Patents: About Patents

How to search and obtain patents

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What's a Patent?

A patent is a grant of governmental authority of a right to exclude others from utilizing an invention except upon agreement with the originator or owner. Allowing an inventor a temporary monopoly encourages investment in technology development by reducing the risk that others will take free advantage.

Christopher T. Hill "Patents" The Oxford Encyclopedia of Modern World.Ed Peter N. Stearns. Oxford University Press, 2008. Marquette University. 29 December 2009

Primary Finding Tools

Identifying and tracking down patents can be a complicated process. A variety of finding tools are available to aid in the process and may also facilitate access to the full text. United States patents are available at no charge from a variety of sources. Patents issued by other countries and governmental agencies may be available free of charge.

Google Patents - beta
Google has converted the entire image database of U.S. patents into an easily searched format. You can search the full text of U.S. patents from the Google Patent Search homepage, or use the Advanced Patent Search page to search by criteria like patent number, inventor, and filing date. May not contain the most recently granted patents.
USPTO Patent and Applications Search
Search full text of issued patents (1976-) and patent applications (2001-). Search patent records back to 1790. Page images available in TIFF file format. Requires viewer download.
Patent Lens
A worldwide, open-access, free full-text patent informatics resource that searches the full-text of over 8 million patents and applications, updated weekly with data obtained from WIPO, USPTO, EPO and IP Australia. Special Feature allows searching for DNA, RNA and Protein Sequences extracted from Patent Documents

Background on Patents

General Information Concerning Patents
From the U.S. patent office, provides a series of short answers about patents, trademarks, and copyright.
USPTO - Learn about the process section
Main USPTO page has basic information on the patent and trademark processes. In addition there is a separate section on Learning and Resources.
Understanding "Patentese"—A Patent Glossary
Provides general definitions of a number of frequently used patent terms intended to aid in the comprehension of such terms; definitions should be regarded as providing accurate, but not exhaustive. From The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society.