Finding Patent

[Lion]

Dear Rene,

How can I find out all the patent holders of a product category? For example, I want to find out who or which company patented the touchpad installed with laptops.

[Jeremias]

Hello,

You can access the databases of USPTO(United States Patent and Trademark Office) from this page: http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html

The databases of the EPO(European Patent Office) start at the following page: http://ep.espacenet.com/search97cgi/s97_cgi.exe?Action=FormGen&Template=ep/EN/ho...

All databases can easily be searched in many ways, for instance by using keywords like "laptop", "touchpad", "computer", or combinations. If you get too many hits(which often happens), add more keywords, but do this wisely, or you could exclude results you want!

You can also search on patent holder's name, year and more. Take some time to experiment with these huge sources with dozens of millions of patents.

Regards,

Rene Hasekamp