What is a Patent?
"A patent is a right granted for a device, substance, method, or process that you have invented that is new, inventive, and useful when compared with what is already known." (IP Australia)
Read more about patents from IP Australia, the Australian Government agency responsible for administering patents, trade marks and designs.
Searching for Patents
- AusPatProduced by IP Australia, the Australian Government agency responsible for administering patents, trade marks, designs and plant breeder’s rights.
- Canadian Patents DatabaseThis database lets you access 150 years of patent descriptions and images. You can search, retrieve and study more than 2,370,000 patent documents.
- European Patent OfficeProvides free access to the full text and drawings of patents from the European Patent Office, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Japanese Patent Office. English titles and abstracts are provided for non-English language patents.
- Google Patent SearchIndexes USPTO issued patents from the 1790s onwards. It does not cover US patent applications, international patents, or recently issued U.S. patents.
- PAFTUnited States Patent and Trademark Office : A searchable database of US patents with full text of patent documents.
- Patent LensSearchable full-text database of more than 7 million patents and patent applications from World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), European Patent Office (EPO), and IPAustralia.
- PatentScopePatentScope : The Patentscope Search Service enables you to do full-text search in over 1.6 million published international patent applications from the first publication in 1978.
What is a Standard?
Definition: "Standards are published documents setting out specifications and procedures designed to ensure products, services and systems are safe, reliable and consistently perform the way they were intended to. They establish a common language which defines quality and safety criteria." (Standards Australia website)
Definition: A standard is a "documented agreement containing technical specifications or other precise criteria to be used consistently as rules, guidelines or definitions of characteristics, to ensure that materials, products, processes and services are fit for their purpose." (International Organization for Standardization (ISO) website.
Want to know more? Watch this video, created by the International Standards Organisation, on what standards do for you.
Searching for Standards
- Techstreet: Standards AustraliaTechstreet Enterprise is the new database for Australian and International Standards and Codes (replacing SAI Global).
Techstreet platform provides full text access to all current Australian Standards, Joint ISO/Australian Standards, Joint NZ/Australian Standards, current Draft Australian Standards, amendments to Australian Standards and most Standards Australia handbooks.
- IEEE StandardsIEEE (Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers) Standards includes more than 2,500 technical standards and publications, including active, revised, archived, and draft standards dating from 1948. IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) are included.
- ISO StandardsInternational Organization for Standardization. Use the Techstreet database to search for ISO standards. Note, the library holds print copies of some ISO standards. Check the library catalogue under the author, International Organization for Standardization, to see what is held. If a standard is unavailable you will need to create a Techstreet account if you want to request additional standards.