Useful IP documents
Intellectual property in design
Intellectual Property Standards
Patent Searching
A search at the following 2 web sites covers the majority of the worlds
existing patents, and by using two or three key words will most likely
result in patents in the same or similar research/ technological area.
Please advise me if your search highlights anything that may be relevant to
your overall technology or "key" underpinning features.
esp@cenet system
The esp@cenet system is a collection of interlinked Web Sites enabling users
to search for information that can be found on the front pages of patent
documents published around the world. Searches can be performed by entering
criteria in a simple HTML form to produce where appropriate a simple result
list.
From this result list, it is possible to view the bibliographic details and
where available the abstract, full text and images of a document by clicking
on the patent number. This service provides an interface to the published
patent application databases of the UK Patent Office, the European Patent
Office (EPO) and other European national patent offices, as well as access
to the PCT database of published patent applications and Japanese patents.
A full copy of the specification, claims and drawings may be viewed if
available. This site can be found at the following url:
NB. The above database will not deal with unpublished patent applications
(and thus current technology) i.e. those applications filed in the last 18
months.
US Patent Database
A similar search of the US patents to that of esp@cenet can be undertaken at
the following url:
http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html
NB. The above database will also display patent applications made from 15
March 2001.
