Patent and Trademark Information   Tags: intellectual_property, patents, trademarks  

Here you will find links to patent offices as well as their databases for searching patents. You will also find links to other patent databases or patent search engines (e.g., Google's).  Different resources may provide alternative searching capabilities such as the combined country patent searching available in Free Patents Online.  Try various sites until you find the one easiest for you to use.

Patent Offices/Databases

• Canadian Intellectual Property Office
• European Patent Office
• Free Patents Online - Includes combined search option so you can search U.S., U.S. patent applications, European Patents, Japanese Patents (abstracts only), and WIPO.  Also  has a new chemical patent search feature. Be sure to check coverage for each database prior to searching.
• Google Patent Search - Patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Covers the entire collection of patents made available by the USPTO.
• Japan Patent Office  
• Intellectual Property Offices by Country (Source: USPTO)
• United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office - Patents
• United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
  • United States Patent and Trademark Office Database Search
  • USPTO Full-text and Full-image Database
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
  •    Patentscope - WIPO's database for searching international patent applications.

Additional Resources

• Patent Tutorials (Source: McKinney Library, University of Texas - Austin)
• Patents, Trademarks & Copyright (Source:  National Paralegal College)