02a Free Search Tools
02a Free Search Tools
02a Free Search Tools
2017
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Introduction
Purpose of this document….
This article is a tutorial on several free patent search tools to
Table of Contents
help anyone who needs to locate patent information. Introduction P2
Espacenet P3-7
This document will act as a rapid introduction to each tool Google Patents P8-12
emphasizing its key features and where those features can PATENTSCOPE P13-17
be found. Since individual needs vary, it is our hope that you
will be able to rapidly choose a tool with the functions that
The Lens P18-22
fit your needs. Comparison of Tools P23
Other Resources P24
The best patent searches are iterative using different search
tools since each tool works slightly differently. The same Primer on Information Security:
search was performed in each tool using the same key words Protecting confidentiality is a common source of
and you will notice that the number of results is quite misinformation regarding free search tools. Users should
different. This is most commonly due to the countries be aware that no tool (paid or free) is without risk.
covered and the way family members are grouped. However, by following a few tips and understanding the
“threat model”, you can confidently search for patents
Ideally, you would want to perform a search using at least while taking reasonable, best-practice security steps to
two search tools. Each tool has different strengths, protect the confidentiality of the invention.
therefore, by searching with different tools you can take
advantage of their unique search features, such as WIPO's Security and privacy are both important to protecting
translation query builder, or Google's synonyms. confidentiality.
Featured tools: There are multiple areas to secure while searching. First,
Many existing open source databases have been integrated consider local security (software updates, hard drive
into freely available search tools. We have chosen to present encryption, physical security) and the security of the
four tools based on their ease of use, reliability of results and provider (company reputation, security engineers).
useful key features.
• Espacenet Second, you need to know the ways in which your search
• Google Patents strings can be seen as you type them and what are the
• PATENTSCOPE associated “threats”.
• The Lens - Your keyboard (hardware keyloggers)
- Your browser (extensions that can access your
Presentation of each tool: pages)
The section for each tool will include the following topics and - Your computer (software keyloggers, viruses)
the same search will be used for demonstration. - The internet (eavesdroppers on non-HTTPS sites)
1. Overview and Coverage - The search tool (weaknesses of security systems)
2. Searching Capabilities / Key Features
3. Results Manipulation Capabilities Last, you need to know what can save your search strings.
4. Privacy and Security - Your browser history
5. Additional Information - Help - The search tool
Best Practices For Protecting Privacy covers the last piece: what does the search tool
Your Patent Search Information do with my search strings? Each company has a privacy
policy that details how your search strings are processed,
When using free search tools on the Internet, consider
who has access to them and under what circumstances,
the following tips:
for how long they are stored, and what identifying
1. Only search on encrypted (HTTPS) sites (protects
information they are stored with.
against eavesdroppers on WiFi networks)
2. Delete your browser history after you have finished,
or search in an “incognito window” (prevents Today’s patent search tools are a powerful
information access in the event of computer theft) means of obtaining key information
3. Store your search notes on your computer’s when used with a knowledge of security,
encrypted hard drive, or in the Cloud (prevents privacy, and best practices for protecting your
information access in the event of computer theft) search information.
Overview and Coverage there are English abstracts already available for patent family
members. Otherwise, the abstract is requested and
Espacenet is a patent database that allows you to do full-text subsequently loaded into the database.
searches in English, French, or German. You can select the
database in your preferred language and in addition to Espacenet gives you access to:
viewing your results online, you can export them to a • more than 95 million patent documents – most of them
CSV/XLS formatted file. patent applications – from around the world, journal
articles, and before new products reach the market.
The worldwide database allows you to search for published Patent applications normally represent the first publication
patent applications from over 95 patent-granting authorities. of a new idea, appearing ahead of journal articles
Like all search tools, the EPO relies on the patent-granting • patent family information, telling you if similar patents
authorities for its data, it cannot be guaranteed that the data have been filed in other countries
in Espacenet is completely up-to-date. For example when • legal status information, helping you find out whether, and
seeking information on patent status, the user should go to in what countries, a patent is in force
the national register to obtain the most up-to-date • deep links to some national registers
information. • references to other kinds of technical literature (non-
patent literature)
Espacenet includes data on more than 95 million patent • citations – other documents cited by or citing the
documents world-wide. document you are looking at
• links to the European Patent Register for European and
Latest updates to the database Euro-PCT documents and to selected national patent
You will find up-to-date information on the EPO website registers
under “Latest bibliographic coverage” and “Latest full-text • Global Dossier links to the file wrapper for US, Canada,
coverage”. Both lists are updated daily. Latest Full-text WIPO, Chinese, Japanese and Korean patent applications.
coverage information can be found at • export to CSV/XLS
http://www.epo.org/searching-for-patents/technical/full- • searching by keyword in title abstract and full text
text-additions.html (description and claims) and CPC
• CPC browser with CPC’s assigned to EP docs after a delay.
