Resource Guides: Patent Info for Georgia Tech Community: Patent search

Brainstorm terms describing your invention.
Conduct a keyword search using Patent Public Search or any other tools you prefer.
Conduct an in-depth review of the documents found by your search.
Expand the search with relevant CPC classifications.
Review cited references.
Broaden your search with foreign patents, non-patent literature and/or a patent professional’s search.

Searching for patent information?

Patents and patent applications can help you decide the novelty and non-obviousness of your invention or innovation. In patent documents, you can also find the latest technologies that inspire you to improve your own work.

This page presents some main patent search databases. They are divided into two sections: (1) Commercial databases that only Georgia Tech affiliates have access to and (2) major online patent databases that are publicly available.

Library subscription databases

To help researchers and students search for and analyze patents, the Georgia Tech Library has subscribed to commercial patent databases. See below. If your invention is in chemistry related fields, you can use SciFinder, a subject specific database, to locate chemical patent documents.
Note: You need to create an individual account to access these databases.

PatSnap

Patent research tool with analytics and patent management. This resource is only available upon request. Please send your request to ept@library.gatech.edu from your @gatech.edu address. This resource requires VPN. Please use the Georgia Tech VPN service.
InnovationQ

Robust patent database. Search for Patents and Applications, Non-Patent Literature, and Licensable Technology.
Derwent Innovations Index
Value-added patent information from Derwent World Patents Index and patent citation information from Derwent Patent Citation Index.
SciFinder

Substances, reactions, references, and patent information. This link will direct you to a GT Library page that allows you to register a new SciFinder account or login to an existing one.

Link to CAS Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy provides notification to users on how CAS SciFinder uses your personally identifiable information (PII), and provides a process to prevent them from using your PII if supported by your browser

Public patent databases

Below are often used patent search tools available for the general public:

USPTO Patent Public Search
The USPTO patent search database provides copies of patents and patent applications. Other related filings are also available on their site. Full text and images are available for patents from 1976. Older patents (1790 to 1975) are searchable only by patent number, issue date, and current classification numbers.
European Patent Office Database (Espacenet)
Espacenet offers access to published patent documents worldwide, including those published by the U.S. The documents include information about inventions and technical developments from 1782 to the present.
The Lens
The Lens database contains patent documents from around the world. This search tool provides Boolean functions, classification search, biological search, and other. It offers quick access to patent family information.
Google Patents
Google Patents provides user-friendly search interface that searches full text of patents filed with the USPTO, EPO, and WIPO. It also includes technical documents and books indexed in Google Scholar and Google Books, and documents from the Prior Art Archive.
PatentScope - World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
This resource allows you to search patent documents from participating national and regional intellectual property offices (Patent Cooperation Treaty members). You can use keywords, international patent classification (IPC), chemical structures, and other criteria to perform searches, and information is translated in different languages.