Summary
- WIPO's PATENTSCOPE, a free global patent database, offers access to 123.8 million patent documents and publishes PCT applications on the day of filing.
- It features unique tools like Cross-Lingual Information Retrieval (CLIR) and Chemical Structure Search, making it ideal for prior art searches in diverse languages and complex chemical structures.
- While PATENTSCOPE is powerful for PCT coverage, users are advised to supplement it with Espacenet for national filings and Google Patents for citation mapping.
- Understanding PATENTSCOPE's strengths and limitations is crucial for effective patent searches, as it does not guarantee comprehensive prior art coverage.
Join the discussion — sign up to comment, upvote, and save articles.