Patents Overview
Patents provide important technical literature. There are approximately 10 million patents in the U.S. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the official site and answers many questions concerning the patent process. A patent for an invention grants a property right to the inventor, usually for 20 years. The USPTO is not the best place for patent searching, though, instead search Google Patents or Patent Lens, or the sites listed further below. Both patent applications and granted patents are included.
This image (click to enlarge) shows the major parts of a patent. Purdue University points to several good tutorials on patent search strategies, including a discussion of patent classification systems. See also this guide's tab on patent classifications.
See the Search Tips tab for more information, including video tutorials for Google Patents and the Lens.
The Best Free Patent Web Sites
- Google PatentsGoogle Patents has 120 million patents from 100 countries. Keyword and classification searching, ability to download bulk data.
- The Lens (formerly Patent Lens)The Lens serves all patents and scholarly works, with keyword/classification searching and ability to download bulk data. Has 141 million patents from 90+ countries.
- EspaceNetEspaceNet has120 million patents from 100 countries, keyword and classification searching, and ability to download bulk data.
Cornell Patent Office
- Center for Technology LicensingCalled CTL, this is Cornell's main office on campus for patent management.
Questions?
More Patent Databases
- Canadian Patents DatabaseCanadian Intellectual Patent Office (CIPO) contains all Canadian patents and images from 1933 to the present.
- FreePatentsOnlineRequires registration to access PDFs of patents. Allows for RSS feeds and PDF and XML data downloads.
- Japan Patent Office (JPO)Access to japanese patent abstracts.
- SciFinder-nRequires registration. Includes patents from over 60 patent authorities.
- United States Patent and Trademark OfficeAccess to all U.S. patents and U.S. patent applications. Can examine patent class definitions. and use search box on this page for keyword searching of class definitions. Search interface is still clumsy, recommend other databases on this page for non-classification searching.
- World Intellectual Property Organization PatentScopeWIPO PATENTSCOPE contains 73 million world patents and 3.5 million patent applications, including national/regional collections. Includes an AI-based translation tool.
Engineering Librarian
Engineering Library
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
jhp1@cornell.edu
engrref@cornell.edu