(Other docs are assigned CPCs as they are loaded into the
Updates to the database database.)
The Espacenet database is updated daily. Data is added to
the database as soon as possible after it is received from the
national patent granting authorities, in some cases on the
Global Dossier
day of publication. The link to Global Dossier offers access to patent or
application "file wrappers", free of charge and with
automatic machine translations to English. The file wrapper
Availability of searchable data in the database contains a historical listing of public documents including
Documents in the database have the following searchable search reports, office actions, correspondence between the
fields: application number, priority number, publication applicant and the patent office, and often the current legal
number, publication date, inventor, applicant, International status (status should be verified with the national office).
Patent Classification (IPC), Cooperative Patent Classification
(CPC), title, abstract, description, claims and citations.
Common Citation Document
The CPC assigned by EPO examiners to non-European patent Clicking on the CCD link allows users to search for and view
documents is usually available a few months after the all documents cited by more than 35 patent offices in the
publication date. This should be considered if you are search process for applications for the same invention.
targeting recently published documents.
Online customer support, helpdesk and training
English abstracts are normally loaded approximately one Espacenet has many resources for anyone needing help in
month after the publication date, depending on availability searching or using this powerful search tool.
and delivery from the national offices and patent-granting
authorities. Discussion Forums
Forums allow you to post your opinions, ask questions and
If the abstract is published in a language other than English, share information on Espacenet. Current topics include:
the original abstract is usually translated into English, unless Search tips, Technical issues and Meet the experts.
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Key Features Our search example is ‘solar portable usb charger’. Using
Smart Search, a list of approximately 74 results is
Landing page obtained. “Approximately” indicates a large number of
1. On the landing page there are three search options: Smart results and the list contains multiple family members.
search, Advanced search and Classification search. (See results below.) If the list is less than 500, you can
2. The Smart search takes a free-form search statement and manipulate the list by sorting it, in which case the list is
will search in title and/or abstract with keywords. It will de-duplicated, “Approximately...” disappears, and the
display a corresponding CQL search statement. You can also new list contains only one hit per family.
construct a CQL command-line search statement using field The advanced search can also be used for specific field
identifiers, Boolean and proximity operators. You can search searching. The Advanced search, in Worldwide EN for full
full text in abstract or description or claims using the text, gives “Approximately 3,744 results”
appropriate field identifiers. (See “Help” and “operators”)
Search results list
3. The number of results is found at the top of the list
4. Arrow for the next page of results
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Smart search
• Translation • Export
Smart search - entering queries
• My patents list • Query history Smart search - field identifiers
• Downloads Smart search - operators
Advanced Search
Classification Search
Espacenet Assistant
A guided tour through Espacenet,
crash courses (24 courses in 1-3
minutes), and Help index.
Provider’s Note
Key features and important points include: data coverage, CPC browser, links to Global Dossier, links to national registers, Common
Citation Document , online customer support, forums, and expert helpdesk.
Espacenet is a great place to search, get information about patent families and obtain rapid access to national registers.
• If you are looking for prior art, check the "Include non-patent
literature" box to include results from Google Scholar.
15 October 2016
• Paste a large block of text, such as a paragraph, to run the
Prior Art Finder keyword extractor to suggest search terms.
Many documents have full-text description and claims
available. The "Since ..." dates listed on the statistics graph Any good search begins by developing a clear description of
show when full-text is available, but additional abstract-only the subject of the search.
documents are often available for earlier dates.
Key elements should be identified and any synonyms for those
Optical character recognition (OCR) has been performed on the elements should be noted. (USB = universal serial bus)
US patents to 1790 to make them searchable, and Google
Translate has been used on all non-English patents to make the Keywords can be tested by using Google and looking at
English translations searchable. “Images” to determine which words give the best results.
Patents with only non-English text have been machine- Those words can then used in the Google Patents initial search
translated to English and indexed, so you can search patent box or in any other search tool.
publications using only English keywords.
https://support.google.com/faqs/answer/7049585?hl=en&ref_topic=6390989
Our search example is ‘solar portable usb charger’. Non-patent literature may be included by checking the box,
but for our example search we have chosen to only search patents.
