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Patent information How do you search for patents? Search strategy
Patent information How do you search for patents? Search strategy
Search strategy
The online espacenet search system enables you to search in many different ways. Your requirements will determine the search strategy.There are a number of different ways to search within espacenet.
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Searching by words: If you start to search and still wish to carry out a wider search. Searching with words results in a large number of unwanted or irrelevant hits and you will miss those patents that are written in a language that differs from the language of your search words. You should mainly search for technical terms and use truncation (shorter form of the word, ending on a *).
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Searching by classification codes: If you are somewhat further on in the search process and you wish to make a more specific technical search. When searching with classification codes, do not enter a mixture of languages or vague titles. The codes include all languages and all vague descriptions.
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Searching by company name: If you are searching for patents belonging to a particular company. Please ensure that patents can be applied for in the name of a subsidiary company.
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Searching by inventor name: Sometimes you only know the name of the person who devised the invention. Even if this person works for a major company, he/she will be named as the inventor.
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Searching by a date or period: If you only wish to see the patents from a particular period.
Any possible combination between these ways of searching is possible: classification code with search words, inventor name with company name, two different classification codes, four different search words. By trying out the types of results you get by searching, you will refine your search strategy.
