Start your patent search by searching in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Database. You can search by keyword, or by searching for terms in specific indexed fields, or by browsing the Patent Classification System.
Once you have identified patents in the USPTO database, note the patent numbers. Use the patent numbers to find the full text of patent documents in Google Patents or another recommended full text document source.
Patent documents are considered public information and are freely available on the Internet.
Researching how many patents have been issued on a particular technology can be tricky business. Keyword searching can be very imprecise, as you are likely to find many patents that merely mention the name of that technology somewhere in the text.
To discover how many patents have been issued on a particular technology, it is best to use the Index to the US Patent Classification System. We suggest you consult with a librarian for assistance with this type of search.
Use of RIT resources is reserved for current RIT students, faculty
and staff for academic and teaching purposes only.
Please contact your librarian with any questions.
