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Patent Image Files
Image files of all patents in the USTPO database are in TIFF, or the Tagged Image File Format. To view these image files, you must install and use a browser plug-in on your workstation. The USPTO recommends installing one of the free TIFF viewers available on the Web. One viewer is available at the AlternaTIFF website. You must register the software in order to install it. A second viewer is available at the interneTIFF website. According to the interneTIFF website, "The Free Version of interneTIFF comes with a 5-day evaluation of the complete registered product. After the evaluation period, most of the features will be disabled. You can still View/Print/Save individual pages in the Patent at the USPTO." The Patent Office warns that patent images can only be retrieved one page at a time. Moreover, image button links are valid only for short time periods, and finally, successful printing of patents and navigation of patent images requires the use of the viewer's navigation buttons -- not your browser's navigation buttons. |
