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Patent Search Engine
In conducting patent search and investigations, there are a number of patent search engine that can help you do the investigation. For simple searches that only requires a known patent number, inventor, assignee, head title, etc. there are some patent search engine internet sources provided by national and international patent authorities. You can use : esp@cenet (EPODOC), DEPATISnet and the USPTO databases http://www.uspto.gov/patft/. These are good patent searches to begin the patent investigations of inventions.
More complex patent investigations or information research, like technological state-of-the-art and statistical analysis, requires more than the free patent search engine sponsored links. They require those that offer suitable tools for executing efficient and successful patent searches. Patent investigations go to professional patent search engine databases provided via database hosts like STN, Lexis-Nexis, Questel-Orbit, Dialog and some more.
These 'database host' is important for patent investigations because they give a whole set of databases by various producers a virtual home. These paid patent search engines provide a common searching surface that enables the user to simultaneously search a bundle of selected databases.
The hosts major disadvantages in patent investigations are that they are not for free. And you need to be trained in specific retrieval languages when conducting patent investigations online. However, the hosts are already aware of that problem, and they try to win even those customers that are not used to retrieval languages. They provide those that are not so conversant with the internet some tools to make their searches convenient.
What patent search engine host should you use for patent investigations? Most paid patent search engine hosts set priority to a specific filed of information. STN is patent search engine that concentrates on scientific and literature information (biotech, pharma, chemistry, engineering, material science, etc.), Dialog is a patent search engine that specializes on business and market information, and Lexis-Nexis is a patent search engine that tackles on law and legal information. Interestingly, most patent search engine hosts offer patent literature as this branch of specialist information is one of the most lucrative. Delphion (formerly IBM patent server, now member of the Thomson Derwent Group) is the only patent search engine host that offers just patent databases without the option to do cross-research with non-patent databases, but with extensive analysis tools.
In a patent search engine it is important that you should also have closer look to the type of clearing procedure. Dialog is a patent search engine that lets you pay a flat fee in advance that expires after a year, independently if you used your account or not. Other patent search engine calculates database usage time plus document royalties like STN Classic. And still other patent search engines have no time costs but slightly higher document royalties.
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