Resource of the Week #137: A Resource Providing Access to Patents

Hello again. This week I learned of an extensive resource on patents. This resource can help if you want to know about inventions in your field—or if you have an idea for an invention and want to know whether it is new. It also can yield interesting browsing.

This resource, which is from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is called PATENTSCOPE. It is available in several languages, and it includes patents from many countries and regions.

According to WIPO, “Using PATENTSCOPE you can search through more than 32 million patent documents including 2.2 million international patent applications submitted under the PCT [Patent Cooperation Treaty].”

You can search PATENTSCOPE by keyword, applicant name, international patent classification, and other criteria.You can also browse PATENTSCOPE.

The PATENTSCOPE homepage includes links to 3 brochures:

• PATENTSCOPE Search and CLIR [Cross-Lingual Information Retrieval]
• Finding Technology Using Patents
• WIPO Guide to Using Patent Information

These brochures can help in using PATENTSCOPE and otherwise using the patent literature.

I recall my father, who was a patent attorney, taking trips to our national patent office to search the printed patent literature. How much easier things are now!

Until the next post—

Barbara