Patent Search, by Google (who else?)

As part of Google’s mission to organize the world’s information and make it
universally accessible and useful, we’re constantly working to expand the
diversity of content we make available to our users. With Google Patent
Search, you can now search the full text of the U.S. patent corpus and
find patents that interest you.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Where does this patent data come from?
A. All patents available through Google Patent Search
come from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Patents
issued in the United States are public domain government information, and
images of the entire database of U.S. patents are readily available online
via the USPTO website.

Q. What types of patents are available?
A. Google Patent Search covers the entire collection of
patents made available by the USPTO—from patents issued in the 1790s through those
issued in the middle of 2006. We don’t currently include patent applications,
international patents, or U.S. patents issued over the last few months, but we
look forward to expanding our coverage in the future.

Q. How many U.S. patents are there?
A. To date, the USPTO has issued approximately
7 million patents.