Patents, Trademarks, and Copyright

Databases

From the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office:

• Patent Public Search - New in 2022.  An advanced tool for searching U.S. patents and applications.
• 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.
• Patent Center - is the location for filing patents.  Also, it is where you can view application and correspondence documents.

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.  For coverage, see About Lens.

U.S. Plant Patents in Color:

• Plant Patents Image Database - Color images for U.S. Plant Patents.
• To see color images for the newest plant patents, if they are not yet in the "Plant Patents Image Database," use the Patent Center.
  • Change the default "application no." to "Patent #",
  • Enter the patent number -- in this format, pp23456.
  • "Supplemental Content" is near the bottom of the menu at left of the bibliographic record, with "Design Drawings," if available.

Including historic reports of the U.S. Patent Office:

Russ's Guide to Gazettes at the Hathi Trust helps to explain these next entries:

• Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, v.1 (1872) - v.1262 (2002) in the Hathi Trust Digital Library
• Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents from 1842-1921 and Index of patents issued from the United States Patent Office from 1920-1974, in the Hathi Trust Digital Library

Recommended Tutorials​ and Aids

• 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 Libraries​
• How to read a U.S. patent document - Help in understanding the parts of a U.S. patent.
• CPC Training - "The EPO and the USPTO have jointly prepared CPC training material to support users in their learning process of the CPC classification system."