Because the patent office has a searchable online patent database, this only took about 20 minutes.

FORBES: A Crisis in Reporting?

This style, combined with the tendency invent new terminology for standard concepts, makes searching the patent database almost impossible.

FORBES: Software Is Just Math. Really.

Eventually the patent database becomes rich enough with prior art to reach an equilibrium, but the errors in the interim produce a batch of legacy patents that never should have issued.

FORBES: The Problems With Software Patents (Part 1 of 3)

They are tied to greater needs such as the need for a global drug patent database to facilitate access to safe, cheap generic drugs that would help to undercut the black market.

FORBES: The Crisis of Counterfeits and Transparency in Developing World Medicine

If ever there were a purgatory for ideas, it'd be the USPTO's patent application database.

ENGADGET: Pair of Apple patent applications set the stage for hearing aid-based social network

According to my reading of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database, "Rae's Creek" just might be permissible.

WSJ: Augusta: Look but Don't Touch

In a bit of bad timing for Schmidt, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a Google patent today for a celebrity facial recognition database.

FORBES: Google Patents A Celebrity Facial Recognition Database

Patent examiners typically focus their prior art searches on the database of existing patents.

FORBES: The Problems With Software Patents (Part 1 of 3)