Generative AI Did A Thing Right?!

Yes, I was recently surprised to see that ChatGPT has finally learned how to locate Rice's most recently granted patent. It's only taken, what, 3 or 4 years? 

I suppose if you're a ChatGPT lover, you aren't surprised it got something right. And you probably think this validates your love for it*. But I'd like to pause and point out that it took ChatGPT years to figure out something I can teach humans in just a couple minutes, on multiple platforms. Not only that, I can teach humans how to do it using better sources.

Observe:  

Yes, this is correct, I checked it. I also checked it using a better resource than Justia Patents. Why is genAI so obsessed with Justia?! Any time I ask for patent info, that's their favorite site to use. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone else who favors that site. 

Anyway, I was surprised to see that something finally managed to get this question right, after asking many different LLMs the same thing over the past several years.

If you think it's hard item to produce, please come talk to me. I can help. 

*Do you depend on ChatGPT in your daily life? Do you think it makes everything better? Please see this article about how it is literally making your brain worse: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.08872

AI May Actually Work Now

If you're unfamiliar with my previous posts on generative AI--in particular ChatGPT and other similar LLMs--now may be a good time to do a quick review.

For those of you who read them before, allow me to make an exciting announcement: Generative AI might actually work now. That's right, it does what I asked. I am just as shocked as you.

After hearing from my tattoo artist about the Grok app, and its ability to search, I was skeptical. After all, most of these AI models that were not created specifically for searching are just garbage at it! And I had heard nothing even remotely positive about Grok previously. But I put on my librarian hat and did the right thing: I downloaded the app, signed in with my work Google account, and did a little testing.

Holy artificial dialogue. 

I was impressed! And I didn't want to be, either. However, I can recognize when something can provide a good answer. The first question I'll skim over--it was nothing more than I've been able to glean from other models, if among the better responses. It was the second question that caused the reaction.

From the start, I have asked all of the models to find the most recent patents granted to Rice University. Without fail, they have all given me a lot of bad answers, ranging from "I can't" to "here's a list of random patents and patent applications that may or may not be recent". Those that tell me it's "hard" to say what is most recent are just annoying, because patents are granted on specific dates. 

It explains it methodology and sources in its response, not requiring any extra clicks or selections

I ran this question on March 31st without having completed my monthly patent search for anything newly granted to Rice, so I couldn't immediately judge the accuracy of the results. But I do know quite a lot about Rice patents, and the two patents it listed took me by surprise. First, the most recent patent had what looked like a feasible patent number (12,251,449) and was granted to Rice and two other institutions that are frequent collaborators. The first inventor name listed is one I'm familiar with because he is on a lot of Rice patents, and the title of the patent matched his area of research. This was all promising.

All plausible, likely information at first glance

Furthermore, it listed a second patent that was granted near the end of  February, which I fully recognized as completely accurate (that one I had uploaded to the R3 repository). This additional patent made me think the first was that much more likely to be accurate.

Information I already knew was accurate

So I hopped on Patent Public Search, and verified. Sure enough, Grok got it right. 

Not only that, Grok listed quite a few details and sources used. This is also something I appreciate as a librarian and something I remind everyone in my generative AI classes to look for. 

Me shoutout! Love seeing that listed

Here's the bad news, though. It required Grok nearly a minute and 88 sources to find two patents.

This is not a request that requires 88 sources

Me? About 2 seconds and one source. Why? Because I am capable of real reasoning and actual strategic searching, with my very real intelligence.

So, no, Grok isn't going to replace me. Or us. It's just getting that tiny bit much better. Insert your appropriate emotion here: relief that you can stay employed, or disappointment that you still need to work.

Oak Tree Patents and Patent Center

Did you know that among plant patents are included some very large trees? Once such tree is the mighty oak, many of whom were felled recently by Hurricane Beryl. I decided that made this a good time to check out some patented oaks, and also show how to access their color photos in Patent Center, since that is where all color photos of plant patents now reside.

And, with that, I must ask if you have a MyUSPTO account. It isn't necessary to have one to search Patent Center, but it does give you lots of other advantages, like a home page that you can customize to your interests, and a second option for viewing expanded entries in a trademark search, and if you want to apply for a patent or trademark pro se, it is kind of required.  [I am here, in part, to promote the services of the USPTO; so just deal with the occasional plug!]

