Espacenet
European Patent Office (Issuing body)
Espacenet's worldwide database enables you to search for information about published patent applications from over 90 different countries and regions. Espacenet offers free access to more than 70 million patent documents worldwide--most of them patent applications rather than granted patents--from 1836 today. Patent applications normally represent the first publication of a new idea, appearing ahead of journal articles and before new products reach the market. Other information includes: patent family information, telling you if similar patents have been claimed in other countries; legal status information, helping you find out whether and in what countries a patent is in force; references to other kinds of technical literature (non-patent literature); citing documents (other documents that have cited the document you are looking at); and links to the European Patent Register for European and Euro-PCT documents. It is possible to print and download documents
Website, English, 200u
European Patent Office, [Place of publication not identified], 200u