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Patents

Finding patents

Use the menu on the left to navigate to different patent search engines / repositories. For the most comprehensive results:

  • Search across a range of sources, as no single site provides complete coverage
  • Use a combination of keyword and classification searches
Keyword searching

Remember to include synonyms when keyword searching, as patents can be described with both highly technical, and non-specific terms.

Classification searching

Most patents are described in technical language, not consumer language, so classification search greatly improves results.

The two main classification systems are: