Why Patents?
- Identify new research fronts and/or licensing opportunities
- Avoid duplication of research efforts
- Learn how something works (diagrams, detailed description)
- Find information on a company’s activities, or identify experts in a field
- Gain protection for an idea or invention
- It is estimated that 85-90% of technical information disclosed in patents appear no place else
- Patents are historically significant primary documents covering over two centuries of U.S. innovation.
"Solar Thermoelectric Generator" by Eric Toberer, Lauryn Baranowski, and Emily Warren. U.S. Patent 9,331,258 B2 (May 3, 2016).
Core Electronic Resources
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Google Patents This link opens in a new window
Indexes international patent documents from USPTO, EPO, WIPO, DPMA, CIPO, and SIPO, though update frequency varies. -
Patent Public Search This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text access to all types of U.S. patents from 1790 to the present.
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Denver Public Library Patent and Trademark Resource CenterOffers free access to patent and trademark tools, with staff available to assist with preliminary searches.
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EspaceNetEspacenet is the European Patent Office’s database for technical developments dating back to the 19th century.
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World Intellectual Property Organization (PATENTSCOPE)Search International and National Patent Collections
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Mines Technology Transfer ResourcesMines Technology Transfer Office guides researchers in submitting invention disclosures and developing patent strategies aligned with academic goals.
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Lens patent searchingFrom Australia. "The Lens serves global patent and scholarly knowledge as a public good to inform science and technology enabled problem solving."
Example Patent Citation
"Energy integrative building with ecological environmental protection" by Xudong Liu, Geng Liu, and Ziyan Liu. U.S. Patent 8,615,940 (Dec. 31, 2013). Available at: Google, Patents, http://www.google.com/patents/US8615940. Accessed: 12/09/2016.
Statistics and Data
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See-the-ForestPatent analytics
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COMETSConnecting Outcome Measures in Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Science (COMETS) database.
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Patent Network DataverseIncludes disambiguation and co-author networks from 1975-2010 and careers and co-author networks since 1975.
Quick Info About Patents
A Patent is a U.S. government-granted right that lets the inventor exclude others from using or selling the invention for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure.
There are Three Types of Patents:
1) Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof;
2) Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; and
3) Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.
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Denver Public Library Patent and Trademark Resource CenterOffers free access to patent and trademark tools, with staff available to assist with preliminary searches.