Key Features
1 Landing page
1. Initial syntax search
2. Checkbox to include non-patent literature
3. “Boolean” like search with “or” between synonyms and 9. Proposes CPC codes for words in the search terms box
each box being equivalent to “and” 10. Searches can be narrowed by dates, assignee, inventor,
4. Total results number at the top of the results list patent office, language, status, citing patent and CPC
5. Results can be ordered by relevance, newest or oldest 11. Graphs of top assignees, inventors and CPCs
6. Results can be grouped by classification or ungrouped 12. Expanded Thumbnail images
7. Download results 13. Link to PDF document
8. Narrow or broaden searches by adding terms in boxes 14. New search magnifying glass
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Boolean syntax: Google Patents includes boolean syntax (USPTO or EPO format). Graphs allow rapid access
Proximity: You can use proximity operators to boost the score of documents if they contain to other documents by
expressions near each other. the assignee, inventors or
Searching in title, abstract, claims, CPC: Use TI=(safety belt) to search in the title, AB= for the CPCs. The top five are
abstract and CL= for the claims. For CPCs, CPC=B60R22 will match documents with exactly this CPC, viewed by default but the
CPC=B60R22/low matches documents with this CPC or a child classification of this CPC. “Expand” link enlarges
Wildcards, truncation: See the “?” next to Search Terms for additional information the list.
Patent document view 3. Bibliographic information and claims are on the right
By clicking on the title, the document in the document review 4. Arrows to view the next document in the list
screen. 5. Classifications are between the images and the description
1. Key words are highlighted 6. Additional fields to narrow the search
2. Abstract, images and description are in the left-hand column 7. Button to return to the results list view
2 3
4
7 5
Clicking on the
images will open
an image viewer
below the classi-
fications box or on
the right of a wide
screen.
A B C
D
Adjusting the zoom on your web
browser when using a wide
screen monitor, allows viewing
images to the right of the text.
A. Rotate image
B. Next or previous image
C. View enlarge image, open in
a new tab
D. Close
Results Manipulation
The list results include graphs of the top five assignees, inventors and CPCs.
You can download a CSV file of the top 1000 results.
Additional Information
Provider’s Note
Google Patents aims to make the collection of patents and prior art accessible and useful to the public around the world by applying
search, translation, and machine classification technology.
Landing page 4. Browse PCT by week, sequence listing, IPC green inventory,
1. Login and Account sign up portal to patent registers
2. Options allows your personal configuration to be saved if you 5. Search type: simple, advanced, field combination, cross
have an account lingual expansion, chemical structure
3. WIPO translate and WIPO pearl 6. Selection of where to search in the document record
5 4 3 2 1
Simple search terms full text: solar portable usb charger = 3860 results
Advanced search: charger and (usb or “universal serial bus”) and portable and solar = 3403 results
User Name
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Additional Information
WIPO Resources
• Video tutorials
• PATENTSCOPE User’s Guide
• WIPO Translate
• Data services
• External databases
• Webinars
• Frequently asked questions
User Name
Provider’s Note
Key features include: First time available published PCT applications, unique national and regional collections, full-text searching,
chemical structure searching, query assistant available to help users build complex queries, and one record for all republications of
the same application. Chinese utility models are available.
New: dossier content from participating IP offices is available in the “Documents” tab on the document view page.
Key Features
Landing page
1. PatSeq search enables access to patents
disclosing genetic sequences and bulk Basic search terms: solar portable usb charger = 3788 (2224 families)
Structured search: charger AND usb AND portable AND solar = 3788 (2224 families)
downloads of disclosed sequence data
Structured search: charger AND (usb OR "universal serial bus") AND Portable AND solar
2. Guest or User tools = 3824 (2235 families)
3. Account register and Sign in Note: operators AND, OR and NOT must be in all caps.
4. Simple search
5. Structured search option
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Results Manipulation
Provider’s Note
The Lens is the longest continually operating open full text resource available to date and it strives to make the innovation system
more open, efficient, transparent and inclusive. Openness in the Lens means that the patent and non patent knowledge, the
collections, the analyses can be shared with “anyone” on any platform with no compromises of privacy or security. Feedback is
welcome at support@cambia.org
Non-English documents -
Machine translations searched Abstracts and Abstracts and Abstracts and
Full-text
(See links in Document Information many full-text many full-text many full-text
and Dates below for details)
Syntax search
Boolean search
Search history viewing
Saving of searches
Alerts RSS Feeds With Google Scholar RSS for changes In 2017
Export of results
Graphing / Analysis
Searchable PDF
Privacy - Account Https Https Https and Account Https and Account
Security
Citations, families,
Links to similar documents Citations and families In 2017
(Algorithm) non-patent literature
While care has been taken to ensure that information contained in this publication is true and correct at the time of publication, changes in circumstances after
the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of this information. The information is for general purposes only, and neither IPO nor any organization cited
makes any representations or warranties of any kind concerning the information presented in this pamphlet or accessed through any Internet site referenced.