Patents at MIT

How to Search

Search Strategy

1. Search by keyword. Be sure to try synonyms. Select examples of relevant patents and note all of the classes/subclasses. Look at cited patents and patents that cite this patent in the future and note all of the classes/subclasses. Search by the identified classes/subclasses to find other similar patents
2. Iterate – repeat this search strategy on the new patents you find.

Guides for Searching

• Patent Searching Made Easy by David Hitchcock, 1999
  Available through Books24x7: http://libraries.mit.edu/get/books24x7 [MIT only]
• Research US Patents on the Web - University of Central Florida Libraries
• 7-Step Strategy - US Patent and Trademark Office
• Schreyer Business Library's Patent Search Tutorial - Penn State
• The Wide World of esp@cenet: Basic Searching in the esp@cenet Worldwide Database by Jason Martin, Intellectual Property (IP) Journal of the PTDLA, Vol. 3 (1), June 2003

This page was last updated on 12/12/07