Locating Chemical Patents(for free)

Three Types of Patents

utility design plant

What is patentable?

compound method

What is not patentable?

nuclear weapons, atomic energy laws of nature

Uses of Patent Literature

build upon technical foundations commercial inventions often not published

elsewhere lay literature

What’s free?

www.uspto.gov espacenet.com

Classification of Patents

USPC IPC

Organic Compounds

USPC Carbon compounds, class 260 soon to be

abandoned Use Class 532-570 series

Inorganic Compounds

Class 423

Manual of Classification

Hormone replacement therapy– Hormones..sex 552/502+

http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/

Classification of Chemicals

International (IPC)

C = Chemistry/Metallurgy

C01F5/30 Organic compounds of Magnesium Chloride

Patent Technology Centers

http://www.uspto.gov/web/info/pat-tech.htm– 1600 Biotechnology and Organic Chemistry– 1700 Chemical and Materials Engineering

Patent Families

espacenet match on inventor’s name

Trademarks

Can go from the trademark database to the patent database by noting the assignee and approximate year.

Chemical Formulae

Espacenet “Mg(OH)2”– use caps and quotes

USPTO Mg(OH)2– caps

Fee-based services

Derwent CAS Dialog STN Questel