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Technology Transfer Research Guide: Patents

What is a patent?

A patent is the intellectual property right granted by the U.S. Government to an inventor "to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the U.S. or importing the invention into the U.S." for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted. In most cases, this is twenty years from the date of application. In some situations, the term of the patent may be extended due to delays in the processing of the application. After the patent has expired, the invention becomes public domain. In addition, patent owners must pay a maintenance fee at 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years after issue or else the patent will expire.

See "How to Read a U.S. Patent" from Queen's University Library for a detailed description of the sections of a U.S. patent.

Patent types

Utility patent: Describes a new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or useful improvement thereof (i.e. what something does)

Design patent: A new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture (i.e. how something looks)

Plant patent: Describes an asexually reproduced distinct and new variety of plant (e.g. ‘NuMex Heritage 6-4’ New Mexican Chile Pepper)

Patent classification system

The primary purpose of a patent classification system is to provide for an effective and efficient means of organizing and retrieving patent documents by technological subject. Espacenet is particularly useful in drilling down on a classification number.

Classification vs. Keywords

Searching by classification is superior to keyword searching because it is:

  • Language independent
  • Terminology/jargon independent
  • Applied by experts (patent office staff)
  • Available for (old) patent documents that lack searchable full text
  • Useful for concept searching

Other purposes of classification include:

  • Selective dissemination of patent information
  • State of the art searching
  • Preparation of IP statistics

More Intellectual Property Resources

Patent search tools

Search strategies

Review the FAQ and guidelines below, then test out your search in the following databases.

What is a patent landscape?

A patent landscape is an analysis of patent data that reveals business, scientific and technological trends. Landscape reports typically focus on a single geographic region, industry or technology. For more information on how to use and create patent landscapes, see the following article.

Bubela, T., Gold, E. R., Graff, G. D., Cahoy, D. R., Nicol, D., & Castle, D. (2013). Patent landscaping for life sciences innovation: Toward consistent and transparent practices. Nature Biotechnology, 31(3), 202-207.