In 2022, inventors filed more than 3.5 million new patent applications worldwide and the total number of patents in force reached approximately 17.3 million (WIPO, 2023). Patents are a rich source of scientific and technical information, much of which is not published elsewhere. Patent literature is interdisciplinary and international, encompassing innovations in every field of technology during the last two hundred years. Patents contain solutions to technical problems and engineering challenges. Patents reveal the current state-of-the-art and provide vital information for making informed decisions about new research projects and business opportunities. In this workshop you will learn how to search, evaluate, and use patent information. Specific topics include:

•           Why patents are important sources of technical information
•           Types of patents
•           Where to find patents
•           How to retrieve patents by patent number, inventor name, and company name
•           Types of patent searches: patentability, freedom-to-operate, and landscape analysis
•           How to search for patents using patent classification codes

Instructor

Michael White is the librarian for research services in the Engineering and Science Library.