A view of my homepage in MyUSPTO

However, as I have learned the hard way, you cannot easily download or view patent images in Patent Center with the wrong internet browser. For example, my default at the office, Firefox. 

And because I don't want to mislead anyone, it is not easy to search using Patent Center. You need to know some kind of concrete number information first, like a publication, patent, application, PCT, or international design registration number. So we have to start with either the University of Maryland Libraries Plant Patent Image Database (only up to a certain point), Patent Public Search, or something like Lens. 

...This is getting complicated. Let's just look at some pretty oak pictures. I'll link you to more info for each.

We're going to focus on live oaks, Quercus fusiformis, because those are one of the most abundant in Houston.  

First, the Texas live oak 'Joan Lionetti' PP27,646. It's a cultivar that clearly is meant for our state. Patented in 2017, it's possible growing around us already.

Texas live oaks are abundant on Rice's campus, I wonder if any are patented?

I also quite like the southern live oak named 'Canon-Sharp', PP19,608 but that may be due in part to the very proud plant parent in the official image. It's hard not to like a tree that has so clearly pleased someone they felt the need to pose with it for a patent.

This person felt it was necessary to pose with the tree, when it really isn't

A live oak named 'SDLN', PP12,015, (they really didn't feel the need to name it anything memorable) has a good growth pattern and very nice natural shape. Oaks are nice.

A very forgettable name but a nice tree nonetheless

The southern live oak named 'CLTF2', PP11,097, does not have as nice of a shape as 'SLDN' in my opinion. However, it does have more interesting leaves, so perhaps that's compensation.

Is it just me, or do you also think this one doesn't have as nice a shape?

There are many more oaks out there that have been patented, but I though a few live oaks was sufficient for one day.

Hey Gummy Guy!

Well if gummy treats are going to be a big deal this football season, then we better know about gummy IP. 

Hey Gummy Guy! Whose products are you handing out? Trolli? Let's see what we can find.

We know that Trolli brand gummy worms are a big player in both the gummy world and Rice's football games. After all, he recently visited Fondren before a game with some giveaways in a very prominently marked bag. As expected, there are MANY marks registered for Trolli, some for the candy itself, others for various marketing accoutrements like lip balm, clothing, backpacks, and other apparel. Though there seems to be more than one Trolli confection company, the mark that stands out most is designed word mark, familiar from recent video shots. It was submitted for examination, serial no. 97711266, only just this September--though I know I've seen it in years past. Perhaps the actual appearance of the name Trolli was not previously considered important enough to register. 

Currently being examined for federal registration, but...

However, based on investigation of some of the other registered Trolli candy marks, that may be due to some recent changes in ownership or licensing. Another word mark, no design included, with registration no. 1285440, was first registered in 1984 and includes a specimen that contains a recognizable element:  

I see you, Trolli, and  your registered symbol!

That's definitely a familiar font, just like the one above.

A third contender's specimen even has a package of some truly familiar gummies I believe we might have seen in the YouTube video linked above, under registration no. 2140788.

Technically, these are caterpillars, not worms

Fun fact:  There are still more companies that own this Trolli brand registrations. And they have the correct Trolli candy packaging appearance in their specimen files.

I'm uncertain who actually owns this brand and the candy name. All three of the registrations lead to different company names and locations. But they must all be related--or there would be a likelihood of confusion problem!

The parent company that has applied for the new word mark registration, Ferrara Candy Company, owns several patents.

The company name of Trolli did not find any assigned patents, and neither does the German firm, Willy Mederer KG, which owns the mark for registration no. 1285440.

Maybe there's a lot of licensing for the name, and many people create a product? After all, the patents for Ferrara are only for designs of candy appearances and some candy/display boxes.

Or maybe we should just enjoy our athletic gummy treats and not worry about relevant IP.

LOL! Yeah right, IP is clearly never far from our minds, right? 

...right?

Green Rice Patents for Earth Day

Rice has made clear an interest in green tech and taking part in working to avert an imminent climate disaster over the past few years. From modernizing dining to committing to becoming carbon-neutral in the near future, environmentally-minded initiatives are found across campus. 

