A patent is a legal right granted by a government to an inventor that protects a new and non-obvious invention, or improvement on an existing invention, for a limited time. In most countries patents are valid for 20 years
Patent Search
Google Patents indexes full-text patent documents from Canada, China, European Patent Office, Germany, PCT and the U.S.
Search 2 million Canadian patents from 1869 to the present. Full-text documents are available from 1869 forward. This database is produced by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) and is updated weekly.
FPO covers patents from the European Patent Office, Germany and the U.S., Japanese patent abstracts and published PCT applications.
Patent Lens is a public patent database indexing 100 million patent documents from 90+ national and regional patent offices. Full-text EP, US and WO documents are available.
SciFinder provides access to more than 100 years of chemistry and related science information through the combined coverage of Chemical Abstracts and MEDLINE. SciFinder includes patents from 65 patent issuing authorities worldwide. As of June 2013, approximately 23.5% of the records in SciFinder are patents.
Most patent offices provide free access to patent documents via public databases. The following are some of the largest and most popular patent office databases.
Search 2 million Canadian patents from 1869 to the present. Full-text documents are available from 1869 forward. This database is produced by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) and is updated weekly.
DEPATISnet is produced by the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA). It covers patent documents from more than 90 countries including Canada and the U.S.
The largest public patent database on the internet, Espacenet contains 100 million patent documents from more than 90+ countries including Canada and the U.S., plus 2 million records for non-patent literature cited in EPO search reports. Espacenet is produced by the European Patent Office (EPO).
The official databases of the Japan Patent Office (JPO). Search Japanese patents, utility models and designs from 1922 to the present.
The official database of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Explore 65 million patent documents from more than 51 regional and national patent offices. Major national collections include Canada, China, European Patent Office, Japan, Korea, Russia, the U.K and U.S.
This database contains recorded U.S. patent assignment (ownership) changes from August 1980 to the present. It is updated daily.
The USPTO's patent databases contain more than 10 million patents from 1790 to the present and 5 million published applications from 2001 forward. Both databases are updated weekly.
The official patent database of the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI). In addition to applications and granted patents, ViDoc includes utility models and designs.
For more information on Patents, please visit the library detailed guide