Patent and Trademark Resource Center: U.S. Patents

Look for Patent and Trademark search utilities under the "Find It Fast" link.

This is the newest official search interface of the United States Patent Office.

Anyone considering researching a patent can use this web page as a guide.

Learn the difference between Utility Patents, Design Patents and Plant Patents.

An important part of patent research is to find the appropriate classification number. This page on the Patent Office website can help you find the right one.

If you are truly new to the concept of "intellectual property" (patents, trademarks, copyright, and trade secrets), you should complete this half-hour assessment. It will help you identify unprotected assets that you may not even know you have.

This Guide aims to assist users in searching for technology information using patent documents, a rich source of technical, legal and business information presented in a generally standardized format and often not reproduced anywhere else. Though the Guide focuses on patent information, many of the search techniques described here can also be applied in searching other non-patent sources of technology information.

The Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) effort is a joint partnership between the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) where the Offices have agreed to harmonize their existing classification systems (European Classification (ECLA) and United States Patent Classification (USPC) respectively) and migrate towards a common classification scheme.) This interactive web page is easy to navigate and includes all the classification group definitions.

Index and profiles of organizations that produce, process and/or archive grey literature (tech reports, unpublished conference papers, etc.). Resources appear within categories derived from the COSATI (American) and SIGLE (European) Classification Systems.

USPTO publication providing a basic overview of plant patents, and is intended to help prospective plant patent applicants identify what type of plants are patentable.

The Inventors Assistance Center (IAC) provides patent information and services to the public. The IAC is staffed by former supervisory patent examiners, experienced primary patent examiners, various intellectual property specialists, and attorneys who can answer general questions concerning patent examining policy and procedure.

Hours: Monday – Friday, 8:30 AM – 8:00 PM (ET), except federal holidays
Phone: 800-PTO-9199 (800-786-9199)
TDD/TTY: 800-877-8339

The staff in the Application Assistance Unit (AAU) is trained to assist with a broad range of questions and issues pertaining to pre-examination processing of patent applications by the Office of Patent Application Processing (OPAP) and the post-examination processing of patent applications by the Office of Data Management (ODM).

Telephone: 888-786-0101
Email: HelpAAU@uspto.gov

Applications are filed though EFS-Web (Electronic Filing System-Web). This collection of web page links includes forms and information needed to file patent applications.

Application status can be checked using PAIR (Patent Application Information Retrieval) This page includes a collection of web page links related to accessing application status information.

Guide to using the USPTO Electronic Filing System for Patent Applications (PDF, 17 pages)

Guide to USPTO Electronic Filing System for International Patent Applications (PDF, 2 pages)

Guide to using the Electronic Filing System Fee Payment System (PDF, 7 pages)

Guide to understanding how to file .docx documents and includes a brief overview of the process. (PDF. 17 pages)

In 2011, President Obama signed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) to modernize the U.S. patent system and strengthen America’s competitiveness in the global economy.

The AIA Contact Center is available to answer questions regarding the new legal provisions and rules.

Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM (ET), Except federal holidays.

The Patent Electronic Business Center (EBC) assists customers with filing their electronic patent application submissions via the Electronic Filing System (EFS-Web) and with the review of patent applications in Public and Private PAIR, as well as supporting customers while Searching the Patent and Application Full-Text Image Databases.

Hours: 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight, Eastern Time, Monday through Friday
Telephone: 1-866-217-9197 (toll-free)
Fax: 571-273-0177
E-mail: ebc@uspto.gov

Search for Collections and then patents to search historical patent indices. You will need to search each year individually.

Published by the Toy Association. 2018.

This publication is produced by the American Chemical Society’s Joint Board-Council
Committee on Patents and Related Matters. 2019.

Espacenet offers free access to more than 80 million patent documents worldwide, including U.S. and many other non-EPO countries, from 1836 to present.

Provides secure online access to the file histories of related applications from participating IP offices. Users can see the patent family for a specific application.

All documents originate from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Includes OCR full-text of U.S. patents 1790-1976, and native full-text of U.S. patents since 1976 and EPO and WIPO patents from 1978. With Google's Prior Art Finder, you can find documents related to a particular patent application or grant.

Search Pat-INFORMED database using a medicine’s INN (International Nonproprietary Name) to obtain relevant information about its patent status in a particular country.

Search 37 million patent documents including 2.5 million published international patent applications from all Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) member countries.

Includes PatFT (granted U.S. patents), AppFT (pending U.S. patent applications), Public PAIR (Patent Application Information Retrieval) and Assignment Database, as well as links to other helpful tools.

USPTO publication providing a basic overview of plant patents, and is intended to help prospective plant patent applicants identify what type of plants are patentable.

Provides a full description of the class for plants which are patentable under Title 35 U.S. Code, Section 161, which provides for the granting of a patent to whoever invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant, including cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids, and newly found seedlings other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state.

This is the manual used by patent examiners to determine patentability.