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Why look for patents?
A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem.
Patents are a broad source of technical information and encourage innovation. Many companies do not disclose their products in any other form.
To learn more, check out the patent tutorials and the various websites that are recommended resources for searching U.S. and International patents.
Patents: Introductory materials
- Tutorial: Patents and patentabilityIn this tutorial you will learn about the different types of patents, how patents relate to inventions, what makes an idea patentable, and the parts of a patent.
- Tutorial: Patent searchingThis tutorial explains the benefits of using patents in your research and how to search using Google Patents in conjunction with the USPTO Patent Database.
Patents: Search tools
- Derwent Innovations Index (Web of Science)Merges patent information from Derwent World Patents Index with the patent citation information from Derwent Patent Citation Index. Users can conduct patent and citation searches of inventions in chemical, electrical, electronic, and mechanical engineering.
- Patent Inspiration This link opens in a new windowPatent Inspiration is a fast and powerful interactive database that helps with the navigation and exploration of 69 million patents. The database contains full text (claims & descriptions) of the main searched authorities (WO, EP, US, CA,etc) and contains bibliographic data from over 90 countries. Interactive visualizations and text mining are just a few of the analysis tools available.
Current students, faculty, and staff must register and create personal accounts using University of Minnesota e-mail addresses to save reports, export all patents, make use of the briefcase and use the more advanced analyses tools. Please email ermumtc@umn.edu with a subject line "Request for Patent Inspiration personal account" to start the process of account creation.
- United State Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Patent Public SearchThe United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the federal agency which grants U.S. patents. Their Patent Public Search has both Basic and Advanced Search options.
- The LensAn open global cyber infrastructure to make the innovation system more efficient and fair, more transparent and inclusive. It serves many of the patent documents in the world as open, annotatable digital public goods that are integrated with scholarly and technical literature along with regulatory and business data.
- Canadian Patents Database (CIPO)CIPO's Canadian Patent Database allows you access 150 years of patent descriptions and images.
- Espacenet: European Patent Office SearchSearches through patent documents filed with the European Patent Office, along with 81 other jurisdictions.
- WIPo PatentscopeSearches through international patent applications along with patent documents from a large number of national patent offices.
- Google Patent SearchAllows for full-text searching of patent grants and applications from the United States and several other major jurisdictions.
Last Updated: Jul 19, 2024 2:46 PM
URL: https://libguides.umn.edu/FindResourcesbyFormat