What is a patent?
A patent is an exclusive right given to an inventor for around 20 years to protect their invention from being copied or used by others without permission.
Patents are not peer-reviewed in the same way that academic journal articles are. When you submit a patent application, it is examined by a patent examiner at the relevant patent office (such as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or the European Patent Office).
While the examiner may conduct a search of prior art (existing knowledge, publications, patents, etc.) to assess the claims, the process does not involve independent experts or a formal peer-review process like in academic publishing. The focus is more on legal and technical aspects rather than a critical evaluation by a panel of subject matter experts.
There are three main types of patents:
Utility patents (for new and useful inventions)
Design patents (for new, original, and ornamental designs)
Plant patents (for new plant varieties).
Patent Information
Characteristics of a patent
Westlaw
- Westlaw Next Campus Research This link opens in a new windowWestlaw Next Campus Research is a comprehensive legal database, which includes federal and all 50 states materials; such as statutes, regulations, briefs, proposed and enacted legislation and the US Code Annotated. This database also includes West's KeyCite feature for verification of the status of a case, statute, administrative decision, or regulation and Wests Key Number System.
Searching for a patent
To find a patent:
- Google Patent Search
Search for granted patents and applications from USPTO and other international bodies. More info on Google Patents.
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Full text of all US patents from 1790 to the present. To save a PDF, you can enter the patent number into Patent Fetcher.
- SciFinder (Chemical Abstracts)
A good place to start. Patents are selected from over 35,000 International Patent Classification (IPC) codes and 99 U.S. National Patent Classification Codes.
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esp@cenet
European Patent Organization contains 4 databases of patent records from around the world. Includes U.S. patents after the 1820. -
pat2pdf
Fast way to retrieve a PDF of a U.S. patent using a patent number. -
Canadian Patent Database
Provide users with extensive information on Canadian patent documents from 1920 to present.
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European Publication Server
European Patent Office patent applications and granted patents. -
FreePatentsOnline.com
Covers U.S. (1976+), European, Japanese, and worldwide patents. -
Patent Lens
Patent Lens searches the full text of patents from the U.S., Australia, Europe, and worldwide.
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WIPO PatentScope
Searches >10 million international patent documents.