Intellectual Property Guides

Esp@cenet
A basic guide to starting your patent search
http://worldwide.espacenet.com

You will find the database at the following url:

http://worldwide.espacenet.com
It is freely accessible, there is no need to register and it is run by the European Patent Office Click the Advanced Search link

Cooperative Patent Classification (see note on page 4) On other pages Quick Help FAQs appear in this left side bar. Click on Related Links, then Get Assistance for an interactive training session There are basic guides to using this database at the following urls: http://www.epo.org/searching/free/espacenet.html (Click the Espacenet brochure link) http://www.epo.org/learning-events/materials/inventors-handbook/ novelty/espacenet.html 1

Click the arrow next to the Select the Database... box and select Worldwide

Now type keywords relating to your idea in the Keywords in title or abstract box and click on the Search button at bottom of page Here we have chosen to search for a foldable ladder and have used the keywords: ladder* and fold*. The asterisk is used as a wildcard so the search will retrieve patents using the words ladder, ladders, folding, foldable etc. Using the and operator will locate only those patents which contain all the words you enter (you can omit the and operator: if none is present the search engine will use and). You can also use the or operator to look for synonyms and American English words (e.g. if you are using the keyword tap* you should also use faucet*). In the above example we could also describe the ladder as collapsible, so we could refine the search to: ladder* and (fold* or collaps*). 2

There is a limit of 10 words, but try to keep to 3 or 4 at the most. Be too precise and you may eliminate relevant patents. It is better to keep the search fairly broad and browse through the list of titles rather than be too specific. Only the first 500 results are shown. If you have more than 500 your search is probably too broad and you will want to try to narrow it by identifying relevant classifications (see below and opposite) or by focussing on the inventive elements. A results list of around 100 to 200 is a reasonable number. Keep modifying and repeating searches until you have exhausted all possibilities.

Click on a title and you will be presented with bibliographic data and (usually) an abstract (see next page). If you find inventions similar to yours it is a good idea to look at the classifications (International or Cooperative). 3

You can export the details as an Excel spreadsheet (but only for the 15 titles on the current page, not the whole list). Download covers allows you to download the front pages for up to 15 results as a pdf with contents list.

You can find listings of these classifications at the following addresses: International Patent Classification (IPC): http://www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/en/ (Click Browse and Search Current IPC and copy & paste classification into Current symbol box at left) Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC): See the link on page 1 You can click on the Search button at the top left of the screen to take you back to the search screen and enter the classification instead of the keywords. This will help you to identify patents which are relevant to your search, but which have been described in a different manner. To return to the list of titles or search To print the current page.

To see the full specification click on the Original document tab

The International and Cooperative classifications are shown. For the Cooperative classification click on the number to link to the classification listing. 4

After you click the Original document tab dont try to look through the document as it appears here. The best way to view the document is to click Download as this will download a pdf copy of the document to your computer which is more convenient both to view and print.

When you click Download a window will open asking you to enter a verification number. This is to prevent machine-generated bulk downloads. You can then save the file or open it.

The full specification may not always be available (if the text of the Original Document link is grey and the cursor does not change to a hand when you hover the mouse over it then it is not available). 5

After you have downloaded and opened the pdf you can use the bookmarks to go straight to the part you want (if the specification is not in English you may wish to go straight to the drawings).

Note that specifications are only published in the language of filing, hence not all will be in English. European applications (EP) may be in English, French or German; international applications (WO) may be in English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Japanese or Chinese. In the bibliographic view (shown on page 4), click on the Description or Claims links (they will not always be available) on the left and you can get a machine translation from French, German, Spanish or Italian. You should find specifications for most European countries, US, Japan, European applications (EP) and international (WO). My Patents List - allows you to store up to 100 items. Click the star icon under a patent title in the results list to add. Expires after 1 year of non-use. This is very useful as you should store details of anything relevant as you search; you may need to look at them in more detail later. Query History - You must first enable this with the tick box in the settings tab. This will only save up to 10 queries and only lasts for the current browser session. 6

Newcastle Libraries and Information Service City Library Charles Avison Building 33 New Bridge Street West Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8AX Tel: 0191 277 4100 Fax: 0191 2774137 Email: [email protected] http://www.bipcnewcastle.co.uk/
The Basic Patent Searching Process: Begin searching using keywords (NEVER use Title only search; use Keywords in title or abstract) If there are no or very few hits consider removing some of the words, substituting synonyms or American English terms If you find similar inventions look at the classifications. If you can identify an exact sub-class, e.g. E06C 1/383, go back to the search and use that in the appropriate field; if your idea seems to fit in a main class only, e.g. E06C, use that and all sub-classes will be searched (you can still add keywords relating to the inventive elements of your invention) Continue searching using all combinations of classification and keywords that seem relevant REMEMBER: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. A patent search is never complete because you can never prove something doesnt exist; you can only gather more and more evidence to support this view. Only stop when you have exhausted all possible combinations
Copyright Newcastle Libraries and Information Service, 2013 This booklet was updated Mar 2013 and can be downloaded from our website. Author: Matt Ginnelly Released under Creative Commons Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND). You are free to copy, distribute or share this work, but you must attribute the work to Newcastle Libraries and Information Service, you may not alter or edit the work and you may not use it for commercial purposes. See http://creativecommons.org for full details of this licence.