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CHEM 403

Articles, patents, chemistry drawing software, and information on different types of scholarly publishing for students in Principles of Chemical Research.

Finding Patents

Generally, you can find patents in a government database of the country or union where the patent was filed. Most US students rely on patent offices from the US, Canada, and the European Union.

SciFinder Scholar also allows you to search for patents! 

Patent Basics

Essentially, a patent = protection.

Within the United States, patents were authorized by the Constitution of the United States - Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8:  "The Congress shall have power... to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries".

In order for something to be "patentable", it needs to meet 4 basic criteria.

  • Able to be used (the invention must work and cannot just be a theory)
  • A clear description of how to make and use the invention
  • New, novel, something not done before
  • “Not obvious,” as related to a change to something already invented

There are three types of patents:

  • Utility - inventing a new or improved process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter
  • Design - inventing a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture
  • Plant - inventing or discovering and asexually reproducing any distinct variety of plant

A U.S. patent gives you, the inventor, the right to “exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” an invention or “importing” it into the U.S. A plant patent gives you additional rights on the “parts” of plants (e.g., a plant patent on an apple variety would include rights on the apples from the plant variety). What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import the invention, but the right to stop others from doing so. - US Patent and Trademark Office

Patent Searching Tips

An odd thing patent searching is that you should not use keywords that describe how the invention will be used. Rather, you need to use keywords that describe how the invention will work

Try using the tips below to help you out:

  • List several descriptors and synonyms for the invention
  • Ask yourself some questions to come up with additional searching keywords:
    • What does this invention do that is so unique?
    • What is the end result of this invention?
    • What material has this invention been fabricated from, or made with?
    • What verbs can you come up with to describe what this invention will be used for?