This page covers databases for finding court opinions relating to intellectual property.
Note, for finding cases organized by subject, go to Cases by Topic at the bottom of this page.
The USPQ is a reporter, originally published by the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), which is now part of Bloomberg. The USPQ covers intellectual property cases, including federal and state court decisions, and administrative decisions, including the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI), the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)(the successor to BPAI), the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), and International Trade Commission (ITC)(but only up to 2013). Coverage begins 1929. It is available in the following database.
There are a number of IP case databases within Westlaw. To see a list of them, go to "Practice Areas" tab, then "Intellectual Property," then "Cases" or "Administrative Decisions & Guidance." Click on "i" to get more information about coverage. For state IP cases, go to the "States" tab, then select the state. Cases are not organized by IP under the state cases. Examples of some IP case databases are listed below.
There are a number of IP case databases in Lexis. Go to "Practice Areas" tab, then select the relevant area of law, e.g. patent, trademark, or copyright. Then, go to "Cases" or, for administrative decisions, look under "Administrative Materials." For specific courts, like the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, use the "Cases" link on the home page and browse until you find the court. Examples of databases are listed below.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was established in 1982 from a merger of the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA) and the Court of Claims Appellate Division (CCAP). It has exclusive jurisdiction of appeals of patent decisions from U.S. district courts, BPAI decisions, PTAB decisions, TTAB decisions, and ITC decisions relating to unfair practices in import trade. Databases with only Federal Circuit decisions are listed below. Other databases, such as the USPQ, also include Federal Circuit decisions, along with decisions of other tribunals.
Some publishers have organized cases by topic. These topically organized resources are sometimes called digests, classification outlines, or indexes. In Westlaw, it is called the Key Number system. These topic outlines are very useful for finding all the cases on a particular topic or for finding cases when term searching is difficult because, for example, the search terms are common.
