InfoGuides: Patents: Patent Databases

Last Updated: Aug 29, 2024 2:00 PM

Recommended Databases

USPTO Patent Public Search This link opens in a new window
Full text of patents and patent applications.

The USPTO's Patent Public Search database is the most up-to-date patent search source on the Internet. This is the recommended source for starting your patent search. It is updated once a week on Tuesday, as the U.S. government issues patents on this schedule

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis -- including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790 -- with an intuitive interface that offers quick discovery across all content types, personalization features such as Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents.

RIT's Nexis Uni subscription also provides access to TotalPatent One, a database allowing you to cross search patents from five different authorities (US, Europe, UK, Japan, WIPO).

Other patent databases

Google Patents
You can use this source to limit a Google search to just patents, or to search patents and non-patent literature from Google Scholar together
The Lens
The Lens is an open public resource that allows innovation researchers to access patent literature from around the globe
Espacenet
Espacenet provides access to worldwide patent information
Free Patents Online
Free Patents Online is an easy-to-use patent search site, but it may be less complete than Google Patents or USPTO
PATENTSCOPE
Using PATENTSCOPE, you can search over 116 million patent documents, including 4.9 million published international patent applications
WIPO INSPIRE
A source for patent analytics, from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)