What is a Patent:
A patent refers to an exclusive right granted to anyone who invents any new, useful, and non-obvious process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, and claims that right in a formal patent application.
Searching for Patents
- Patent tutorials by Micheal White , Science Librarian, Queen's University Library. Excellent introduction on how to search for patents by subject , read patent numbers.
Sources for Patents
- esp@cenet
International patent database containing 60+ million patents from more than 70 national and regional patent offices. Online tutorials for esp@cenet searching are available here.
- Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) Patent Database
Canadian patent records, 1869 to present; full-text documents, 1920 to present. Guide to Patents.
- U.S. Patent Office
U.S. patents, 1790 to present and published applications, 2001 to present. Patents prior to 1976 can be retrieved by number, date and classification. TIFF viewer required to view/print patent documents. General overview of the U.S. patent system.
- LexisNexis-Patents
This database contains U.S. patents from 1971 forward, searchable by keyword, patent number, classification number, lawyer, assignee, inventor or summary.
- SciFinder Web
Patents from 61 patent authorities. Click for CAS coverage of patents.
- Reaxys
English-language patents from three IPC classes (C07 Organic Chemistry, A61K and secondary IPC C07 [Medicinal, Dental, Cosmetic Preparations], and C09B Dyes) are excerpted from the PCT (WIPO), European (EPO) and USPTO Patent Offices.
- FreePatentsOnline
- Google Patents : U.S. patents in PDF format, 1790 to present.
Readings on Patents:
