Library guides: Patents: About patents

What are patents?

Patents are a type of intellectual property. They provide legally enforceable rights that give the patent owner the exclusive right to use their inventions commercially for the life of the patent.

Patents must be applied for in every jurisdiction (there is no global patent), and the applicant must show that their unique device, substance, method, or process is:

new
useful
inventive
innovative

Patent basics
IP Australia provides further advice about the benefits, and types, of patents.
Tutorial: Patents and patentability
University of Minnesota tutorial explaining the different types of patents, how patents relate to inventions, what makes an idea patentable, and the parts of a patent.
Tutorial: Patent searching
This second University of Minnesota tutorial explains the benefits of using patents in your research and how to search using Google Patents in conjunction with the USPTO Patent Database.

Why search for patents?

Students:

Discover the latest developments in a field
Access information that's not published in any other form
Find competitive product information
Find detailed technical information about a product, including drawings and diagrams

Researchers:

Avoid duplicating research and development work
Discover new trends in technology or product development at early stages
Gain evidence of research impact

Inventors:

Protect intellectual property and facilitate new knowledge
Evaluate the patentability of an innovation or invention
Avoid infringement by identifying protected patents

This LibGuide is partially adapted from University of Wollongong Library's Patents LibGuide with permission.