Chemical Information Sources/SIRCh/Chemical Patent Searches

SIRCh: Selected Internet Resources for Chemistry

Free Patent or Trademark Databases

• Cambia's Patent Lens free and open public full text and biologicals patent search comprising USPTO, WO, EP, AU and INPADOC.
• Google Patents
• USPTO patent databases (bibliographic, citation, and full text data, 1976-)
• USPTO Patent Application Information Retrieval Search patent application status by patent number.
• USPTO Trademarks Page
• WIPO's PATENTSCOPE database (for international patent applications; front page data w/ drawings, 1997-)
• esp@cenet (has full pdf images of patents, including US)
• DEPATISnet (especially good for German patents)
• FreePatentsOnline Free Patent Searching from US 4000000. Updated as new patents are published by the USPTO.
• IP Newsflash Search for patent families based on INPADOC data.

Search Sites Requiring Registration

• Delphion
• SurfIP (offers access to multiple patent and other sources; International Patent Office of Singapore)
• WikiPatents (a public community that reviews US patents and pending patent applications)

Commercial Patent Databases

• Derwent
• MicroPatent
• Dialog Corporation
  • Database list
• STN International
  • STN Patent Forum
  • STN Database List
• Questel
  • Database Catalogs
  • QPAT
• Paterra (machine translation of Japanese patent information)
• PharmaValet (integrates approved drugs and associated patent information from the US and Canada)

Patent Classification, Country, and Kind Codes

• US Patent Class Definitions and Classification Manual
  • USPTO
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
  • International Classifications
  • IPC ed. 7 (web)
• Derwent (Thomson):
  • Coding and Classification Database
  • Kind Codes (patent specification descriptors: "type" or "kind" codes)
  • Patent Assignee/Company Codes
• Chemical Abstracts Service
  • CAS Coverage of Patents
  • Coverage of CA Basic Patents by Year (Country Code and Year List for Patent Countries Covered)
  • Patent Kind Codes for CA Basic and Patent Family Members
• Netmark
  • Country Codes

Introduction to Patents

• Information About Patents (Thomson Reuters Derwent)
• What Every Chemist Should Know About Patents (Le-Nhung McLeland for the ACS) (version on the McLeland Web site)
• Understanding Intellectual Property
• WIPO Free Information Products

Miscellaneous

• U.S. Patent Number Guide (Michael White, Queen's University)
• Useful Links (European Patent Office)
• Patents (British Library)
• Intellectual Property Law: Patents (Yahoo)
• Patent Information Users' Group
• Patent Handout from the ACS CINF WORKSHOP: Teaching Chemical Information, August 18, 2002, Boston (Silvia Lee)
• Select Bibliography on Patents
• Patents (Swain Chemistry Library, Stanford University)