NL Patent Office

Explanation and overview (inter)national patent databases

You can find complete patent publications with text and drawings in patent databases. Do you want to know if your invention is new? Then use patent dababases. Did you devise a trademark? Then use trademark databases.

NL Patent Office provides a number of databases, for patents as well as for trademarks and designs.

Patents


Trademarks and designs
 
Espacenet
The espacenet database is a search system that allows you access to a large proportion of the global patent literature free of charge. You will find over sixty million patents from over eighty countries. Direct link to the database espacenet.

Patent literature contains information about inventions and technology, as well as about the people and companies associated with these patents. The Netherlands published its first patent in 1912. All Dutch patents can be found in espacenet.

Inventions, partners, competitors?
In espacenet you can search for your own invention, but you can also obtain ideas from other people's inventions. You can also find answers to questions such as:

• Does anyone have a (partial) solution to my problem?
• Are there any suitable collaboration partners?
• Would anyone like to licence my invention?
• Is my competitor working on something new and if so, in what field?
• Are many inventions being patented in my field and by whom?

IPC
The abbreviation IPC stands for 'International Patent Classification'. This hierarchical classification system is used to classify and find the technical content of patent documents.IPC is a means of classifying patent documents in an orderly manner, and is used to carry out novelty searches in a given technical field. In recent years, the IPC is also being used to classify non-patent documents.

Tree diagram
IPC works like a tree diagram to begin with large groups that have a short code, such as B for Performing Operations and Transporting. It ends with detailed technical descriptions of a group, with long codes, such as B64C3/40 for aeroplane wings that may differ from the sweepback angle.

The IPC classification scheme contains approximately 70,000 different classification symbols for patent documents. The highest hierarchical level consists of the eight sections of the IPC, where each section contains a major technical field. The letters A to H and Y indicate the sections. Sections are divided into classes, which in turn are sub-divided into sub-classes. Please refer to the website of the World Intellectual Property Organization for a detailed guide to the IPC.

European Classification
Researchers from the European Patent Office assign the European ECLA classification in order to improve novelty searches. Not all patents have an ECLA classification. The patents from the most important countries of the international Patent Cooperation Treaty are always assigned an ECLA class.

Connection with IPC
ECLA is a level of the International Patent Classification (IPC). It contains around 130,000 subdivisions, i.e. 60,000 more than the IPC, and it is therefore much more precise. ECLA is continually being revised and is applied retrospectively to the older documents.

Benelux trademark database
The trademark database of the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) allows you to search for filed and registered trademarks that are valid in the Benelux countries.

The trademark database allows you to find all filed and registered trademarks that are valid in the Benelux. This therefore does not just include Benelux trademarks, but also Community trademarks (European trademarks) and international trademarks in which the Benelux countries have been designated.

Searching
Trademarks that are registered at the BOIP appear in the Benelux trademark register. It is easy to search for them by number, classification code or trademark name.

European trademark database
It is also possible to register trademarks via the European Union. A trademark is a sign that is used to distinguish the goods of a particular company. The EU authority that is responsible for implementing the Community Trademark Act and the Community Designs Act is established in Alicante under the name Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM).

Searching
Community Trademarks that are registered at the OHIM appear in the European trademark register. It is easy to search for them by number, classification code or trademark name.

European design database
It is also possible to register designs or drawings via the European Union, in relation to the external design of a product. The EU authority that is responsible for implementing the Community Patent Act and the Community Designs Act is established in Alicante under the name Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM).

Searching
Community Designs that are registered at the OHIM appear in the European design register. It is easy to search for them by owner, classification code, number or filing date.