This list of resources will enable you to retrieve most U.S. patents or trademarks, if you have a specific citation. However, if you have a product idea and want to determine if a similar item has been patented, searching these resources to determine patentability may be difficult. Patent and trademark searching can be very complex, and unless one has experience the results may not be valid.

The United States, European and Canadian patent sites

USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database

   

USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database

The USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database indexes information about patents, plus provides full text of patents since 1976 and full-page images of all patents in TIFF format. 1790-present.

Full record

Complete instructions for searching and downloading full text images of patents are provided. Page images can be downloaded to your web browser in TIFF format. The USPTO recommends that you install the Alterna Tiff viewer plug-in for your browser as explained on the USPTO's Full-Text and Image Database page. Even if you already have a TIFF plug-in on your browser, it may not display the TIFF format used by the USPTO. Full page images can be printed, but only one page at a time.

European Patent Office

   

European Patent Office Espacenet

Search for information about published patent applications from over 80 different countries and regions (not just in Europe). Based on the PCT minimum documentation, which is defined by WIPO as the minimum requirement for patent collections used to search for prior-art documents for the purpose of assessing novelty and inventiveness.

Full record

Google Patents

   

Google Patents

Google Patents indexes the full text of U.S. patents available through the U.S. Patent Office. Use the Advanced Patents search page to search by criteria like patent number, inventor, and filing date. Full text available in PDF. 1790-present.

Full record

Patents from LexisNexis

   

  

Patents from LexisNexis

Patents from LexisNexis indexes utility, design and plant patents from U.S., Europe and Japan. Some records will display the full text of the patent with links to associated images. Other patent records contain only abstracts. Search by patent number, assignee, or inventor name. 1790-present.  

Full record

This site offers searching and full text of patents, but has limited patent drawings or illustrations.

Other free patent resources online

Patent Searching from the University of Texas

These tutorials were developed at the University of Texas at Austin, and are based on the USPTO site, which is available to anyone. Therefore, by following them you will learn how to conduct a basic invention search using resources freely available to you.

University owned patents from Free Patents Online

Data for about 150 universities (mostly American) is available, including Virginia Tech. Clicking on a name of a university will retrieve a list of US patents and published applications assigned to that university.

National Inventors Hall of Fame

Listing of inventors with brief biographies.

Patent Information Users Group

This site contains links to many patent resources worldwide. The site is oriented towards the serious patent searcher, not the casual browser.

European Patent Office

The EPO allows a single patent application to be filed in one of the three official languages (English, French or German), giving patent protection in all 18 member states of the European Patent Organisation

University owned patents from Free Patents Online

Data for about 150 universities (mostly American) is available, including Virginia Tech. Clicking on a name of a university will retrieve a list of US patents and published applications assigned to that university.

National Inventors Hall of Fame

Listing of inventors with brief biographies.

Patent Information Users Group

This site contains links to many patent resources worldwide. The site is oriented towards the serious patent searcher, not the casual browser.

Patent Searching from the University of Texas

These tutorials were developed at the University of Texas at Austin, and are based on the USPTO site, which is available to anyone. Therefore, by following them you will learn how to conduct a basic invention search using resources freely available to you.

Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.

Information about patents at Virginia Tech..

World Intellectual Property Organization

United Nations agency to oversee global intellectual property issues.

Fee based patent sites

In addition to the free patent sites listed above, there are commercial sites which offer patent delivery services. Although VT does not subscribe to these services, they are listed here as examples of corporate based services which are available.

Delphion patent page

A commercial site offering patent searching and access.

Micro-Patent

A commercial patent delivery service.

Trademark resources online

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Trademark Database

After using this database, it is possible to view an image of the trademark from the USMARK CD-ROMs on the 4th floor of Newman library. Trademarks on the CDs are arranged by registration number, so be sure to note that number when doing your search.

Copyright resources online

Copyright website

An extensive list of copyright information.

United States Copyright Office

A good overview of copyright procedures.

Virginia Tech Libraries copyright site

General information about U.S. copyright and the Virginia Tech Libraries copyright policy.