LibGuides: Chemistry: Patents

Types

There are four types of patents:

"Utility Patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or compositions of matters, or any new useful improvement thereof;

Design Patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture;

Plant Patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plants" Source: US Patent and Trademark Office;

Reissue Patents are granted if there is a substantial error or errors in the original patent.

Australian Patents
Australian patent records dating back to 1904; records prior to 1920 can only be accessed through searching the application number.
Canadian Patents
Access over 75 years of Canadian patent descriptions and images. Search and retrieve more than 2,000,000 patent documents.
European Patents
Espacenet offers free access to more than 80 million patent documents of 92 countries, from 1836 to today.
International Patents
Search international and national patent collections: Argentina, ARIPO, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Rep., Ecuador, El Salvador, EPO, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Korea, LATIPAT, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Panama, PCT, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Uruguay, and Vietnam.
UK Patents
PDFs of UK Patents from 2006 to the present.
US Patents
Google searches the entire collection of issued patents and millions of patent applications made available by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Provides PDFs of patents issued in the 1790s through the present. Currently does not cover international patents.