Searching for Patents

• U.S. patents (including full-text) may be searched on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site for the years 1976 to the present. All U.S. patents from 1790 to the present may be searched by patent number and/or current U.S. patent classification. The patent images may be viewed and printed one page at a time, although you shall need a special plug-in for your browser to view and print the TIFF-formatted images.

• The European Patent Office links you to the databases and patent offices of most countries in Europe via esp@cenet, and the PDF images for many international patents may be obtained here. Click on the patent number link to view and print the first page, then click on the triangle to view and print subsequent pages, but one page at a time. The World Intellectual Property Organization PCT database may be searched for the years 1997 to the present. Canadian patents for the years 1920 to the present may be searched and downloaded from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office database. Search the Japanese Patent Office or the European Patent Office's Web site for information about Japanese patents. Links to additional patent offices and resources are offered at the British Library's Web site.

• International chemical patents may be searched in Chemical Abstracts, including SciFinder Scholar. See Chemical Abstracts Options.

• The Polymer Library (formerly RAPRA) indexes United States (US), European (EP), and World (WO) polymer patents from 1994 to 2001.

Patent Classifications

See the links for the British Library's Classification schemes for explanations of the U.S. Patent Class Definitions, the sixth edition of the International Patent Classification (IPC) (for patents issued between January 1995 and December 1999), and other classifications. WIPO provides the seventh edition of the International Patent Classification (IPC) for patents issued on or after 1 January 2000.

Finding Equivalent Patents (in English)

Patents appear in the language of the country in which they are issued, not necessarily the country in which the inventor lives. For example, Japanese (JP) patents appear in the Japanese language. If you wish to find an equivalent patent in another language, such as English, you may check for the existence of a patent family in either of the following ways:

• Go to the European Patent Office's Web site and search for your patent number. If your patent number is found, click on its link to see its patent family of equivalent patents from various countries.

• Patent family information is displayed in SciFinder Scholar when the abstract is viewed or downloaded; click on the microscope to view the patent family and see which countries have issued patents equivalent to the patent indexed by Chemical Abstracts.

If there is an equivalent patent from an English speaking country, such as the United States (US) or the United Kingdom (GB), then that equivalent patent should be in English. European (EP) patents appear in English, French, or German. Publications of World (WO) patent applications are often in English, but not always.

Obtaining Copies of Patents

U.S. patents

• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 1790 to the present (browser plug-in needed for TIFF-formatted images)

• European Patent Office, 1920 to the present (PDF format)

International patents

• European Patent Office, European, World, Japanese, and U.S. patents (PDF format) (time coverage varies: Austrian, Belgian, British, Danish, French, German, Swiss, and U.S. patents, 1920 to the present; other countries, less extensive)

• Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Canadian patents, 1920 to the present (PDF format)

U.S. chemical patents (July 1952 - December 1994) are on microfilm (Government Documents call number C21.5:) at Bierce Library on the first floor towards the right. Patent numbers range from 2,602,017 to 5,376,748.

Akron-Summit County Public Library has all U.S. patents on cd-rom in their Science & Technology Department.

Any patent(s) may be requested by completing a patent request form or by sending an e-mail request to Ann Bolek. Please include the patent country, patent number, patent year, your name, and place to send the patent(s). Allow one to three weeks for the patent(s) to arrive. The library pays the cost for all of the patents requested by current University of Akron students, staff, and faculty.

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