by James Cottone
On February 1, 2022 the United States Patent and Trademark Office announced the launching of their new Patent Public Search tool, a system designed to “provide more convenient, remote, and robust full-text searching of all U.S. patents and published patent applications.” The new system builds on the capabilities of their four existing search tools, namely the Public-Examiner’s Automated Search Tool (PubEAST), Public-Web-based Examiner’s Search Tool (PubWEST), Patent Full-Text Database (PatFT), and Published Patent Application Full-Text Database (AppFT). These four legacy search tools are scheduled to be retired in September 2022.