How can I find information about patents?

Patent data are a crucial yet frequently overlooked resource. Much of the data present in patent applications are never published into publicly-accessible journals, whether or not the patent is issued. Such data include synthesis methods, DNA and protein sequences, as well as functional mutations and genotypes.

Furthermore, more prosaic information, such as the composition of a research kit (e.g., gene transcription analysis kit), can often be found in patent applications.

There are several online resources available for patents. An annotated listing is available on Swain Library's website. The Lane Library also has links to some patent databases. To find them, search for "patent" in our Search box.

The principal resources provided by Stanford are:

• Derwent Innovations Index
• Patent data from Chemical Abstracts, available through SciFinder Scholar. Note that this version of SciFinder lacks substructure searching and sequence similarity searching options, available in the industrial version of SciFinder.
• All Stanford e-resources on patents.

Source

Lane Librarian

Record created 5/9/2006.

mtinsley, September 21, 2009