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US Patents & Trademark Office
US Patent and Trademark Office USPTO - Patents can take a few years to be granted. Pending patents remain confidential and cannot be searched. Patents granted prior to the 1970s can be accessed in microformat at the Boston Public Library's science department.
The USPTO site allows you to search US patent databases for patents back to 1974 as well as World intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), European Patents and Applications, and Japanese patent information.
Patent Quick Search - Enter single term in one or both boxes and select a Field such as Abstract or Title.
Use Advanced Search if more than 2 terms are needed. Examples show how to combine terms and enter fields. - Browse list and locate a patent for a similar product.
Viewing images may be a quick way of assessing relevancy. (see below)
Note the Current U.S. Classification assigned. - Return to Quick Search and search by Current U.S. Classification number.
Images: USPTO requires a plug-in to view and print patent files. Download a TIFF viewer plug-in from their web site. Follow the instructions for viewing images; XP users may need to download an additional MEI file. The library has loaded this plug-in on each of the library workstations. To print, you may need to view and print pages one at a time. Patent Research for Specific companies - Use the field Assignee Name to search for company patents. The USPTO Patents Statistics, Weekly Data & Lists also provides rankings of top company and country patent holders. 
Sites for Inventors
Stanford University Office of Technology Licensing PatentCafe - articles and more
US Patent and Trademark Office - Site has information on how to apply including online application forms. Be sure to look at their information on Provisional Patents.
Other U.S. Patents & Trademarks Sources
Google Patents - This is another source for patents from the USPTO. It is easy to search. Includes images. Check it out! Boston Public Library - Government Documents - This is the closest patent depository. Located in the McKim Building in Copley Square, First Floor and has the largest patent collection in New England. For text of patents prior to the mid-1970s, microform versions are available for copy.
LexisNexis Academic- Legal Research - Patents - Search all U.S. patents from 1971 to present or the manual of classification. Also, use to search for news and articles in newspapers, magazines and journals.
LexisNexis (in Library only at Workstations 1-2) - The full text of hundreds of magazines, newspapers, patents and reports are available through the LexisNexis service. For all U.S. & international patents search the library and database LEXPAT;ALLPAT. 
International Intellectual Property
WIPO - Intellectual Property Digital Library - Provides access to various intellectual property data collections currently hosted by the World Intellectual Property Organization. These collections include Hague, Madrid, PCT and JOPAL (non-patent reference) data and support fully searchable information retrieval and display by users on demand. Access to the Digital Library is available to the general public free-of-charge.
Delphion Intellectual Property Network (Formerly IBM Patent Server). - Access 26 years of patent documents and images from the U.S., Europe and Japan as well as patent applications published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). You can search the bibliographic records for free, but full patents are "pay-per-view" and Babson does not subscribe to this service.
European Patent Office - Gateway to Patents. - European and worldwide patent search. Images available in PDF format.
Japanese Trademark Database
- By Country
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