What are Patents?
A patent is a set of exclusive rights which has been granted by a sovereign state (or sometimes an intergovernmental organization). Such rights are granted to an inventor for a limited duration in exchange for detailed public disclosure of the invention. Patents typically prevent others from making or offering for sale those inventions.
Things to Consider
Patents are generally granted by specific countries. Patent numbers often have prefixes that indicate which country granted the patent. For example, the patent US5577561A was generated from within the United States. Follow this link for a list of country codes. That said, you may also encounter patents that have been generated from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) which is an organization created by the United Nations in 1967.
Finding Patents Online
- Derwent Innovations Index This link opens in a new window
Provides access to over 15,000,000 patents with links to cited and citing patents, cited articles, and (some) full-text patent data sources. Divided by Chemical, Electrical and Electronic, and Engineering.
- United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Full text for U.S. patents issued from 1976 to the present and PDF images for all patents from 1790 to the present. - European Patent Office
Patent data from more than 80 different countries. - World International Patent Organization (WIPO)
Searches over 96 million international and national patent documents. WIPO is affiliated with the United Nations.
- See The ForestA free, basic patent mapping tool.
