Patent Search

1
Patent Search Why? When? Where? How? Inbar
Yasur 08/07/2008
www.hipusit.info
2
Searching for Patents Why When?
3
Searching for Patents Where?
4
Searching for Patents Where? Free Sources

• European Patent Office
• Pros
• Covers over 70 patent offices
• Over 50 million patents and applications
• Gives family and legal status information
• Cons
• Searching in Title and Abstract only
• Limited Search options

5
Searching for Patents Where? Free Sources

• USPTO
• Pros
• From 1790
• Full text search from 1976
• From 2001 includes patent requests 18 months
  after filing
• Cons
• US Patents only
• Two separate databases (granted patents
  applications)

6
Searching for Patents Where? Free Sources

• Google Patent
• Pros
• Known interface
• Easy and usable display
• Cons
• US patents only
• Not systematic or comprehensive

7
Searching for Patents Where? Added Value
Databases

• Fee-Based Databases give you
• Added-value in content indexing, rewriting,
  family clustering, key words
• Improved search interface
• Full text searching
• Option to limit search to title, abstract, claims
• Editing tools
• Statistical tools

7
08/07/2008
8
Searching for Patents Where? Added Value
Databases

• SciFinder Scholar
• Pros
• Outstanding coverage of chemical and scientific
  patents
• Covers patents and literature simultaneously
• Cons
• Covers only chemical and scientific patents

9
Searching for Patents Where? Added Value
Databases

• Engineering Village
• Pros
• Outstanding coverage of engineering literature
• User friendly interface
• Option for searching patents and literature
  concurrently
• Cons
• Non comprehensive patent coverage

10
Searching for Patents How?
11
Preliminary Search (D.I.Y.)

• Search by keyword to find relevant patents
• Check all categories and their meanings (USPTO,
  ECLA, IPC)
• Check reference patents and patents which are
  referred to
• Search by inventor name and patent owners name
• Search across various databases

12
Take an Online Course

• Patent Searching Tutorial (university of Texas
  Austin)
• http//www.lib.utexas.edu/engin/patent-tutorial
  /index.htm
• USPTO 7 Step Patent Search Strategy
• http//www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/ptdl/pdf_
  files/step7.pdf
• Wipo
• http//www.wipo.int/academy/en/
• EPO 35 short e-learning modules on how to use
  esp_at_cenet
• http//www.european-patent-office.org/wbt/espacen
  et/

13
What information to supply a professional searcher

• The subject
• The purpose of the search
• Scientific background
• Relevant keywords
• Names of relevant companies
• Specialists and inventors names
• Known patents in similar fields

14
What to check when hiring a professional?

• What are the sources of information?
• Paying or only free sources
• Patents only or also scientific journals
• Ensure that classifications will be used in the
  search
• What will be the format of the results?

15
Thank you!
http//www.hipusit.info/