patent basics
- a guide to patents. canadian intellectual property officethe canadian intellectual property office site, has basic information about patents, the patent process and contact information for the canada client services centre. intellectual property search information officers at cipo can answer basic questions on patents and provide general guidance with intellectual property resources.
canadian patents cover
"new inventions (process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter) or any new and usefull improvement of an existing invention.
to qualify for a canadian patent, an invention must show novelty, utility and ingenuity
novelty - the item or process must be the first of it's kind in the world
utility - must work
ingenuity - must be a development or improvement that would not have been obvious to workers of average skill in the technology involved'
source: a guide to patents. canadian intellectual property office
general information about patents
patent databases
- canadian patents databasecanadian patent records from 1869 to present; full-text documents from 1920-.
- uspto browseable indexbrowseable index to the us patent classification system
- world international property organization (wipo) patentscopethe world international patent office does not issue patents, but allows inventors to apply for patent protection simultaneously in many countries as dictated by the patent co-operation treaty. the patentscope database is an interface to search international patent applications from 1978 to present.
- european patent office - espacenetpublication coverage: 1836 - present
- google patents this link opens in a new windowgoogle patents includes patent applications and grants from the uspto, epo, jpo, sipo, wipo, dpma, and cipo. patents without english full text are machine-translated to english, so you can search foreign patent documents using only english keywords.
standards
- astm (compass) standards this link opens in a new windowcontains full-text active standards. these standards are used internationally by scientists, engineers, architects for research and develoment, product testing etc.
structure searching in surechem
what are standards and patents?
patents - a certificate of grant by a government of an exclusive right with respect to an invention for a limited period of time. also known as letters patent. (from accessscience, ©mcgraw-hil)
standards - an authoritative or recognized exemplar of correctness, perfection, or some definite degree of any quality. (from oed)
how can they help you?
patents protect the rights of the inventor of an item, but can also be searched to determine viable areas for research.
standards are used by scientists and engineers, architects and designers to create, invent and build in a stable and safe environment
google patents
standards listed online
many agencies produce and charge for existing standards. sites listed below may provide lists for applicable standards available for purchase and are posted here for reference purposes.
- canadian standards associationstandards developed for canadian business, industry government and consumers.
- american national standards institutevoluntary standards.
- american petroleum institutestandards and recommendations for industrial production, certifacation for storage and pipe inspection in the petroleum industry.
- american concrete institutestandards for us structural steel design and the construction industry.
patent research and trends
- trilateral patent statisticsstatistical reports from the european, us and japanese patent offices
- wipo statistics on patentsincludes patent data by country
best practices from chemistry patent searching experts
not for the faint of heart! searching chemistry patent information poses specific challenges due to our ability to describe in words, what is represented by chemical notations, molecular structures etc. the intellogist blog hosts a number of solutions for patent searching in chemistry. note: access to commercial databases referenced here is limited.