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Patents, Copyright, and Intellectual Property
Introduction
Patents are a rich source of scientific and technical information. The time-consuming task of searching for patents has been streamlined by the availability of Web-based patent search and retrieval systems. Below we link to the major patent databases and search engines on the Web.
The two primary databases, which are listed first, are the Worldwide Patents (ESP@CENET) database maintained by the European Patent Office which includes U.S. patents back to and the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office's web site, through which you can access the full page images of U.S. patents going back to 1790. Special care should be used to determine the scope of each database. Country coverage, starting dates, and searchable fields often vary within the same database depending on the country and the time period.
Major Patent Databases
Ei Patents
The patents databases on Engineering Village 2 include U.S. and European patents and patent applications covering a broad range of topics within the scientific, applied science, technical and engineering disciplines. Currently, there are records for over 10 million patents. Records include links out to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and European Patent Office websites, where you can download images and view the full text of the patent selected.
- Worldwide Patents Full-Text at ESP@CENET : This is the single, most comprehensive, free patent database available. The European Patent Office has developed a worldwide patent database of over 60 million patents from over 80 countries., many with full-text page images, available at no charge.
The starting date varies greatly by country with the earliest being 1836 for the United States. The availability of any given field also varies greatly by county and time period. For example, only about 50% of the patents have a title field and only 33% have an English abstract. Please review to the Coverage of the Worldwide Patent Database for details. We recommend you consult the International Patent Classification Manual before beginning your search.
This site permits downloading of the full-text of entire patents with a single command, including U.S. patents. However, the regular browser and Adobe Acrobat print/save commands and icons will not work. To print or download the entire patent, please consult Downloading Full-text Worldwide Patents from ESP@CENET.
- USPTO Patent Databases : The United States Patent & Trademark Office offers free access to the full text of U.S. patents and patent applications through its web site. Although it is a capable search system, viewing and printing patents can only be done one-page-at-a-time and requires downloading a special browser plug in.
Hence, to view and print the full-text of U.S. patents, we recommend either using a free patent fetcher (listed below) that automatically retrieves and creates a single multi-page document that can be printed or saved with a single mouse click or using the Worldwide Patent (ESP@CENENT) site to search, print, and download U.S. patents. Free patent fetchers include:
- Free Patents Online - U.S. patents back to December 16, 1974 & European patents (EP). Includes a full-featured search system, but especially handy for retrieving a known patent number. Free registration required to get images.
- Pat2pdf.org - U.S. Patents, 1790+. Searchable by patent number only.
- Patent Fetcher- Can fetch all patents available from the USPTO and Worldwide Patents (ESP@CENET) web sites.
The USPTO Issued Patents Database contains the full text of U.S. patents issued from 1790 to the present. Patents from 1790-1975 can be searched by patent number, issue date, or classification code only. Patents from 1976 to the present can be searched by keyword as well as patent number, classification code, inventor's name, assignee's (company's) name, issue and application date, etc. The USPTO Patent Applications Database contains the full text of patent applications published since March 15, 2001. We recommend that you consult the the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office's Index to the U.S. Patent Classification System in conjunction with its Manual of Classification (class number order) to determine the appropriate classification codes to use in your patent searching.
Please Note: USPTO uses a compressed TIFF file format for its full-page images of patents and patent applications. This format requires special software to view the files. For more information, including links to download the required software, go to: How to Access Full-Page Images.
- Free Patents Online : Provides free full-text access to PDF versions of U.S. and European patents.
- Patent Lens - Free full-text patent searching of U.S., World (WO), Australian (AU) and European (EP) patents as far back as 1976 depending on country.
National & International Patent Offices
- U.S. Patent & Trademark Office
- Canadian Patent Database : This database provides access to Canadian patent descriptions ("bibliographic" information and abstracts) plus images from 1920 to the present for free.
- European Patent Office
- Japanese Patent Office Industrial Property Digital Library : Searchable database of patent information held by the Japanese Patent Office available for free via the Internet. Access consists of English summaries of patents and patent applications as well as Japanese text.
- Links to Patent Offices Around the World including Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom
Intellectual Property
Copyright
Library Patent Collections / Depositories
- U.S. Patent & Trademark Depository Library Program : Libraries designated as Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries (PTDLs) receive current issues of U.S. patents and maintain collections of earlier-issued patents as well as trademarks. In the Western New York area, the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library is the designated PTDL. For more information, call 716-858-7101.
- Patents and Trademark Information , New York State Library
- Patents & Trademarks at the New York Public Library
Commercial Patent Services
Delphion Intellectual Property Network (formerly the IBM Intellectual Property Network) : Through this site, you can access the full images of U.S. Patent & Trademark Office patents issued from 1790 to the present for a fee. In addition, Delphion makes accessible to its customers patents and patent information from international patent-issuing bodies and from selected countries. For more information, see the Patent Collection Descriptions on their web site.
Derwent Scientific & Patent Information WWW Server : Derwent, a commercial firm specializing in patent information, provides access to the international patent literature. Derwent patent services include document delivery and translation services.
- Derwent's Patent Web provides a portal to the Derwent patent databases, a fee-based service.
QPAT-US : A subscription-based web service for patents and patent information that provides for an annual fee access to the Pluspat database, comprehensive patent family searching, detailed legal status information, unlimited PDF patent copies, and full-text searching of published applications and patents from the United States and the European Patent Office.
University Offices, Services, & Policies
- UB Office of the Vice President for Research
- UB Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach : The Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach administers the patenting and licensing of inventions made at UB by faculty, staff, and students. In addition, the office provides administrative and management support for other intellectual property matters such as copyright and trademark.
- SUNY Patents and Inventions Policy : The patents and inventions policy of the State University of New York as approved by the Board of Trustees on September 19, 1979 and amended on November 16, 1988.
