WIPO PATENTSCOPE

PATENTSCOPE is the free international patent search service operated by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Launched in 2005, the system provides public access to over one hundred million patent documents from around the world through a single unified search interface. Researchers, inventors, patent attorneys, and technology analysts use PATENTSCOPE to search published patent applications and granted patents filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) as well as national and regional patent collections contributed by participating offices across dozens of countries. The search engine supports keyword queries, classification codes using the International Patent Classification system, applicant and inventor name searches, and structured Boolean queries with date and field filters. Results display bibliographic data, abstracts, front-page drawings, and full document downloads in PDF format. The platform includes a machine translation feature that converts patent text between multiple languages, and a cross-lingual information retrieval tool that expands searches across terminology in different languages. PATENTSCOPE also offers a chemical structure search option for querying molecular formulas and substructures within patent documents. The database is updated weekly with new PCT filings published by the International Bureau, making it a primary resource for prior art searching, freedom-to-operate analysis, and competitive technology intelligence. As a public good provided by WIPO, the service requires no subscription and serves millions of searches annually from users in academia, industry, and government worldwide.