1. What does Patent Information include?
– Technical information: is information about the technical characteristics in the description and illustrations of the invention;
– Legal information: shown in the protection claims, thereby determining the scope of protection and legal status of the invention;
– Patent information also includes: information about the applicant; inventor; application owner/license holder; single number/equal number; application date/priority date/certification date/announcement date; International patent classification index…

2. Why is it necessary to search Patents?
Through patent searching, individuals/organizations (researchers, inventors, businesses) – collectively referred to as applicants will have useful information related to the technical solution being researched. (solution intending to apply for registration), specifically as follows:
– the patentability of the invention can be determined;
– determine whether the invention is identical or similar to other previously protected inventions;
– avoid infringing on the industrial property rights of other entities’ protected inventions;
– avoid unnecessary costs for researching duplicate (previously existing) technical solutions;

In addition, for businesses, seaching patent information will bring more practical value, specifically:
– Through searching patent information, businesses can identify alternative technologies; grasp available solutions to technical problems; looking for ideas for continued technological innovation;
– search for business partners;
– monitor the activities of current and potential future competitors;
– search for niche markets;
– identify and evaluate industries for purchasing, selling licenses and transferring technology;
– Select valid inventions to sign contracts to buy and sell use rights, industrial transfer, and production know-how.

3. Where can I look up/search for patent information?
Currently, searching for patent information will be done on domestic and international databases. This includes both free databases and paid databases.
The choice of search database (domestic or international; free or paid) will depend on the purpose of the search. If you are at a basic search level, you can use available free databases. In cases where in-depth searches are needed, such as needing a high-level panoramic view of a technology, serving to identify current trends as well as development trends of this technology, competitors paintings, prominent inventors, patent application activities in this technology field, and related technologies… this requirement will require the database to have more modern features, in In this case, you will need to use paid databases.

Within the scope of this article, BIGPRO would like to introduce to customers a number of free patent information search databases:
a.  Seaching patent information on the Wipopulish database
This is the digital library on industrial property on the WIPO Publish platform: The digital library on industrial property on the WIPO Publish platform has been put into trial operation by the National Office of Intellectual Property since November 20, 2019. This is a database built by the National Office of Intellectual Property in cooperation with WIPO. This database provides users with information and bibliographic data of patent subjects/utility solutions, industrial designs. business, brand. The WIPO Publish database is updated monthly by the National Office of Intellectual Property according to the Industrial Property Official Gazette.
Link to access the wipopublish database:
http://wipopublish.ipvietnam.gov.vn/

b. Seaching patent information on the ESPACENET database
Espacenet is a free online service for searching patents and patent applications. Espacenet is developed by the European Patent Office (EPO) together with member states of the European Patent Organization.
Espacenet is suitable for beginners and is updated daily. This database contains data on more than 130 million patent documents from around the world. Supporting information can help us understand whether a patent has been granted and whether the patent is still valid.
You can access the ESPACENET database via the following link:
https://worldwide.espacenet.com/

c. Look up patent information on the PATENTSCOPE database
PATENTSCOPE is a free search service provided by WIPO (first launched in July 2005), allowing users to access millions of patent documents registered under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in written form. publication with complete information such as publication date, as well as patent documents from national and regional patent offices from all participating countries.
You can access the PATENTSCOPE database via the following link:
https://patentscope.wipo.int/

With the above free information lookup databases, we hope you can look up/find useful information.
To save costs, applicants can conduct their own searches for patent information on these databases. However, in reality the search is quite complicated, requiring a combination of many skills as well as extensive knowledge of technical fields, so in case your initial search results are not as good as yours. If you wish, you can consult BIGPRO’s search service before deciding to file a patent application.

BIGPRO Consultation Joint Stock Company!