Patents

Finding patents

To find the full-text of a particular patent - or to discover whether a patent exists - there are several different sources that you can search:

• Scirus (science-specific search engine)
  Head to Advanced search and limit by patent.
• Patent Lens - searches the full-text of patents from US, Europe, Australia and WIPO.
• FreePatentsOnline - searches US and EP patents.
• esp@cenet, European Patent Office - includes patents from European and non-European countries.
• PatLib Network - European countries' national patent offices
• World Intellectual Property Organization Patentscope database
• World Intellectual Property Organization Gazette of International Marks
• IP Australia Patents databases
• USPTO Patent Databases
• Google Patent Search of US patents
  Both versions may need to be searched. Google lacks USPTO's very recent patents. Google can search even early patents by keyword; USPTO cannot search pre-1976 patents by keyword.
• Canadian Patent Database
• SciFinder Scholar (Chemical abstracts), 1907- - indexes chemical, chemical engineering, biochemical patents.
• Links to Patent Information Sources, British Library
• Patent Information Users Group

South Australian sources for patents

• State Library of South Australia has a fact sheet showing its holdings of Australian and British patents.
• The South Australian Office of IP Australia

Can't get hold of a parent?

If you cannot find a patent elsewhere, try the Library's Interlibrary loan service or IP Australia (Canberra based). In order for a patent to be tracked down you will usually need to providing information on: patent country, patent number, date and author.