“Google” was added to the Miriam-Webster Dictionary in 2006 and with Google Books on the horizon, it comes as no surprise that Google has entered another frontier—the world of patents.  On Wednesday, Secretary of Commerce and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office David Kappos announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has signed a two-year agreement with Google “to make bulk electronic patent and trademark public data available to the public in bulk form.” Google Patents will allow free public viewing of several types of patent documents including:

• Patent grants and published applications
• Trademark applications
• Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) proceedings
• Patent classification information
• Patent maintenance fee events
• Patent and Trademark assignments

According to Kappos, the goal of the partnership is to “[provide] increased transparency…so companies and researchers can download [the information] for analysis and research.” Google’s engineering manager, Jon Orwant, agrees saying, “It’s important to make public data easier to gather and analyze.”