Patent Information: Keeping up-to-date

Recently granted patents first appear on Patent Office web sites, are than added to databases of patents, before being published in journals. Although patent databases are updated regularly, they may not always include the latest patents. Start your search for recent patents on the national patent office website.

• Patents Status Enquiry (UK) - search for recent patents granted by IPO
• Espacenet: Worldwide database - search for published patent applications from 80+ countries around the world. Search the entire patent database, or link to patent office by country for recent patents (e.g GB Esp@cenet).
• Patentscope - search for published international patent applications (Patent Cooperation Treaty) registered with WIPO 

The Bodleian Libraries have produced course materials which cover different ways of keeping up with new research, including:

• Database updates
• Journal TOC alerts
• Citation alerts
• RSS feeds  
• Bibliographies
• Shared references

Save your searches and create alerts while searching a database, and receive regular updates.

Set up an expiry date on your alerts and feeds. You can delete them any time.

RSS feeds can be set up using various RSS Readers. 

Contact your subject librarian to help you set up your updates.