USPTO Patent Full-Text & Image Database (PatFT)
Access: Public
Geography: US
Searchable database of published patents, powered by the US Patent & Trademark Office. (Searches are limited to patent numbers and/or classification codes for pre-1976 patents.)
USPTO Patent Application Full-Text & Image Database (AppFT)
Access: Public
Geography: US
Searchable database of published US patent applications. Coverage is from March 2001 to the present; updated weekly.
Espacenet
Access: Public
Geography: US & Global
Espacenet is the largest public patent database on the internet. It contains 110 million patent documents from more than 90+ countries including Canada and the U.S or a total of 100+ patent authorities, plus 2 million records for non-patent literature cited in EPO search reports. Espacenet is produced by the European Patent Office (EPO).
Google Patents
Access: Public
Geography: US & Global
Google Patents includes over 120 million patent publications from 100+ patent offices around the world, as well as many more technical documents and books indexed in Google Scholar and Google Books, and documents from the Prior Art Archive. See instructions for searching Google Patents.
The Lens
Access: Public
Geography: US & Global
A joint initiative of Cambia (an independent non-profit institute) and Queensland University of Technology. An open access host for over 100 million patent records from 95+ jurisdictions, along with over 200 million scholarly records. Its search system allows for use of advanced boolean functions, structured search, biological search, and classification search options to find the most relevant and important patent.
Derwent Innovations Index (Web of Science)
Access: UCI
Geography: US & Global
Covers over 20 million patents worldwide from 1963 to the present in three sections: chemical, electrical and electronic, and engineering.
Materials Science & Engineering
Access: UCI
Geography: US & Global
Millions of bibliographic abstracts covering new technologies and engineering research. Features both scholarly journals and grey literature including: patents, conference proceedings, government reports, newswires, etc. to provide the widest awareness and discovery of developments in the field.
NOLO's Patent Searching Made Easy [eBook]
Access: UCI
Learn how to verify the patent status of an idea, search Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries, and use online patent search services. Learn how to assign your idea to the right class, compare it to related ideas, and then determine if it's novel enough to qualify for a patent.
7-Step U.S. Patent Search Strategy Guide
Access: Public
Detailed PDF handout (including examples and screenshots) outlining the Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC)’s suggested procedure for patent searching.
How to Conduct a Preliminary U.S. Patent Search: A Step by Step Strategy
Access: Public
A 38-minute web based tutorial from The Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC) Program covering the following topics: benefits of thorough searching, patentability, prior art, Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC), and patent search steps.
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) is a hierarchical system that groups similar patents together (similar to NAICS codes used for grouping companies in the same industry). CPC facilitates searching for "like" patents, regardless of the terminology used to describe the invention.
Example of CPC Scheme:
A46B 9/04 toothbrush bristles arrangement
| Level | CPC Code | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Section | A | Human Necessities |
| Class | A46 | Brushware |
| Subclass | A46B | Brushes |
| Main Group | A46B 9/00 | Arrangement of bristles in the brush body |
| Subgroup | A46B 9/04 | ... for toothbrushes |
UCI - Authorized Affiliates
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UCI
Access is available to all users physically on the UCI campus.
Remote access is available to users with active UCInetID and password using the VPN.
Public
Access is generally available to all users.