UVM Libraries Research Guides: Materials Science: Patents

Patent resources

Google Patents
Includes patents and applications from USPTO, EPO, WIPO, CIPO and SIPO. See Google Patents vs USPTO below for more details.
USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database (PatFT)
Includes US patent grants (not applications) from 1790 to the most recent weekly issue date. See Google Patents vs USPTO below for more details.
USPTO Patent Application Full-Text and Image Database (AppFT)
Provides published patent applications (not grants) since 2001. Searching applications is important because of the "first to file" principle. See Google Patents vs USPTO below for more details.
Patent Lens
A user-friendly site for patent searching and for creating visualizations of relationships between patents. Includes USPTO, EPO and WIPO patents.

How to find patents

1. Search by class

Patent "classes" are categories for technologies with shared characteristics. Searching by classification is more reliable than searching by keywords, which can miss relevant patents described with different language.

Strategy#1: use Google Patents statistics

Search Google Patents by keyword.
Look for the box Top 1000 results by filing date.
Click on CPCs.
Click on the link for the top-ranked 4-digit class.

Strategy#2: use one patent to find others

Find a patent that is more or less relevant.
On the page for the patent document, find the Classifications heading.
Click on the link for the class that looks most relevant.

If necessary, verify the definition and scope of a (sub)class by looking it up on the USPTO website, selecting Definitions.

2. Preliminary review

Start by reviewing the Title, Abstract and Images.

3. Detailed review.

Move on to the Description (a detailed description of the technology).
Then consider whether you should read the Claims (a statement of how the technology is unique and unprecedented).

4. Expand your search.

Identify additional possible (sub)classes and repeat your search.
Look for Patent citations: previous patents that this patent cites.
Look for Cited by: subsequent patents that cited this patent.

Google Patents vs USPTO

Google Patents and the USPTO's databases have different advantages. Use both to ensure a comprehensive search strategy.

Google Patents	USPTO
All USPTO patent grants and published applications, except recent months	All USPTO patent grants and published applications, updated weekly
Single database for grants and applications	Separate databases for grants and applications
USPTO, EPO and WIPO patents	USPTO patents only
Easy-to-use Google-style interface	Complex interface for precise searching
Document searching for all patents	Document searching 1976-present, index searching 1790-1975
Searches images with Optical Character Recognition	Searches text (more reliable)
Displays documents as HTML and PDF	Displays documents as PDF (may require reader installation)

NASA

NASA Public Domain
A searchable database of ~56 NASA patents in the public domain, with links to documents in USPTO PatFT. No licensing required.
NASA Patent Portfolio
A searchable database of all NASA patents. Most require licensing, though NASA's startup license requires no fees for the first three years.

More help

USPTO "Seven Steps" Search Strategy [PDF]
UVM Innovations (Office of Technology Commercialization)
The library supports patent searching for prior art research. If you have questions concerning licensing or your project's own intellectual property, contact the UVM Office of Technology Commercialization.