Resources by format
Here are listed guides for finding materials based on their formats.
Looking for more specific patent and trademark help? Hop on over to our full Patent and Trademark Guide that provides support for inventors, researchers, entrepreneurs and more!
This list of resources will enable you to retrieve most U.S. patents or trademarks, if you have a specific citation. However, if you have a product idea and want to determine if a similar item has been patented, searching these resources to determine patentability may be difficult. Patent and trademark searching can be very complex, and unless one has experience the results may not be valid.
United States, European, Asian, and Canadian patent sites
- Canadian Patent DatabaseThe Canadian Patent Database contains all Canadian patents (both applications and granted patents) since 1924. Contains only bibliographic data, titles and images. No abstracts or claims data are available for patents granted prior to August 15, 1978.
- CNIPA Patent Search and AnalysisThe China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) offers a free search engine for Chinese patent information. Users must agree to the disclaimer before accessing the search.
- Derwent Innovations Index from Web of ScienceDerwent Innovations Index indexes citations, abstracts, and full-text patents from 40 worldwide patent-issuing authorities. You can view concise abstracts written by subject experts, then link to full-text primary records of patents from a range of full patent sources. 1963-present
- Dimensions PlusDimensions Plus indexes more than 100 million publications, ranging from articles published in scholarly journals, books and book chapters, to preprints and conference proceedings. Dimensions Plus is an extensive and fully interlinked database with publications, grants, patents, clinical trials, datasets and policy documents. 1600s to present.
- European Patent Office EspacenetSearch for information about published patent applications from over 80 different countries and regions (not just in Europe). Based on the PCT minimum documentation, which is defined by WIPO as the minimum requirement for patent collections used to search for prior-art documents for the purpose of assessing novelty and inventiveness.
- Google PatentsGoogle Patents indexes the full text of U.S. patents available through the U.S. Patent Office. Use the Advanced Patents search page to search by criteria like patent number, inventor, and filing date. Full text available in PDF. 1790-present.
- Intellectual Property indiaThe Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks generally known as the Indian Patent Office, is an agency under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade which administers the Indian law of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks.
- Japan Patent Information PlatformProvides information on Japanese patents, utility models, designs, and trademarks. Machine-generated English translations are available. In addition to patents, users may also conduct trademarks and design searches.
- Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS)Covers domestic and foreign industrial property information such as patents, utility models, trademarks, and designs owned by the Korean Intellectual Property Office.
- Lens.orgSearches patent and scholarly publication data, with over 100 million patent records across 95 jurisdictions world-wide, and over 200 million scholarly records from PubMed, Crossref, and more. Many filtering and search options with advanced boolean functions, structured searches, classification searches and more. Lens.org also includes options for searching biological sequences included in patents.
- PatentscopeSearch over 100 million patent documents from WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), which includes over 4 million published international patent applications. Create a free account to access additional features for searching chemical compounds and downloading larger search records.
- USPTO Patent Public SearchPatent Public Search is USPTO’s new comprehensive patent and patent application search tool that replaces PatFT and AppFT. Patent Public Search covers all US patents and published patent applications from 1790 to the present. Users can customize the search interface, explore full patent documents and export results to a spreadsheet. **Note: Interface is designed for Chromium-based browsers and some functionality may be lost if using other browsers.
Other free patent resources online
- National Academy of Inventors
- NAI releases an annual list of the top 100 worldwide university utility patent holders, basing their rankings on calendar year data provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office since 2013. Virginia Tech is a member institution.
- Free Patents Online
- Free Patents Online (FPO) is a website that provides free access to millions of patents and patent applications. It's a useful resource for entrepreneurs and anyone looking to search for or file patents.
- Data for about 150 universities (mostly American) is available, including Virginia Tech. Clicking on a name of a university will retrieve a list of US patents and published applications assigned to that university.
- National Inventors Hall of Fame
- Listing of inventors with brief biographies.
- Patent Information Users Group
- This site contains links to many patent resources worldwide. The site is oriented towards the serious patent searcher, not the casual browser.
- European Patent Office
- The EPO allows a single patent application to be filed in one of the three official languages (English, French or German), giving patent protection in all 18 member states of the European Patent Organisation
- Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.
- Information about patents at Virginia Tech.
- World Intellectual Property Organization
- United Nations agency to oversee global intellectual property issues.
Trademark resources online
- USPTO TrademarksSearch database for trademark registrations and applications by mark, owner, or serial/registration number with Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)