Patents, Trademarks, and Copyright

Databases

From the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office:

• Search Patents and Applications - these are two separate databases, PatFT (for issued patents) and AppFT (for applications).
• Classification Search - searching by classification is the approach recommended by experts for subject searching.
• USPTO Public Patent Application Information Retrieval (Public Pair) - Here you can see application materials and correspondence between the examiner and the inventor (or attorney).

Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) --- the classification system used for advanced subject searching:

• Cooperative Patent Classification hierarchy and description - a guide to the CPC from the European Patent Office.
• CPC scheme and CPC definitions - information to help with searching the patent literature. 

Other important websites for accessing patents and patent information:

• Google Patents - Google for patent searching, with well-developed features and international content.
• European Patent Office - Espacenet is one of the most popular patent databases; it has many helpful features, extensive content, and shows patent families.
• WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization - With a special strength in offering the patents of smaller countries whose patents might otherwise be hard to find.  Offering a Directory of Intellectual Property Offices and the PATENTSCOPE database.
• The Lens - Free & Open Patent & Scholarly Search - offering a new sort of search interface, with an emphasis on newer materials.

Recommended Tutorials​ and Aids

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• How to Conduct a Preliminary U.S. Patent Search: A Step by Step Strategy 

Video from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

• 7-Step U.S. Patent Search Strategy Guide 

Guide for preliminary patentability searching of the documents of the United States Patent Office.​

• Patent Searching 

Tutorial from the University of Minnesota Libaries​

• Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) Training 

The European Patent Office (EPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) have jointly prepared CPC training material to support users in their learning process of the CPC classification system.

• How to read a U.S. patent document 

Help in understanding the parts of a U.S. patent.