Patents, standards, and technical reports

What is a patent?

In exchange for the complete disclosure of an invention, a patent grants the applicant the exclusive right to make, use, or sell the claimed invention for a limited period of time. Patents and patent applications are a great way to learn about an industry or technology. Much of the information in patents will not be available elsewhere.

If you are interested in learning about patents or would like help conducting searches, please contact us.

IP offices around the world publish patent landscapes focusing on a technology.

• WIPO Patent Analytics
• Patent Landscape Reports by Other Organizations

Are you interested in artificial intelligence? Visit the PATENTSCOPE Artificial Intelligence Index, or read their Patent Landscape Report - GenAI.

Databases

Multi-national patent databases

• Derwent Innovations Index - recommended resource for searching on a topic (covers >50 worldwide patent-issuing authorities)
• Google Patents
• Espacenet - provided by the European Patent Office (EPO)
• Patentscope - provided by the World Intellectual Patent Office (WIPO) 
  • Create a login to take advantage of all of the features.
  • Patentscope Tips and Tricks
  • WIPO IP Statistics Data Center - has data on patent activity worldwide
• SciFinder - recommended resource for chemistry and related patents (covers 63 worldwide patent-issuing authorities)
• The Lens - includes a scholar search to find citations in patents

National and regional patent information sources

• WIPO Directory of Intellectual Property Offices
• CIPO's Canadian Patents Database - for the full text of Canadian patents and applications from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office
  • Patent Register - alphabetical listing of medicinal ingredients and their associated patents with expiry dates
• USPTO search for patents - patents and applications from the United States Patent and Trademark Office
  • Patent Center - full patent history and status. TIP: use the drop-down to select the document type.
  • Patent Term Calculator
• European Patent Register (EPO) - publicly available procedural information on European patent applications. Take advantage of one of their technology platform advanced searches:
  • Space innovation
  • Technologies combating cancer
  • Clean energy technologies
  • Fighting coronavirus
• China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) - Search their patent database
• Japan Patent Office (JPO) - Search their J-PlatPat database

Searching the patent literature

Concept-based searching

In order to pull up all relevant patents, it is important to search by concepts. Terminology is always changing and varies around the world.

• Visit our concept mapping guide to learn how to extract the main concepts and map out knowledge around an invention.
• Try out a concept mapping software, like the freely available CmapTools (more information about CmapTools).
• Brainstorm synonyms, antonyms and alternative ways of capturing each concept.
• Build a search by combining different terms for a concept with "OR". Here is an example for teapots (the * or truncation symbol can represent any letter and picks up the plural, teapots):
  1. teapot*
  2. tea OR teas 
  3. pot OR pots OR pottery
  4. #2 AND #3 
  5. #1 OR #4
• Take advantage of patent classification codes. For example, A47G 19/14 is the IPC code for "Coffee or tea pots" and can be added to the above search.
  • International Patent Classification (IPC) - used by all patent offices
  • Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) - jointly developed by the EPO and USPTO, modelled heavily on the IPC
  • Derwent class codes and manual codes

@ McGill Library

Books

• Information Sources in Patents
• From invention to patent: a scientist and engineer's guide
• Current challenges in patent information retrieval
• Introduction to patentability in drug development
• Contemporary issues in pharmaceutical patent law
• Patent law for computer scientists

More books on patents @ McGill Library.

Journal

World patent information (major peer-reviewed journal)

Learning online

• How to Read a Patent (The Lens)
• Patent Law (offered by Penn on Coursera - audit for free)
• Patenting in Biotechnology (offered by Copenhagen Business School on Coursera - audit for free)

Disclosing an invention

Research professionals from McGill University may consult the Research and Innovation website for information on disclosing an invention and investigating its commercialization potential.