Patents: Where to look?

Patents are very tricky to search for. Use this guide to learn the what, why, and where about patents, and get started with your search.

Patents are usually filed first in their country of origin, and then filed in other countries as needed. For this reason, you may need to look in several search engines to ensure you've done a thorough search. However, many countries' patents are indexed through the World Intellectual Property Organization's PatentScope database, so you should definitely include this tool in your search strategy.

Canadian Intellectual Property Office
This database lets you access 146 years of Canadian patent descriptions and images. You can search, retrieve and study more than 2,220,000 patent documents.
European Patent Office - Espacenet
Espacenet offers free access to more than 90 million patent documents worldwide, containing information about inventions and technical developments from 1836 to today.
Google Patents
Google Patents covers the entire collection of granted patents and published patent applications from the USPTO, European Patent Office, and World Intellectual Property Organization. US patent documents from 1790, EPO and WIPO from 1978.
Lens.org
Lens.org is a user-friendly global patent search tool. It allows you to narrow results via filters.
USPTO Patent Public Search
Search US patents using the Patent Public Search tool. This includes patent applications that are currently under review and patents that have already been issued.
World Intellectual Property Organization - PatentScope
The PatentScope database provides access to international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications in full text format on the day of publication, as well as to patent documents of participating national and regional patent offices.