A patent is an exclusive right granted to an inventor to prevent others from making, using, selling or importing an invention, for a limited amount of time. Rights granted by a patent office are specific to a geographical area.
The invention can be a product (a towel), a composition (a chemical substance used in fabrics for a towel), an apparatus (a machine for making towels), a process (a method of making towels), or an improvement of any of these.
In Canada a patent is required to meet three criteria: it must be new, useful and inventive. An invention is new if it is the first in the world. It is useful if it has a function. It is inventive if it requires some creativity or imagination, so that the invention is not obvious to someone who works in the field of the invention.
Most patent offices provide access to patent documents via freely available databases. Patents contain descriptive and useful technical information (including drawings or diagrams) that may not be found elsewhere. They also cite references that can serve as additional sources of information. Patents assist in both design and academic research.
There are a number of ways to locate patents and their related documents:
Most patented products are known by a brand name or trademark. However, patent applications are generally filed before the name of the product is determined. A patent could be used in multiple products with different names. The patent document’s title could have little or no relation to the product’s name.
To find a patent it is a good idea to start with the country where the patent is filed. For example, in Canada patents are files with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). CIPO has a free database to search for patents issued in Canada. Other countries may also have patent offices like the USPTO (United States Patent Office) and the JPO (Japan Patent Office). Each office has a free database for finding patents.
There are also more general tools where you can search patents worldwide. These include resources such as Espacenet, the Lens, and PatentScope. All are freely available to use and will find full text patents. Some UBC Library subscription databases also search the patent literature. An example is SciFinder.
Search for Patents
You can search for patents in many ways depending on the information you have. If you already know the patent you are looking for, you can search by patent number or enter the title of the patent. You might also search for an inventor, applicant, or company.
If you want to search by topic or technology, use the keyword search options in the database you are using. Similar to finding books or articles consider adding in related terms. For example, you might search for the words "coffee" and "cup" but you might also search for "mug", "hot beverage" and "cup." Try out different keyword combinations to find patents that talk about the same kind of invention using different terminology. Think about all the different ways that someone might describe an invention. What words might they use?
Classification Search
A classification search makes it easier to find all the patents for a certain topic or technology. If you try to search for all the patents on a subject with keywords, you'll encounter some challenges. Patents may use jargon, that is, words and phrases that are used by a particular profession or group that may be difficult to search for or to understand. A keyword search may not find every patent on your topic. Patent classifications simplify the process of searching for and finding all the patents available for a particular topic or technology.
To learn more about a classification search see the UBC Library Patents Guide.
Databases of note
Espacenet. International patent database containing 140+ million patents from more than 80 national and regional patent offices and over one million non-patent literature references. (Recommended).
The Lens (formerly Patent Lens). A public patent database indexing 152 million patent documents from 90+ national and regional patent offices. Full-text EP, US and WO documents are available.
PatentScope. Searches 114 million patent documents including 4.7 million published international patent applications [PCT].
Classification codes are just one piece of information in a patent. This excellent guide from Queen's University librarian Michael White outlines other key parts of US patents.