Google’s patent search system makes obtaining patent data fast and easy, and is free. In the past, obtaining patent data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) was a painstaking and potentially expensive process. By scanning the over seven million patent documents filed with the USPTO, Google has made the process much easier. Here are the benefits of being able to search for patents:
Determine If Your Idea Has Been Patented
If you have a brilliant business or product idea, one of the first things you should do is make sure that no one else has already come up with and patented the idea. All you need to do is come up with a few keyword ideas to search for the patent. If your search doesn’t turn up any patents, then you have a good chance at being first to the market.
Look for Patents to Lease
If you need a certain piece of technology, but don’t want to spend the money in developing it yourself, one cost-effective alternative would be to lease the technology instead. Google Patent Search helps you determine who owns the right to certain technologies. As long as you can find the patent, you can also find who holds the rights to the patent, along with their contact information, and can then contact them directly to strike a patent leasing deal.
Research into a Specific Inventor
If an inventor you know has created several products that have caught your attention and you want to see what else they have invented, you can find all the patents by that inventor using Google Patent Search. Just click the “Advanced Patent Search” link next to the general search box and enter in the inventor’s name.
Find Inspiration for Product Designs
If you need some inspiration for a product you are designing, or are puzzled on a specific engineering challenge, you can look through past patent designs to see how previous designers tackled those issues. Past patents can be ripe grounds for finding inspiration and solutions. However, be careful as any idea that you want to patent or use commercially needs to be sufficiently different from any past patent so that it can be considered its own entirely different product. Never take complete ideas from someone else’s patent. Only use it as inspiration to come up with your own unique designs. If you absolutely need to use a design in someone else’s patent, consider leasing just that part of the technology.
These are some of the uses for Google’s Patent Search. With over seven million patents at your fingertips, you can now easily find just about any kind of information you need in relation to patents. From inventors to patent numbers to specific technologies, all the information is freely available.
