Industrial & Product Development

EDGAR online
www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm
The SEC requires all public companies (except foreign companies and those with less than $10 million in assets and 500 shareholders) to file registration statements, periodic reports and documents through EDGAR.

GuideStar
http://www.guidestar.org/
Claiming to be a clearinghouse of information on nonprofit organizations, at GuideStar you can find "information on the activities and finances of more than 65,000 nonprofit organizations, the latest news on philanthropy, and resources for donors and nonprofits." Charities are searchable by such things as keyword, geography, and income.

NAICS (North American Industry Classification System)
www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html
Identifies industrial and product categories and assigns them a six-digit classification number. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) has replaced the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system NAICS was developed jointly by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to provide new comparability in statistics about business activity across North America.

SIC Manual (Standard Industrial Classification) 1987.
www.osha.gov/oshstats/sicser.html
Identifies industrial and product categories and assigns them a four-digit classification number (SIC code.) The SIC system was developed when manufacturing had a dominant role in the economy of the United States. Because of the changing economy and despite revisions, a new system, the NAICS (see above) is replacing SIC as a business tool.

Thomas’ Register of American Manufacturers
www.thomasregister.com/index.html (Registration (free) is required)
Thomas Register is the most comprehensive online resource for finding companies and products manufactured in North America. It identifies over 170,000 U.S. manufacturing and service companies and permits you to search in over 72,000 product headings. Registration is free.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
http://www.uspto.gov/
Not only can you look for trademarks and patents in the databases of this site, you can also find out about applying for them, download forms, read up on the laws involved, and get information on the classification system.