NL Patent Office

Exploratory search and assistance

You can check whether your invention has already been invented using the online search system for patents, Espacenet. This database contains over seventy million patent documents from eighty countries in which protected technical inventions are described.

However, a certain amount of skill is required to search in this database. You can consult the Espacenet manual to use this system, but NL Patent Office also provides support in this regard to Dutch entrepreneurs/patent applicants.

One of the tools used to obtain information is known as an exploratory search. However, it may not be a suitable tool for obtaining information in some cases. The assessment of it suggests that the level of knowledge and the size of the company are the determining factors as to how useful it is.