Espacenet - patent search

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Man looking at computer screen showing Espacenet.


With its worldwide coverage and search features, Espacenet offers free access to information about inventions and technical developments from 1782 to today.

National patent offices' databases

Espacenet is accessible to beginners and experts and is updated daily. It contains data on more than 150 million patent documents from around the world. Supporting information can help you understand whether a patent has been granted and if it is still in force.

You can use Espacenet to:

  • search and find patent publications
  • machine-translate patent documents
  • track the progress of emerging technologies
  • find solutions to technical problems
  • see what your competitors are developing
Getting started

 

Video: How to use Espacenet

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Espacenet - pocket guide

What has changed in Espacenet

For automated data retrieval, please use the EPO's Open Patent Services (OPS).

Conditions

Espacenet is available free of charge, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

It is not intended for bulk data retrieval. The service does not support automated searches (robots) and will deny access to any robots it identifies.

For more details please read our fair use charter.

The terms and conditions of use for the website apply.

Further information

Release notes

See the latest release notes

Coverage

Latest bibliographic coverage
Latest full-text coverage

 

Documentation

Number format and kind code concordance lists
Features

When you use Espacenet, you also have access to a number of helpful tools and resources.

Classification search

Classification search is a powerful tool for you if you need to retrieve patent publications in a particular technical area. Classification search in Espacenet helps you to find suitable classification symbols for your search, and then to apply in the search itself.

Global Dossier

Global Dossier provides access to the file wrapper of a patent application, wherever it is made available by the patent authority in question. File wrappers are complete records of an application; they include all documents relating to the grant process such as communications between the patent authority and the applicant/patent attorney, patent authorities' official actions, applicant statements, diagrams and drawings. Access to file wrappers is currently provided by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), European Patent Office (EPO), Japan Patent Office (JPO), Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO).

Global Dossier also offers machine translations in English of Chinese, Japanese and Korean communications/documents.

Global Dossier is available via the European Patent Register and Espacenet.

Common Citation Document

The Common Citation Document (CCD) tool provides a single point of access to citation data for the patent applications of the largest five IP offices (IP5).

This tool consolidates the prior art cited by all participating offices for the family members of a patent application, showing the search results from different offices on a single page.