PTO Search Notes

The database may ignore punctuation characters (e.g., apostrophes and hyphens) or treat them as spaces. Accordingly, names with spaces, apostrophes, and hyphens may require a variety of searches in order to locate the specific name you are seeking. Examples of the names that may require more than one type of search include:

Name Search Method Search Method Search Method
D'Alexander
 D'Alexander DAlexander D Alexander
De Guzman
 De Guzman De'Guzman DeGuzman
De La Rosa
 De La Rosa DeLa Rosa DeLaRosa
Mc Williams
 Mc Williams Mc'Williams McWilliams
Mac Smith
 Mac Smith Mac'Smith MacSmith
O Driscoll
 O Driscoll O'Driscoll ODriscoll
O'rourke
 O'rourke O rourke Orourke
Van Cleave
 Van Cleave Van'Cleave VanCleave

For example, to search for "McKenna" it may be desirable to enter "(Mc and Kenna) or McKenna".

A practitioner's first name may also be entered to reduce the total number of names produced in the search results.

The PTO is in the process of developing improved search capability.