Research and innovation are important players in this endeavor, resulting in green tech patents.

Most of the Rice inventions are focused on alleviating some problematic areas of growing concern and potential future major concern. They range from reducing waste, improving solar power, and addressing the growing demand for clean, potable water.

For Earth Day 2023, let's look at a few recent patents and patent applications for eco-friendly Rice inventions. 

First is a patent that should be familiar to anyone who frequents Fondren Library's first floor exhibition area. US Patent 11,331,627, Use of surface modified porous membranes for fluid distillation, is one of the featured inventions patented in 2022. I corresponded with the lead inventor, Dr. Qilin Li, who provided some background information and art for the exhibit. She and her team build a device that uses solar or thermal power to distill, and therefore purify or clean, fluids like water. Its relatively small size and portability and the self-contained renewable power source make for a viable solution for those in remote, water-insecure areas. 

Up second is recently-granted patent US 11,591,670, Recycling Li-ion batteries using green chemicals and processes. A team of inventors discovered a way to extract the valuable minerals from used Lithium ion batteries with a solvent made from commonly-available products that is relatively harmless. It is effective on cobalt and lithium, but cobalt was prioritized.

Photo by Jeff Fitlow for Rice News

The ability to recapture metals that may become environmental contaminants otherwise--and in the case of cobalt, scarcer and harder to obtain initially--helps reduce both waste and the need for mining and manufacturing new materials. This process was featured in a Rice News story in 2019, but it can take years to complete the examination process. The patent was just granted this February. 

Two patent applications in the process of examination promise advancements in green technology. 

Patent Application 2022/0007692, Poly-albumen based green coating to enhance shelf life of perishable foods aims to not only decrease the amount of waste we produce, but through a method that does not rely on highly manufactured products. A film coating is applied to fruits and vegetables, formed from egg-derived polymers. This coating is washable, edible, and the materials come from cheap, readily available products or even waste. It's a viable method to prevent food waste before anything becomes a meal.

A diagram of the process from the patent application

A second promising invention is behind patent Application 2023/0114948, Conductive adhesive-barrier enabling integrated photoelectrodes for solar fuels. It is for an improvement in capturing energy fuels using solar energy, by transforming abundant resources like water, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen. Renewable and sustainable sources of energy are integral to even partially mitigating climate change. 

A diagram of the conductive adhesive-barrier from the patent application

Check out all four of these inventions, and then get out there and make your own changes!

Beer Trademarks for Beer Bike

 Beer Bike 2023 is almost upon us! What is, for many, Rice's biggest annual event is this Saturday, April 1st. Let's get into the spirit with some brewery trademarks from alumni businesses.

We'll start with the mot obvious choice, Houston's oldest microbrewery started by a pair of alumni, Brock Wagner (1987) and Kevin Bartol (1981): Saint Arnold. They own 9 live and currently registered marks. Most important of these is the word mark for the name Saint Arnold, registration no. 1886695. Registered in 1995, it is the principle trademark and lists beer, ales, porters and stouts under goods and services. See all the documentation for it here.

The other 8 marks are similarly word marks, mostly the names of their signatures brews like Lawnmower, Santo, or Art Car IPA. Two more are in the process of application--Tarnation (serial no. 97580003) and Hop Spring (serial no. 97764336). Finally, there's One Pot Showdown, no. 4443043, registered in 2013, a service mark for "organizing and conducting food and cooking competitions".

I am slightly disappointed that Saint Arnold has no design marks registered, like the iconic (pun intended) image of Saint Arnold holding a beer, hand gesturing towards a Texas shaped sun.

Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co., much more recently established by alum Rassul Zarinfar (2004), owns quite a few beer marks! I was pleased to find a design mark, the brewery's logo with a buffalo against the skyline: 

Buffalo Bayou, registration no. 5001182

 

 

It is the primary service mark for their brew pub, registered in 2016.

Buffalo Bayou also has 6 live word marks, each one for an individual beer. Those include their first trademark from 2012, 1836, registration no. 4212512.

Rather surprisingly, there is no word mark or even a trademarked design for the brewery itself, just the service mark.

