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- Chinese Patents Fulltext CLAIMS Citation (1790-1946), (1947-1970), (1971-present) CLAIMS/Current Patent Legal Status Derwent Patents Citation Index Derwent World Patents Index Ei EnCompassPat [Engineering Patent Abstracts] French Patents European Patents Fulltext IMSworld Patents International INPADOC/Family and Legal Status [International Patent Documentation Center (INPADOC)] JAPIO - Patent Abstracts of Japan WIPO/PCT Patents Fulltext
- U.S. Patents Fulltext (1971-present)
DIALOG, a fee-based database service, offers access to several outstanding patent databases, including:
Effective patent searching on DIALOG requires familiarity with the command-based search language, in addition to knowledge of the characteristics of each database.
Patent searching on DIALOG and other fee-based patent services is also expensive. Access to DIALOG, for example, entails annual subscription costs, online connect fees, and downloading fees.
As a rule of thumb, patent databases tend to be expensive, often because the producers of the databases provide sophisticated search options and value-added deep indexing. A subscription to Derwent, a leading patent database producer known for its outstanding indexing, can cost as much as $100,000 annually (Lambert, May 2001).
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Notice that DIALOG provides full text access to U.S. Patents. DIALOG
does this, even though the patents are also accessible for free from
the USPTO website.
One reason that DIALOG includes access to the U.S. Patent database is that the DIALOG interface offers a number of sophisticated and value-added features that quickly enable researchers to retrieve precise results and customized result sets consisting of information derived from specific parts of patents. This is not possible at the free USPTO website. For sophisticated searches, the interface to the patent database is significant. |
Other Advanced Patent Searching Options
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In many advanced patent searches, it is usually necessary to search other databases and resources. This can be particularly helpful in the effort to verify novelty and to determine prior art. Other resources may also provide information that clarifies or expands upon the knowledge gained in a search of patent literature. |
| Finally, "a good patent searcher uses all revelant information resources, because no one database, no matter how good it is, will give us all the answers" (Lambert, April 2001). |
Other potentially useful resources include:
- MSOE Library Databases [Journal articles, books, standards, and other resources]
- Thomas Register of American Manufacturers [Product Information]
- GlobalTechnoScan [New technology Site]
- MIT's Technology Review [New Technology]
- NASA Tech Briefs [New Technology and Research]