(FORTUNE Magazine) – MicroPatent of New Haven, Connecticut, takes advantage of the vast capacity of CD-ROMs to make easily available to interested companies the staggering amount of information contained in the 2,000 patents issued in an average week by the U.S. Patent Office. MicroPatent sells a $199 CD-ROM disk that has basic information on all 1990 and 1991 patents. The company offers another set of disks with complete data on each patent, including schematic drawings; two new disks are issued every week. Annual subscription: $5,500. The patent shown here, for a somewhat fanciful invention by Cheng-Hsien Sher, a Taiwanese, was issued last October. It describes an ingenious device for keeping a cool head, in the literal rather than figurative sense. No plans yet for commercially exploiting the hat, though.