Finally, Strike Brewing Co., which is not in Houston but San Jose, CA. Owned by Jenny Lewis (2005), Strike has 2 trademarks on file. Only one is live, the word mark for Strike Brewing Co., registration no. 4188098, 2012. View more about that mark here. 

Their dead mark is a design for a brew:

Dead Strike Brewing mark, registration no. 4188097

Strike Brewing Co. Wit Belgian Style Wheat design trademark was applied and registered at the same time as the general word mark, but cancelled or invalidated in 2019. Learn more about why at the TSDR here. 

CounterCommon Beerworks and Kitchen (Dennis Rhee, 2007,  and Jaime Robles, 2006) and Southern Yankee Beer Co. (Alex Porter, 2018) where are your marks? I didn't find anything. If you need any help with trademark searching or preparation, come see us!

Women Inventors of 1990s Rice

Happy Women's History Month! March has a number of interesting national days and dedications, but women's history is among the most prominent, and perhaps even important.

This blog celebrates some of the leading women in Rice's early(-ish*) history of patents and inventors. Rice's first surge in patenting university research/inventions took place in the 1990s. While there is definitely a direct relationship to the work of Dr. Smalley, several women made their own significant contributions. 

First, Dr. Alemka Kisic, formerly of the Biosciences department. She is the first woman inventor credited on a Rice-assigned patent, in 1990. She, along with three others, invented US 4,897,475: Process for synthesis of 5α-cholest-8(14)-en-3/β-ol-15-one and other 15-oxygenated sterols. 

Molecular diagrams from US Patent 4,897,475

Dr. Kisic was even more influential outside her role as inventor. Rice annually awards the Dr. Alemka Kisic Distinguished Staff Service Award from the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology "in recognition of exceptional leadership and devoted service" to two department members. 

Dr. Linda Torczon is the second woman on a Rice-assigned patent. She and three others invented US 5,249,295: Digital computer register allocation and code spilling using interference graph coloring.

Process flowchart from US Patent 5,249,295

In addition, Dr. Torczon earned all three of her degrees from Rice during the 1980s, and has been a part of the computer science department since 1985. Dr. Torczon's impressive dedication and loyalty to Rice computer science is paired with her outreach efforts focused on increasing the representation and presence of women and underrepresented minorities in science, especially computer sciences.  

The third woman credited on a Rice-owned patent is Dr. Laura Suggs, who worked on a Rice-owned patent while studying for her Ph.D. in chemical engineering, which was awarded in 1998. She was the lead inventor on US 5,644,005: Method of making poly(propylene fumarate-coethylene oxide). 

Molecular diagrams from US Patent 5,644,005

Presently, Dr. Suggs holds UT's biomedical engineering department's Zarrow Centennial Professorship in Engineering. She is a credited inventor on other patents, such as US 6,355,755, granted in 2002.

The last female inventor on a Rice-owned patent from the 1990s is Dr. Yildiz Bayazitoglu, lead inventor of US 5,887,018: Longitudinal electromagnetic levitator. 

Schematic representation of magnetic flux density from US Patent 5,887,018

Dr. Bayazitoglu was the inventor on an earlier patent, US 5,527,136: Mono-tripod platform, but it is assigned to the Halliburton Company. She also is credited as an inventor on two later patents issued to Rice, US 7,323,136 and US 8,034,134, which can be found in the Digital Scholarship Archive patent repository. 

She is still Rice's Harry S. Cameron Professor in Mechanical Engineering.

Rice's European Patents

Let's talk about the patents that Rice University owns that were granted in Europe. Little attention has been paid to these in the past, to the point that one might be surprised to learn Rice owns patents in Europe.

At present, there are 5 active patents assigned to Rice by the European Patent Office (EPO), according to Lens.org.

Among them, the most recently granted was EP 3,033,346 B1, Derivatives of Uncialamycin, Methods of Synthesis and Their Use as Antitumor Agents. Granted January 8, 2020, it was invented by a team of 6 inventors (Kyriacos C. Nicolaou, Min Lu, Debashis Mandal, Sanjeev Gangwar, Naidu S. Chowdari, and Yam B. Poudel) and co-owned by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and The Scripps Research Institute. The same patent is also filed with the USPTO, under the same title, and the applications were submitted on the same day. However, there were three patents granted by the USPTO stemming from the first application set: US 9,777,013; US 10,233,192; and US 10,889,590. 

