Patents

Patent Database Searching Aids & Techniques

Patent Search Aids

For U.S. Patents

U.S. Patent Classifications (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/def/index.htm): Browse the U.S. Patent Classifications.
U.S. Manual of Classification (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/moc/index.htm): Search the U.S. Manual of Classification.
U.S. Patent Classifications with Definitions (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/def/index.htm): CNIDR is constructing a series of hyperlinked Patent Classifications pages as part of the Patents Project. This page provides direct links into the individual U.S. Classification Schedule pages and the U.S. Class Definitions.

For Foreign Patents

Inter Active Terminology for Europe (http://iate.europa.eu/iatediff/): Created by the European Union, translates between 10 European Languages (Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, and Finnish). [formerly Eurodic Autom]
Introductory Manual to the International Patent Classification (IPC) (http://www.wipo.int/classifications/en/ipc/manual/): Addressed to non-initiated users of the IPC, who wish to classify patent documents and retrieve technological information contained in patent documents.
International Patent Classification in 5 Languages (http://www.dagostini.it/patclass/patclass.html): 5-Language (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian) Interactive Patent Terminology & Classification by Giovanni D’Agostini.
WIPO List of States, other Entities and Intergovernmental Organizations — Standard ST. 3 (pdf) (http://www.wipo.int/standards/en/pdf/03-03-01.pdf): This Recommended Standard provides two-letter alphabetic codes which represent the names of States, other entities and intergovernmental organizations, the legislation of which provides for the protection of industrial property rights or which organizations are acting in the framework of a treaty in the field of industrial property.
Patent Kind Codes (http://www.patentsonline.com.au/patent/patadcds.html): This table from Patents Online identifies the various stages, by each country, that a patent application moves through during its life cycle.
WIPO International Classifications (http://www.wipo.int/classifications/en/): “Four WIPO treaties created classification systems which organize information concerning inventions, trademarks, and industrial designs into indexed, manageable structures for easy retrieval. Regularly updated to include changes and advances in technology and commercial practices, the classification systems are used voluntarily by many countries which are not member States of the related agreements.”

For Chemical Abstracts

Patent Coverage in Chemical Abstracts (http://www.cas.org/expertise/cascontent/caplus/patcoverage/index.html)

CAS covers patents from patent offices worldwide. These patents are selected from over 23,000 International Patent Classification (IPC) codes and U.S. National Patent Classification Codes.

International Patent Classifications Lists for items in CA

Guaranteed Coverage (http://www.cas.org/expertise/cascontent/caplus/patcoverage/ipcguar8.html): Patent documents that have one or more of these IPC codes are guaranteed to be abstracted and indexed for the CAS database
Selective Coverage (http://www.cas.org/expertise/cascontent/caplus/patcoverage/part8.html): IPC groups that are selectively covered by CAS, i.e., patent documents that have one or more of these IPC codes are automatically selected for further examination.

Kind Codes for Patents in Chemical Abstracts Online (http://www.cas.org/expertise/cascontent/caplus/patcoverage/patkind.html)

List of patent kind codes for the CA basic patents and patent family members for the countries covered by CAS.

Patent Search Techniques

Patent Searching Research Archives (http://www.ipmall.info/about/psra.asp)

Part of the Franklin Pierce Law Center Intellectual Property Mall, contains a collection of articles and web resources devoted to the study of patent searching.

PIUG wiki (http://wiki.piug.org/)

PIUG wiki and its principal Discussion Forum (PIUG-DF) is for matters of general interest to the patent information users community.

Guide to STN Patent Databases (pdf) (http://www.stn-international.com/fileadmin/be_user/STN/pdf/search_materials/patents/GuideFull_en_2008.pdf)

Includes descriptions of all patent databases available through STN. Also includes main search strategies used to search patent files.

Dialog: How Do I…? Series (http://support.dialog.com/howdoi/)

Includes search strategies for searching intellectual property files.

Derwent Chemical Indexing ListServer (CHEMIND-L) (http://www.ccl.net/chemistry/resources/tips/list/CHEMINDL/index.shtml)

An e-mail discussion forum for questions relating to indexing and searching chemical structure information. To join, send an e-mail to listserv@derwent.co.uk with the text “SUB CHEMIND-L firstname lastname”.

CHEMIND-L Archive: To obtain archived messages from a particular month, send an e-mail to listserv@derwent.co.uk with the text “GET CHEMIND-L LOGyymm”.