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PlusPat
The Largest International Patent Databases
Please also read FamPat database
Link to PlusPat coverage |
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The Fruits of Human Innovation at your Fingertips
Nearly 60 million patent documents from over
92 worldwide patenting authorities.
No information overload or oversight.
PlusPat is the world’s largest international patent
file, seamlessly merging the EPO's (European Patent Office)
worldwide collection with the USPTO (U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office), WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization),
EPO and Japanese patent information. Its unique features let
you fine tune searches so that you access only the information
you need.
PlusPat ensures that your searches are extensive,
current and accurate.
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Extensive
Searches
The world's most extensive coverage
- 60+ million patent documents from 92 worldwide patenting
authorities
- 40+ million English-language abstracts that summarize
inventions
- 18+ million patent drawings
- Comprehensive family searching and convenient display
- Dating back to the early 20th century for major countries
Patent Families / All Documents Proceeding
from or Linked to Original Application Throughout
the patenting process documents are published in each country
where protection is sought. These documents include un/examined
applications,search reports, granted patents, and amendments
to granted patents after opposition, and are issued by the
regional authorities and national patent offices where the
invention was filed. For a single invention, these documents
are linked via a priority number (original application number)
and are called patent family members.
PlusPat gives you the option of grouping and deduplicating
family members, so you retrieve and display only relevant
records.
Cited and Citing Patents
Citations are references to existing patents. With PlusPat's
PatCite
feature, you can run automatic forward (citing patents) and
backward (cited patents) citation searches, and gather strategic
information, such as:
- A technology's seminal inventions.
- Competitor's patent road maps: Are they blocking
your patents (filing patents around yours to hinder you
from moving forward on your invention)? Are they erecting
patent walls (filing patents around their inventions
in order to keep you from competing with theirs)?
PlusPat provides citations for documents from:
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- USPTO
- INPI (French Patent Office)
- U.K. Patent Office.
Classification Codes
Patent offices use classification systems in order to organize
inventions into indexed groupings and subgroupings. These
systems are revised and adapted to developments in technology
and business practices. PlusPat's multiple patent office classification
system lets you cast a wide net by letting you retrieve information
using three classification systems:
- ECLA (European Patent Office Classification Codes): these
codes are revised and retrospectively applied each month
- IPC (International Patent Classification): while these
codes are revised every five years and are not retrospectively
applied, they let you retrieve documents from all patenting
authorities
- USPCL (U.S. Patent Classification): revised and retrospectively
applied six times a year
Classification codes let you search specific technologies. They
also help you retrieve records of inventions that are either
similar to or associated with the technology you described in
your keyword search. Taken a step further, classification
codes let you conduct an array of frequency analyses and discover:
- A technology's key inventors
- A technology's growth trends
- A country's leading technologies
- Companies that most frequently patent inventions based
on a technology
- The most frequently cited patents in a technology
- Similar or associated technologie
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Current
Searches
- Patent Alerting Feature--Receive updates on a search at
your preferred frequency
- Most major country patent publications appear within two
weeks of publication
- Fast updating
- Up-to-date legal status information (legal action on
each patent family member within each patenting authority)
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Accurate
Searches
- Simple, precise classification indexing (a reference
tool used by patent offices to track updates on technology
groupings) so you can easily retrieve patents that date
back to the early 20th century
- Original patent document in PDF
Because PlusPat was developed by our technologists, you'll
enjoy advantages that are unique to Questel:
- Comprehensive date ranging. Date ranging narrows your
search to a period of years or months, and helps you find
out:
- What patents are in force (if you limit the search
to a twenty-year range)
- A technology's historical development (if you limit
to older publications)
- Companies' recent patenting strategies (for competitive
intelligence work)
- The average waiting period between application and
issuance (if you place a range on application or priority
dates)
- The most recent updates on a search - sometimes called
a "manual" Patent
Alert - if you limit by updates
- Standardized patent data
- Powerful statistical
analysis tools
- Cross-file searching for complementary information
- Legal and fulltext display features
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