EP 3,033,346: Derivatives of Uncialamycin, Methods of Synthesis and their Use as Antitumor Agents

There is nothing obvious about these five inventions indicating why Rice pursued their ownership in the EU. Only one, EP 2,753,733 B1, Carbon Nanotubes Fiber Having Low Resistivity, High Modulus and/or High Thermal Conductivity and a Method of Preparing Such Fibers by Spinning Using a Fiber Spin-Dope, is co-owner or co-invented by an entity or people located in Europe. In that case, half the invention team and Conyar B.V. are from the Netherlands. 

EP 2,753,733: Carbon Nanotubes Fiber Having Low Resistivity, High Modulus and/or High Thermal Conductivity and a Method of Preparing Such Fibers by Spinning Using a Fiber Spin-Dope

The other four are either co-owned by American entities or Rice entirely. Perhaps there are commercial interests abroad that aren't obvious in a patent.

Expanding results to include expired patents doesn't really increase our results; evidently there are only two more EPO Rice patents. None of them were filed before 1998, and that one expired patent is an outlier by about 4-5 years. A few more results pop up if applications are included, but again the increase is minimal.

EXPIRED! Hemoglobin Mutants with Reduced Nitric Oxide Scavenging

With so few EPO patents, past, present, and potential, we simply must conclude Rice doesn't have much interest in owner European IP.  

Hanszen's Inventor, 1964

In the 1960s, Hanszen College was home to a Rice inventor. Thomas L. Wilson graduated in 1964 with a BA in electrical engineering. But before he left, he applied for a patent: US 3,545,266, Noninertial strapping-down gravity gradient navigation system. Though it was not granted until well after he left--December of 1970--the address shown on the patent is still Hanszen College. 

Learning about Thomas L. Wilson during his time as an Owl and a Hanszenite was challenging. He did not use his full first name and middle initial at all times, thus becoming one of two Tom Wilsons studying at Rice during roughly the same period. I can't blame him for the truncation or generally leaving out the L., but it made separating Tom Wilson, Hanszen, '64, from Tom Wilson, Baker, '63, difficult. They were both very active members of student societies and, as best as I could tell, may have been on the Honor Council around the same time.

The Thresher exacerbated the Honor Council confusion because writers did not usually specify year or college when mentioning either Tom.

Thresher notification of the upcoming 'Engineer' publication. Notice the lack of year, major, or college associated with his name.

Luckily, the '63 and '64 Campanile provided enough photos to generally tell them apart; Thomas L. Wilson's senior picture and blurb were particularly useful. 

Thomas L. Wilson's junior year Campanile photo

Mr. Wilson's senior blurb

That said, here's a little bit about Tom Wilson, the inventor from Hanszen:

• He was an editor in a newly established student periodical, The Rice Engineer. Evidently, a bathroom was the most appropriate site for the editorial/management group photo.
  
  
  
• Tom also joined groups related to his studies, both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and Pre-Med Society.  
• As a senior, he was elected and initiated into Tau Beta Pi, an engineering honors society.

  

  Mr. Wilson was at the top of his engineering classes.
  

• His interests were not only in the sciences; he was also a member of Eulenspiegel, which had a description that, today, I find mildly alarming, and wholly uninformative as to its purpose.

  

  This likely would not appear in a description today
  

• Tom took great exception to a professor's letter to the Thresher criticizing recent student activities,  mostly because it was submitted anonymously.

  

  Mr. Wilson did not approve of a professor anonymously authoring a critical letter to the Thresher
  

Mr. Wilson's patent is extremely technical, but for those who are interested, you can read it's entirety by visiting this link. 

Congrats to Hanszen for being the only Rice college to appear on a patent!

Credits for Thresher and Campanile images:  

The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 51, No. 13, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 11, 1963. Rice University, https://hdl.handle.net/1911/66369.

Rice University. "The Campanile,1963." (1963) https://hdl.handle.net/1911/106133.

Rice University. "The Campanile,1964." (1964) https://hdl.handle.net/1911/106134.

The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 3, 1964. Rice University, https://hdl.handle.net/1911/66396.