Research Guides: Patents and Designs: Patent Databases

How to Select a Patent Database

Selecting the appropriate patent database largely depends on the type of information you need. If you need to find a copy of a known patent, there are many places on the web where you can download PDFs. However, if you need to do a state-of-the-art or patentability search, here are some criteria you should considered when selecting a database.

Year coverage: Does the database included historical patents?

Currency: How often is the database updated? Most patent offices publish new patents on a weekly basis.

Country coverage: Does the database include patents from more than one country?

Classification: Does the database include current patent classification codes from the CPC, IPC or USPC systems?

The following websites are excellent sources of information on public and commercial patent databases.

Patent Information Users Group (PIUG)

Patent Office Databases

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.

Canadian Patents Database (CIPO)
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 (DPMA)
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.
Espacenet (EPO)
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).
JP-PlatPat (JPO)
The official databases of the Japan Patent Office (JPO). Search Japanese patents, utility models and designs from 1922 to the present.
PatentScope (WIPO)
The official database of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Explore 100 million patent documents from more than 75 regional and national patent offices. Major national collections include Canada, China, European Patent Office, Japan, Korea, Russia, the U.K and U.S.
U.S. Patent Assignment Database (USPTO)
This database contains recorded U.S. patent assignment (ownership) changes from August 1980 to the present. It is updated daily.
U.S. Patent Center (USPTO)
The USPTO's Patent Center provides access to publicly available information in U.S. patent application files.
U.S. Patent Public Search (USPTO)
The USPTO's Patent Public Search system contains more than 11 million US patents issued from 1790 to the present and 7 million US published applications from 2001 forward.
ViDoc (IMPI)
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.

Other Databases

Below are selected databases that index patent literature.

Canadian Patents, 1869-1919
Library and Archive Canada's collection of 190,000 full-text Canadian patents issued to Canadian citizens and residents from 1869 through 1919.
FreePatentsOnline
FPO covers patents from the European Patent Office, Germany and the U.S., Japanese patent abstracts and published PCT applications.
Google Patents
Google Patents indexes full-text patent documents from Canada, China, European Patent Office, Germany, PCT and the U.S.
Patent Lens
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.
Plant Patent Image Database
This database, which is maintained by the University of Maryland Libraries, contains color images for US plant patents.
SciFinder
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.
SureChemBL
SureChemBL is a public chemical patent database maintained by the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI). It indexes chemical structures from full-text EP, JP, US and WO patent documents; bibliographic data from more than 90 countries is also searchable.