Next 50 hits" button instead of following me to the "Refine Search" box. Argh.

To complete my search I can't just hit Enter. I have to physically press the "Refine Search" button:
Capture11-29-2005-3.08.28 PM.jpg

Is this something that ONLY annoys me?

Click here for our previous "things we hate."




Posted to Rethink(IP) by Stephen M. Nipper in categories: uspto.gov feedback
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Copyright 2005 Stephen M. Nipper