Featured Resource: PatBase
Posted on Tue, Aug 30, 2011
Today’s featured resource is PatBase. PatBase is a patent search tool designed for both full-time, experienced researchers, as well as newer and less experienced searchers. It accomplishes this goal by including a wide variety of optional and specific features geared towards the expert user. However, when those features are turned off, PatBase is easily accessible by any dedicated searcher.
Global Patent Records
PatBase compiles its data from all across the world, including the European Patent Office. Many of the sources are from the public record, but by bringing them all into one location, PatBase saves researchers valuable searching time. PatBase’s data is also sorted based upon the various families created by the EPO. This organization system is called INPADOC, and is extremely valuable for identifying patents that seem similar and related, but can be difficult to find based on their differences. When searching, users can restrict the results to just one family of patents. To make it even easier to decide which family a researcher needs to be investigating, PatBase has sample “master patents” which are representative of the family as a whole. This allows researchers to compare the master patent with their desired results.
In 2008, PatBase added original language patent text from many non-Latin language countries. This means that original patents from Japan, China, Korea, Russia, and other countries are available through the search system. These patents provide even more paths to finding valuable literature.
Translated Documents
PatBase translates a great many documents to English to facilitate global searches. The documents are machine translated and are added into the correct INPADOC patent families. This makes the records more likely to be found through the database search. There is also an option to use Google Translate instead of PatBase’s native translation system. In addition to INPADOC, PatBase includes Japanese and German organization systems, opening up more avenues towards finding unique documents.
One of PatBase’s greatest strengths is its highlighting and analysis tools. PatBase automatically highlights keywords that are present in the texts, and there are more dynamic and intricate options available to experienced researchers. Researchers can automatically highlight terms that are family-related as well. This means that PatBase will help researchers recognize relevant and important segments of documents.
Despite only being founded in 2003, PatBase is one of the strongest patent search systems available. For a more detailed report, and community reports on many other patent search tools, visit Intellogist.com, one of Article One's favorite sources for patent research information!
Learn more about Article One’s Featured Resources and Tools here.