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Guides
Esp@cenet
A basic guide to starting
your patent search
_____
http://gb.espacenet.com
http://gb.espacenet.com
It is freely accessible, there is no need to register and it is run by the
European Patent Office
Click the Advanced Search link
You may wish to read this information about searching first. There are
also basic guides to using this database at the following:
www.espacenet.com/getstarted
www.espacenet.com/info
www.epo.org/topics/innovation-and-economy/handbook/novelty/
espacenet-searching.html
1
Click the arrow next to the Select Patent Database box and select
Worldwide
It is better to keep the search fairly broad and browse through the list of
titles rather than be too specific and think you havent found anything
when in fact you have missed something important because it was not
described in the anticipated manner.
Only the first 500 results are shown. If you have more than 500 your
search is probably too broad and you will want to try to narrow it (see
below)
Click on a title and you will be presented with bibliographic data and
(usually) an abstract (see next page).
If you find inventions similar to yours it is a good idea to look at the
classifications (international and European).
3
In the Maximised view you can use the drop-down arrow shown to
navigate through the pages (e.g. in this case the specification is in
Japanese and you may wish to go straight to the drawings).
The full specification may not always be available (if the Original
Document tab is grey and does not go red when you hover the mouse
over it then it is not available). You should find specifications for most
European countries, US, Japan, European applications (EP) and
international (WO).