There is the option of searching designs in the patent search module by searching the design patent databases offered by some patent authorities. This search, which comprises 20+ databases, is not as comprehensive as using the Designs module, shown in a different article, which comprises 60+ databases.
Keyword searching: It is recommended that any keywords of interest be searched. Note that truncators and operators can be used. Search in the title, abstract and description fields.
Patent Authorities: There are over 20 patent authorities that maintain unique design patent databases making searching them easy. It is important to note that this will only return design patents from these authorities.
- Australia
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Finland
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Japan
- Korea
- Nicaragua
- Russia
- San Marino
- Taiwan
- United States
- Uruguay
- South Africa
Publication country: the countries listed above can be searched using the following country codes, unique for their design databases, copied and pasted into the "Patents published in (patent authorities):" field as follows:
AUS OR BRS OR BRS1 OR CAS OR CLS1 OR CNS OR CRS OR DOS OR ECS OR EMS OR FIS1 OR GTS OR HNS1 OR JPS OR JPS3 OR NIS OR KRS OR RUS OR SMS OR SMS1 OR SMS2 OR SMS3 OR SMS4 OR TWS OR USS OR USS1 OR USD OR UYQ OR ZAS
Number searching: You can also paste into or import design patent numbers by clicking on the "Upload file" button located in the Advanced Search "Numbers" field.
FullPat searching: in order to take full advantage of these unique databases, it is recommended that the search be run in FullPat. Remember that if you don't see the FullPat option at the bottom of the Advanced Search screen, click into User Settings and select the option to show the collections.
Results: It is possible to use any of the regular functions within the result/hitlist to customize your view and/or see additional information, e.g. change the display or view the Preview tab.
NOTE: Our new and improved Advanced Search is different than the one on this video. An updated video will soon be available.