Research Guides: Patents: Home

General

General information concerning patents
USPTO website covers patent criteria, application and maintenance process and related topics.
Anatomy of a Patent Video (University of Michigan)
This approximately 6-minute video explains the various sections of a patent document.

Browsing

Official Gazette for Patents
The United States Patent and Trademark Office published the Official Gazette each Tuesday in electronic form only. The Gazette contains bibliographic (front page) text, a representative claim, and a drawing (if applicable) of each patent issued that week. The most recent 52 weekly issues are available to view online.

Classification Systems

Every patent is classified according to one or more classification schemes. The schemes are systems of codes that group inventions according to various technical areas.

Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
This scheme is an extension of the IPC and is managed by the EPO and the US Patent and Trademark Office. CPC includes an additional section "Y" related to new technological developments.
International Patent Classification (IPC)
This scheme is used worldwide and there are approximately 70,000 different IPC codes for different technical areas.
Statistical Mapping
Tools to aid in mapping between the IPC and CPC.