Biggest in the world
The world's largest patent database has been published online by the FIZ Karlsruhe, a German organisation specialising in providing information on science and technology.
More than 63 million patent documents from 80 patent organisations worldwide can be searched via the International Patent Documentation Data Base, (INPADOCDB). It was created by merging and revising two existing databases of the European Patent Office (EPO).
The database includes patent documents from the most important industrialised countries, dating back as far as the 19th century in the cases of France, Germany, the UK and the US, and 1944 in the case of Japan.
Visitors to the database can obtain a whole host of information on any one patent, including bibliographical information, patent family information, patent classification, and legal status data. Most documents contain abstracts in English, providing quick information on the described invention for which a patent has been filed.
'For innovative companies monitoring technological trends, international markets and competitors, access to comprehensive, reliable patent information is essential,' said Dr Rainer Stuike-Prill, Vice President Marketing and Sales at FIZ Karlsruhe.
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