I’ve recently come across a free trademark search site, Trademarkia,  that allows users to search for domain names, logos, trademarks currently published for opposition, brand ideas, and the option to search social media networks for brand names.

LibGuides offer researchers and prior art searchers a way to find resources recommended by experts on a specific topic.

The Intellogist Blog compares how well free summarizing tools and a summarizer tool on PatBase summarize the claims of a patent document. Do you know of any tools for summarizing a patent document?

Where do you usually find the latest news on database updates and new search platform features?

How has Inspec changed during 2011?  The database has had a busy year, with a new “cited references” field, new coverage, and powerful new search platforms.

On the CHMINF listserv, there was recently an interesting debate over whether single-publisher platforms should really be called "databases."  This topic is particularly important to prior art searchers, since they are looking for resources with the most comprehensive coverage available.  Are all single-publisher search platforms transparent about the limitations…

Conduct a cross-lingual search on PATENTSCOPE with the  Cross-Lingual Information Retrieval (CLIR) facility.  In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I search for chocolate PCTs.

Here's a quick guide on accessing the free Early Journal Content on JSTOR, a large subscription-based online archive of journal articles.  JSTOR is also soon releasing a "Register and Read" program, where users can gain temporary free access to some articles.

Through the free Sobotong search engine, users can enter a single term in English and complete the search in two languages simultaneously.  Users can also filter their results by media type and even document type.  Do you know of any other free bilingual search engines?

The USPTO and NSF are accepting open nominations for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation (NMTI) and National Medal of Science (NMS).

Here are some of the latest updates to Compendex, an important resource for engineering and technological information: a revised thesaurus, author profile pages, and more.