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
- Google Patents This link opens in a new window
Covers patents and applications from USPTO, EPO, WIPO, DPMA, CIPO and SIPO. Updating frequency is not clear. - Patent Public Search This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
The database includes information about all US patents (including utility, design, reissue, plant patents, and Statutory Invention Registration (SIR) documents) from the first patent issued in 1790 to the most recent ones issued this week.
- Denver Public Library Patent and Trademark Resource Center"The Denver Public Library is a designated Patent & Trademark Resource Center (PTRC). The Patent and Trademark Resource Center is located in the Reference Services Department, Floor 3 of the Central Library. The Library provides free access to patent and trademark resources in various formats, and reference librarians provide assistance and instruction on how to perform a preliminary patent and trademark search." DPL is the closest of three Resource Centers in the state of Colorado.
- EspaceNetFor European patents, this is a great place to start. The European Patent Office patent search tool provides access to information about inventions and technical developments from the 19th century to the present.
- World Intellectual Property Organization (PATENTSCOPE)Search International and National Patent Collections
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
- See-the-ForestPatent analytics
- COMETSConnecting Outcome Measures in Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Science (COMETS) database.
- Patent Network DataverseIncludes disambiguation and co-author networks from 1975-2010 and careers and co-author networks since 1975.
- National Bureau of Economic Research U. S. Patent Citations Data FileUS Patent data for 1976-2006 and assignee match to Compustat.
Quick Info About Patents
Patent: A property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor “to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States” for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.
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.
- Denver Public Library Patent and Trademark Resource Center"The Denver Public Library is a designated Patent & Trademark Resource Center (PTRC). The Patent and Trademark Resource Center is located in the Reference Services Department, Floor 3 of the Central Library. The Library provides free access to patent and trademark resources in various formats, and reference librarians provide assistance and instruction on how to perform a preliminary patent and trademark search." DPL is the closest of three Resource Centers in the state of Colorado.