Use the following databases to search for patents. Some patent databases will provide the full text of patent documents.

Canadian | United States | International

Canadian

Canadian Intellectual Property Office Patent Database provides access to over 75 years of patent descriptions and images. You can search, retrieve and study more than 1,500,000 patent documents

United States

U.S. Patent Database - searchable database of U.S patents providing full-text patents since 1976 and full-page images since 1790.

The patent full text database contains hyperlinks to full page images of each patent document. To view these images you must install a plug-in on your workstation. Click here for information on viewing patent images.

Google Patent Search - Google Patent Search covers the entire collection of patents made available by the USPTO-from patents issued in the 1790s through those issued in the current year.

Delphion Research Intellectual Property Network - Free registration provides access to keyword searching against the US granted patent collection and patent number searching against worldwide collections

Freepatentsonline - Searchable database providing free, printable (pdf format) U.S. patents
Patent2pdf.org - Download U.S patents in pdf format from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Patent Fetcher - Download and print U.S patents in pdf format. Patent number(s) required.

 

International

SciFinder Scholar - (U of C only) Indexes chemical patents from approximately 25 countries and patent organizations from 1907 to the present. For information on accessing SciFinder Scholar, click here.

PCT Database - World Intellectual Property Organization - provides first-page data (pamphlets) of PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) applications since January 1997

Esp@cenet World Patents Database - Europe's network of patent databases. Provides access to European Patent Office database, Worldwide database (published patent applications from 72 countries), and World Intellectual Property Organization. Coverage is from 1859 to present

Scirus - a comprehensive science-specific search engine providing access to international patent information via Lexis-Nexis

SurfIP - information and intellectual property (IP) portal provided by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. Through SurfIP, you can search for information relating to the Biotechnology, IT, Telecommunication and Manufacturing Industries and more.

China Patent Database - Provided by the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China

DEPATISnet - German Patent Information System on the Internet - provides access to all German patents issued since 1877 with fulltext available since 1987

Industrial Property Digital Library - made available by the Japanese Patent Office - Click on "PAJ" for the most effective English-language search screen

BIOS Patent Lens - Free full-text Life Science Patent Database that includes more than 1,500,000 life science patents from the US, Australian and European-based databases