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Patent and Trademark Resource Center at Oklahoma State University: Searching Patents

Steps to Starting a Patent Search Using CPC

Steps to Starting a Preliminary U.S. Patent Search

•1. Do a keyword search in Google Patents, https://patents.google.com/
•2. Locate several patent(s) that are relevant to your invention
•3. Review the abstract, images, and claims

•4. In the blue box:
     Download the PDF
     See Patent citations – other patents cited by this patent
     See Cited by – patents that have cited this patent
     Click on the USPTO link to view the patent at USPTO and identify any U.S. classes

•5. Classifications
     See the CPC classifications/technology areas
     Click on the USPTO link to view the patent at USPTO and identify any U.S. classes

•6.Search the CPC and U.S. classes at USPTO for more complete results. Use Current CPC Class and Current US Class

     Issued patents  patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html
     Applications  appft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html

Cooperative Patent Classification System