I had to find some patents the other day so that I could quickly check that a new design I was working on was not likely to infringe any prior art. This can be a terribly time consuming process but it did strike me that it’s a lot easier than it used to be, before access to patent on the internet became really effective.

There are two really good sources of patent data on the internet, and I am sure there are more but these are the ones I am familiar with and use most often. the first is Freepatentsonline and the other is Google Patents They are both effective at at find patents through either a simple or advanced search field and both will allow you to download PDF files of the patents for printing.

One of the features I find useful with both, is that they effectively allow you to find patents on a very restricted subject range by including data on patents are cited by, and patents that cite, the one you are viewing, so you can get a full spectrum of patents from the first on the subject through to the most current.

The trick is to find a single patent that most clearly meets the criteria for which you are searching, and that of course is the hard bit, as you must clearly define your search term so as to avoid sorting through all the chaff.

The following images show pages from both sites, whilst searching for patents on toothpaste dispensers.