Patents, Standards and Codes: Patents
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Patents
A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention. In other words, a patent is an exclusive right to a product or a process that generally provides a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. To get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application.
Patents may be granted for inventions in any field of technology, from an everyday kitchen utensil to a nanotechnology chip. An invention can be a product – such as a chemical compound, or a process, for example – or a process for producing a specific chemical compound. Many products in fact contain a number of inventions. For example, a laptop computer can involve hundreds of inventions, working together.
According to IP Australia you cannot patent:
- Human beings or the biological process for their generation
- artistic creation
- mathematical models
- plans, schemes or other mental processes
- Inventions with military aspects
How to find patents
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AusPat - IP Australia Search for Australian patents, trademarks and designs, records go back to 1979. |
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PAFT – United States Patent and Trademark Office Search for full text US patent documents. Patents issued before 1976 can only be searched for by patent number, issue date, and current US classifications. |
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CNIPA - National Intellectual Property Administration, China |
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Espacenet - European Patent Office Search for full-text images of worldwide patent documents. |
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World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Search WIPO's Patentscope database for International patent collections. |
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You can use the Patent Lens to search the full-text of over 8 million patents and applications. Data is updated weekly with bulk data obtained through subscriptions with WIPO, USPTO, EPO and IP Australia. Over the last year PCT, US, EPO and Australian coverage has been expanded to include all classifications. |
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Using the familiar Google search interface you can search the US Patent and Trademark Office database. |
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The Patentscope Search Service enables you to do full-text search in over 1.6 million published international patent applications from the first publication in 1978. |
Key library databases with search limits for patents:
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Patents from selected categories and selected countries are indexed within two days of issue. To search for patents:
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Covers US patents issued before 1970. To search for patents set the Document type to Patents (before 1970). |
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Covers US patents issued before 1977. To search for patents set the Document type to Patents (before 1977). |