Biological Engineering

(University of Minnesota Libraries) This tutorial covers searching in Google Patents and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database.

(USPTO) Two databases are accessible from this site. The Issued Patents database contains images for U.S. patents from 1790 to present and searchable HTML full text from 1976. The Patent Applications database contains current applications.

(ALA/ACRL Science & Technology Section) Well-illustrated simple instructions for using Google Patents.

Google Patents has images for most US patents and patent applications, but is usually several months behind the USPTO database. However, it is a good place to obtain pdf files of entire patents.

(World Intellectual Property Organization) Free search tool for international and national patent collections. You can search multiple countries' patent collections simultaneously.

"The Lens serves nearly all of the patent documents in the world as open, annotatable digital public goods that are integrated with scholarly and technical literature along with regulatory and business data." You can register for a free account to create your own work space.

(Canadian Intellectual Property Office) The Canadian Patents Database lets you access over 93 years of patent descriptions and images. You can search, retrieve and study more than 2,000,000 patent documents. Documents are presented in pdf format.

(U.S. Food and Drug Administration) This database contains patent information for drugs. It can be useful for finding information on drug synthesis or for determining if a patent is still in effect.

(European Patent Office) This international database contains patent information for over 80 countries and patenting agencies.

(World Intellectual Property Organization) Free public resource which provides a one-stop gateway to WIPO’s global collections of searchable intellectual property data including patents.

(European Bioinformatics Institute) Search world patents using chemical structures. Keyword and patent number searching also available. Requires sign up for free account.

(National Center for Industrial Property Information and Training) "J-PlatPat provides around 100.3 million documents of patents, utility models, designs and trademarks and their relevant information that have been published since the end of the 19th century. Basic information in gazettes can also be retrieved and used in English, with the objectives of reinforcing the protection of rights overseas and as an international contribution."