18 Best Free Patent Databases and Paid Patent Search Platforms (Part 2)

8 of the world's best paid patent databases

While free databases are great, when it comes time to conduct a professional patent search, you will most likely need to use a paid patent search tool, such as:

1. Derwent
2. PatBase
3. Patseer
4. Ambercite
5. Drug Patent Watch
6. Patsnap
7. Patent Inspiration
8. InQuartik's Patent Search

Paid patent search tools have a lot of features and they charge a lot for a reason. For the sake of brevity and without expanding the scope of this article further, this article lists the main features of some of the top databases.

1. Derwent World Patents Index

Clarivate Analytics' Derwent World Patent Database is one of the world's largest top databases, also known as the Derwent Database, covering patent documents from 44 patent agencies around the world. Before 2008, the platform only allowed a maximum of 1 million new data records per year, but now it has grown to allow up to 3.6 million records to be added each year, which can be said to be a patent treasure house.

DWPI has a very user-friendly interface, with 7 distinct options on the central page to prevent confusion when searching. Both narrow and broad patent data can be downloaded here. The DWPI database displays easy-to-understand charts and statistics, making it ideal for patent landscape analysis.

In addition, the main advantage of DWPI is not its search function or its detailedness, but its ability to facilitate users to read patent abstracts in non-legal language, or in other words, in simple technical language. After all, the language of patent specifications is a big reading barrier for most people.

2. PatBase

PatBase contains 66 million patents from 105 authoritative institutions around the world, with a very simple search syntax, which can quickly and easily obtain more than 30,000 technical overviews. PatBase's outstanding features Users can perform citation searches and also have their own word library query builder.

PatBase allows users to save, delete or edit history records, and can also machine translate patents in most languages, highlight keywords and full patent texts, and use the Analyzer tool to analyze texts and export patent data in a visual way and form detailed and transparent charts. PatBase also allows you to share results as folders for collaborative work or publication. These folders can be exported to HTML, Word or Excel formats.

Many people use PatBase, mainly because it has Israeli patents. Users can learn how to use PatBase by studying the detailed PDF instructions in PatBase.

3. Patseer

PatSeer has an easy-to-use user interface and more than 61 million full-text patent records from 43 patent offices. Users can view the corporate tree of the world's top 5000 companies in PatSeer.

In addition to variables such as assignee name, inventor name, chemical synonym search, IPC/US/CPC classification search, term search, multilingual translator and digitizer wizard, you can also search using the following variables:

• Similarity Search
• Complex Boolean Approximate Search
• Command line search
• Script search
• Wildcards
• Left and middle truncated searches
• Hit count cutoff
• Natural language search aids
• Standardized Assignee Name Search

After the search is completed, multiple detailed views can be opened in separate window tabs for easy comparison. Users can also analyze the search results through multi-dimensional charts (such as columns, lines, pies, areas, bubbles, heat maps and geographic maps). At the same time, users can choose to share data and control viewing permissions, and export in multiple formats such as Word, Excel, CSV and XML.

4. Ambercite

Ambercite is an innovative patent database that provides a unique and powerful approach to patent search and analysis. It uses a citation-based algorithm to discover highly relevant patents with extremely high accuracy, standing out from traditional patent databases.

At the heart of Ambercite's technology is the concept of "patent families". A patent family represents a collection of related patents, including the original patent and any subsequent patents that cite or are cited. Through patent families, Ambercite provides users with a comprehensive view of the patent landscape, allowing them to explore not only the original invention, but also its subsequent developments and related technologies.

Another important feature of Ambercite is its forward citation search capability. Traditional patent databases rely mainly on reverse citations, which show patents cited by a specific patent. Ambercite goes a step further and considers patent citations in the opposite direction.

5. Drug Patent Watch

The Drug Patent Watch database is mainly related to drug patents. It currently tracks drug patents in 134 countries, some of which are well-known organizations.

Users can search previously filed patents to develop better strategies for future patent applications, check potential contract disputes, search all patent claims, and track patent litigation, and find expired patents, which will help clean up searches. For pharmaceutical companies that want to launch a new drug on the market, Drug Patent Watch can search for:

• Evaluate the future market potential of a drug using historical sales data
• Keep information about drug distribution methods consistent with where the drug was purchased
• Assessing the Level of Generic Competition
• Using drug price ranges to assess price elasticity
• Determine the best price for new drugs before they are launched

In addition, users can use Drug Patent Watch to perform landscape analysis, track drug development, explore new indications for existing drugs, predict 505(b)(2) approvals, and track OTC conversions, new formulations, and other drug improvements. Drug Patent Watch is a one-stop patent platform that provides assistance for all drug patent searches.

6. Patsnap

Patsnap has a huge database from more than 40 countries and provides powerful search functions especially for industrial designs.

Patsnap has a very user-friendly, easy-to-use user interface. It is one of the ideal databases for landscape analysis, gaining insights and analyzing data. One of the features that sets Patsnap apart is its Innovation Word Cloud, which enables users to understand the most common technical terms used in the technology field or company portfolio. Through the "wheel of innovation", users can also see the key concepts and sub-concepts in the patent names and abstracts used to create the dashboard.

The following searches can be performed in Patsnap:

• Simple search
• Boolean search
• Advanced Search
• Semantic Search
• Extended Search
• Category search
• Legal Status Search
• Image Retrieval
• Chemical formula search
• Text search

7. Patent Inspiration

Patent Inspiration is a DOCDB database based on the EPO (European Patent Office) with a visually driven and user-friendly UI. It has 69 million patents from more than 90 countries and is updated weekly.

Patent Inspiration presents patent data charts with vibrant and interactive visualizations, with full user control over visualizations, adaptive legends, titles, search fields, and graph types, all of which are easily exportable.

Patent Inspiration provides various search tools such as AI thesaurus and text mining, which makes patent search easier and helps people with no experience in patent search and reading to gain industry knowledge.

Patent Inspiration’s AI-powered thesaurus displays alternatives to keywords that appear in patents, helping searchers find relevant terms in their search field as well as all contextually relevant terms.

The text mining function can use adjectives before nouns and verbs in the same sentence, and also allows custom timelines. Patent Inspiration enables searchers to find specific patent information in their areas of interest without patent background, which is suitable for company managers or scientists to formulate innovation strategies and maximize the benefits of R&D departments.

Patent Inspiration is free to use, but premium features require payment to access. Advanced search allows users to use watermark-free patent images, access more advanced analysis, share reports, track specific technology/patent alerts, customize export PowerPoint templates, and more.

8. InQuartik's Patent Search

InQuartik is a patent solution provider founded in 2014. One of the outstanding features of InQuartik patent search is the quick search function, which allows users to enter natural language in the search bar for search, and the system can extract relevant keywords, identify synonyms, and add related terms to help users quickly and easily find the information they need.

Advanced search functionality allows users to export query history to Excel files, saving time and avoiding labor. InQuartik also provides filters to help users sort search results by patent office, patent type and its status.