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Patents

Resources for starting your research for patent information

Patent Searching

Creating a patent search

Perhaps the hardest part of patent searching is the fact that it is NOT keyword searching. It instead focuses on:

  • the function of the item
  • the materials used to make the product
  • how the item is intended to be used

Answer these questions:

  1. Essential function
    1. What does it do?
    2. Who will this be used by?
  2. Physical structure
    1. What is it made of?
    2. What are the additional components?
  3. Intended use
    1. What is it used for?
    2. What is the expected result of its use? 

Other Ideas for Finding Patents

  • If you're looking for the patent of a well-known product, search Google for the creator or distributor name. Either or both of these could be on the patent.
  • Use Patent Lens and a search using a the known product name in quotes.
  • Gather CPC Classifications from relevant patents in your search and use those to find related patents.
  • Use the cited and cited by lists in Patent Lens to look for related patents.

Searching for Patents

There are two main search engines for US patents: the USPTO (more difficult) and Patent Lens (less difficult). IPatent Lens has patents issued from 1976-present and also indexes patent applications from 2001-present. If you are looking for older patents however, you will need to check USPTO as well.