Ask a Librarian Online
Research & Instruction Librarian
Searching Patents
If you intend to make, use, or sell an invention of yours, you should find out whether someone else has created something like it already. You have a number of options when it comes to searching for patents. Below are some patent searching sites.
For patent searching tips, check out the resource below:
Patent Databases
-
Derwent Innovations Index This link opens in a new windowPatent citation information from Derwent Patent Citation Index, including backfile data to 1963.
-
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new windowUse Nexis Uni to access business and legal sources. To search patents, click on 'Find a Patent' below the search bar. This will take you to TotalPatent One - Nexis Uni's patent database.
-
SciFindern This link opens in a new windowFirst time users must register for SciFinder
Provides access to the full Chemical Abstracts database with citations to the literature of chemistry and patents, as well as compound information and substructure and reaction searching.
Once you register you can use SciFinder Mobile .
-
Department of Energy - PatentsSearch DOE sponsored patents spanning back to the 1940s.
-
Google Patents SearchCovers patents and applications from USPTO and EPO.
-
PatentScope via WIPOView the full text of over 122 million patent documents, including national and international patents, with English translations when needed.
-
PatentsViewPatentsView allows users explore technological, regional, and individual-level patent trends via search filters with multiple viewing options. The database links inventors, their organizations, locations, and overall patenting activity using enhanced 1976-2014 data from public USPTO bulk data files.
-
US Patent & Trademark Office - Patent SearchingCovers US patents issued from 1790 to the most recent weekly issue date. See the USPTO website for important notices concerning the database.
Complete International Database
-
PatentScope via WIPOView the full text of over 122 million patent documents, including national and international patents, with English translations when needed.
Country-specific Databases
-
Australian Patent SearchRun by the Australian government, APS allows researchers to find patents filed with the government of Australia.
-
CIPO - Canadian Patents DatabaseA Canadian Patent database with data from 1989 to the present, and includes the patent number, classification, and title of patents.
-
European Patent Office (Espacenet database)Search for European, US, PCT, Japanese and other worldwide patents.