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Policy for Use of Online Services

Accessing E-Resources from Off-Campus

Find Information by Subject:

• Aerospace Engineering
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• Design
• Electrical Engineering
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Electrical Engineering Subject Guide

Patents are important in research because they may be the only source of technical information available from a company regarding their research.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
The USPTO's database includes the full text of all patents issued since 1790. All patents are searchable by patent number and classification number. Patents issued since 1976 are searchable by keyword in the full text of the patent. Images are in TIFF format, which requires a special plug-in for your browser, such as "alternatiff" (alternatiff.com). If you can't install a TIFF reader, US patents can be converted to Adobe pdf fromat and downloaded on-line at pat2pdf.org. (This is NOT a patent search site -- you must already have the patent number to use this service). No access restrictions. Full-text.

esp@cenet
The European Patent Office website for international patents. The EPO features a searchable database of patents issued by more than 50 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. Japan and Germany issue patents faster than the United States. Search these countries' patents first for the most recent breakthroughs. The EPO indexes US patents starting from 1920, allowing you to search by author, title, or abstract words. Use EPO for finding US patents issued between 1920 and 1975. No access restrictions. Full-text.