Online Patent Guide Sites - Patent

Patent Search Procedure
We normally search to determine uniqueness, identify potential additional features for the product, identify additional potential uses for a product, or to identify potential solutions for a design or safety problem. After trial and error, we have settled into the procedure below. It will meet the needs of most patent searchers.Whether you search online (in any site), on a CD-ROM database or in person at a Depository Library or at the U.S. Patent Office itself, the same procedure is followed. Below is a very brief description of our U.S. patent search procedure.Each site/database has its own version(s) of the tools, different means for accessing images, stores patents back to different dates, stores different degrees of patent information (bibliography only, abstracts, full text, images in different formats or not at all), some due not update class/subclass changes, all have different search tools for searching for multiple words, by class/subclass, inventor, assignee, patent number, etc. The sites sometimes down or very slow. We usually find it faster to use them in the middle of the night. Most well known patent databases are continually changing and changing their interfaces. You just need to (1) Remember the procedure (2) Find the tools needed to conduct the procedure, (3) Make sure the database meets your needs, (4) Follow the procedure.The links to the tools below refer to the U.S. Patent & Trademark site. The same tools can be found on most major patent search sites or found on independent sites and then applied on the major sites. Make sure you are using current tools, they are continuously being updated