How to do a European Patent Search

The majority of patent searches take place by querying internet-based databases. This is true within the United States and Europe.

Types and Organization of Patent Search Databases

The databases available for patent search provide patent information in a variety of forms, such a full-text patent documents or summaries of the patent application. Summaries of patent applications generally include register the information on the first page of the patent application, known as the “bibliographical” reference.

These databases may also be classified in terms of the information that the search reveals. Generally, databases group information as either technical or legal. The technical patent search will focus upon the specifications and claimed information. In terms of legal information, the database may include the legal status of the patent, the payments and fees, and the owners or representative of the patent.

The most common method of patent searching is by using a bibliographic database. This type of database is highly structured and allows for efficient searches. The text summaries of patent documents contained in the biographical database allows the searcher to more easily identify an unknown invention. The managers of bibliographical databases generally ascribe internal codes, classifications, or keywords to the patent summary to aid in the search process.

Most bibliographic databases reference patents according to the following categories:

• Title;
• Inventor
• Patent assignee
• Abstract
• Codes (classification codes) and numbers (patent numbers and related dates);
• Drawings or images;
• Keywords.

Information in bibliographic databases is typically structured into “informational fields”. The information fields allow the particular information about a patent to always be structured in the relevant field. Tile will be in the title field. Inventor will be in the inventor field. This structure makes the search process much more efficient.

After identifying the relevant information field to search, the next step is to identify the keywords that best describe the invention. You will use these keywords to query the database within the relevant informational fields. To do this most efficiently, you will have to thing beyond the apparent description of the patented invention. This means brainstorming alternative descriptions and looking for synonyms for the description. In this process, attempt to avoid employing words with double meaning or homonyms. It’s best to regroup all the terms related to each concept, and associate terms as well as concepts using Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to construct a query.

Employing Espacenet Patent Search Database

Espacenet is a database provided by the European Patent Office. It allows free access to about 100 million patent documents from all over the world in four collections:

• Published patent applications from more than 100 countries worldwide

• Collection of published applications in English

• Collection of published applications in French

• Collection of published applications in German

Espacenet provides several options for searching, each of which is dealt with below.

Smart Search

Smart search automatically searches in the Worldwide database. It allows the searcher to enter a query with or without field identifiers. You can enter up to 20 search terms at a time. There is a maximum of ten terms per searchable piece of bibliographic data - informational field, so a string of 20 words would require use of two fields. All of the words should be combined with Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT.

Words are searched for in the titles and abstracts, description and claims fields. Names are searched for in the inventor and applicant fields. When you enter keywords, numbers or dates in Smart search, the search engine will identify whether you are looking for a number, a date, a name or a keyword in the title or abstract. You can fine-tune your searches by using field identifiers to tell the search engine in which field you would like to search.

Advanced Search

The advanced search interface on Espacenet allows the searcher to combine different search terms (words, names, dates, numbers and classification symbols). Search terms have to be entered in the respective search field. When introducing search criteria in several fields, the system combines them using the AND operator (each term being searched only in the field within which it has been inserted). When searching for patents, it is advisable to combine textual search terms with patent classification codes/symbols.

Worldwide Database

The worldwide database allows for search in the following fields:

• Title;
• Title or abstract;
• Publication number;
• Application number;
• Priority number;
• Publication date;
• Applicant;
• Inventor;
• Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC);
• International Patent Classification (IPC).

Collection of Published Applications in English, French or German (full-text searching)

Search is possible in the following fields:

• Title, abstract and full text;
• Publication number;
• Application number;
• Priority number;
• Publication date;
• Applicant;
• Inventor;
• Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC);
• International Patent Classification (IPC).

Patent Classification Codes/Symbols

Patent classification symbols indicate the technical field or fields to which the patent application relates. The most used classification is the International Patent Classification (IPC).

There are also other classifications, such as the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC), a bilateral system which has been jointly developed by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

CPC replaces the former European Patent Classification, combines the best classification practices of the two offices and is also based on the IPC but is more detailed. It is in fact an extension of the IPC that has been developed because it is considered that the IPC classification entries are too broad (thereby retrieving too many documents).

The IPC consists of a hierarchical classification system comprising:

• Sections;
• Classes;
• Subclasses;
• Groups (main groups and subgroups).

CPC splits them up into more sub-groups than the IPC4. Classification symbols are given to patents following the examination of their content by the IP office, and consider the elements protected according to the patent’s claims.

IPC Symbols

The official publication of the IPC, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), provides a comprehensive collection of IPC symbols together with their titles and definitions, which indicates the technology represented by each symbol. The official publication of the IPC can be found at http://www.wipo.int/ipcpub/

In addition to symbols and their titles with definitions, the official publication of the IPC also contains a number of useful tools and features that can help you to identify IPC symbols relevant to a particular technology. Using these tools and features can help you to avoid navigating the complex structure of the IPC in order to find the right IPC symbol.

You can browse through a list of technical terms, matched with appropriate IPC symbols, by selecting the “Catchwords” tab.


You can also search the titles associated with symbols as well as the Catchword Index, by entering terms and clicking the “Search” icon to perform a “Smart search” with automated search optimization or by making use of “Advanced search” options.

Use automatic text categorization IPCCAT allows you to use whole segments of text, for example abstracts from patents or scientific articles, to identify relevant IPC symbols. Another way of finding relevant IPC symbols is by looking at specific patent documents or using the analysis features provided by the free PATENTSCOPE search service provided by WIPO, available at http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/en/.

You can use any of the interfaces offered by PATENTSCOPE to do a keyword search. The Cross-Lingual Information Retrieval, or CLIR, interface will take one or more keywords and generate synonyms and variants in a number of different languages, helping you overcome differences in spelling and terminology mentioned earlier. You will find the Cross-Lingual Information Retrieval interface under the search menu as shown.

You will then be able to enter your query or term, just click “Submit query” and you are off!



Approach 1: Look at a specific patent document You can look through your results list to find relevant documents based on their title and abstract and take the IPC symbols associated with these documents. By hovering over the icon next to IPC symbols in the results list, you can immediately see what each symbol means.


Approach 2: Analyse your results Once you have your results, you can also analyse them using the tool built into PATENTSCOPE. Clicking on the “Analysis” bar (just above the list of bibliographic references provided as a result to your query) will open this tool and show you the top patent offices, applicants, and inventors, but also the most frequent IPC symbols in your results. If you have chosen your keywords well, these IPC symbols are likely to be relevant to the technology in which you are interested.

Patent Search Using Patent Classification Symbols

You can also search for relevant IPC symbols before searching for patents. To do so, you can get the help from the automatic text categorization and classification assistance function IPCCAT from the IPC official publication by WIPO. If we introduce the description of the invention we are looking for, “warning systems allowing the continuous verification of car tire pressure“.

You can use the “Advanced search” interface of Espacenet to search for patents and introduce keywords and IPC symbols in the related fields.

Alternatively, Espacenet offers a Classification search tool. This service allows users to search for the most appropriate IPC symbol according to keywords or search within the classification symbols for finer sub-classes based on CPC classification. You use it by entering terms or classification symbols in the search mask. A list of classification symbols are provided as a result to your query.

By clicking on the title of a given classification symbol, the sub-classes can be opened. If you ticking the square to the left of a classification symbol, it will automatically appear in the “Selected classifications” box. You can, then, either search for patents classified in this area of technology or you can choose to copy it to your search form.

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