4 major databases; covering most of the world’s patents
- Espacenet The oldest of the major international databases. Produced by the European Patent Office (EPO). 123+ million patent and application records as of 9/20. Espacenet’s “Classification Search” looks for words in patents, and statistically ranks the CPC codes most often assigned to those patents.(To search for words in the CPC Scheme itself, use https://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/ )
- Google Patents 120+ million patents and applications from 100+ countries. Links your search results to Espacenet CPC search when you “Group by” classification. Advanced search includes Boolean, proximity, field search, chemical codes and structures.
- Lens Free database from non-profit Australian organization Cambia. Combines EPO, US, WIPO PCT and Australian patent documents.Many search fields and visualization tools. 123+ million records as of 9/20.
- Patentscope Free database from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations. 90+ million patent documents as of 9/20. Many display options. Advanced search features include chemical structure search and cross lingual expansion