Patent Inventors

Our Patent Inventor records are sourced directly from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent database. These records document inventors, patent applications, granted patents, and intellectual property filings.

NOTE: Patent data is public information published by the USPTO as part of the patent disclosure process. Inventor names, addresses, and patent details become public upon patent publication. Records include utility patents, design patents, and plant patents dating back to the earliest USPTO filings.

What Are Patent Records?

Patent records are official documents maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that grant inventors exclusive rights to their inventions for a limited period of time. The patent system traces its roots to Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, which empowers Congress "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." The first U.S. patent was issued on July 31, 1790, and since then, over 12 million patents have been granted across every conceivable field of technology and design.

When an inventor files a patent application with the USPTO, they are required to fully disclose how their invention works. This disclosure requirement is the fundamental bargain of the patent system: the government grants the inventor a temporary monopoly (typically 20 years from the filing date for utility patents) in exchange for teaching the public how the invention works. Once a patent application is published or a patent is granted, the full text of the application, the names and addresses of all listed inventors, and detailed technical descriptions become part of the permanent public record.

Patent applications go through a rigorous examination process. A patent examiner at the USPTO reviews the application to determine whether the invention is novel, non-obvious, and useful. The examiner searches prior art, which includes previously published patents, academic papers, and other publicly available information, to evaluate whether the claimed invention truly represents something new. This process can take anywhere from one to five years, depending on the complexity of the technology and the backlog at the patent office.

What Information Is in Patent Data?

Each patent record contains a wealth of structured information that makes it valuable for research, competitive analysis, and background checks. The core data fields include the inventor's full name, city, state, and country of residence at the time the application was filed. Many patents list multiple inventors, reflecting the collaborative nature of modern innovation. The assignee field identifies the company or institution that owns the patent rights, which is often the inventor's employer.

Beyond personal identification, patent records include the patent number (a unique identifier assigned upon grant), the application number (assigned when the application is first filed), the filing date, the publication date, and the grant date. The patent title provides a brief description of the invention, while the abstract offers a more detailed summary, typically 150 to 250 words, of what the invention does and how it works. The full specification, including detailed drawings and claims, can run anywhere from a few pages to hundreds of pages for complex technologies.

Patent records also include classification codes that categorize the invention by technology area. The Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) system, jointly developed by the USPTO and the European Patent Office, uses a hierarchical structure of sections, classes, subclasses, groups, and subgroups to precisely identify the technical domain of each invention. For example, a patent for a new type of solar cell might be classified under H01L 31/0248, where H refers to electricity, H01L to semiconductor devices, and the subsequent numbers narrow down to photovoltaic cells with specific structural characteristics.

Types of Patents

The USPTO issues three distinct types of patents, each serving a different purpose and offering different protections. Understanding these distinctions is important when interpreting patent records.

Utility patents are by far the most common type, accounting for roughly 90% of all patents issued. A utility patent protects new and useful processes, machines, manufactures, or compositions of matter. This category encompasses the vast majority of technological innovations, from pharmaceutical compounds and software algorithms to mechanical devices and chemical processes. Utility patents are valid for 20 years from the filing date and require the payment of maintenance fees at 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years after grant to remain in force.

Design patents protect the ornamental appearance of a functional item rather than its utility. A design patent covers the unique visual characteristics of a product, such as the shape of a beverage bottle, the pattern on a piece of fabric, or the graphical user interface of a software application. Design patents are identified by a "D" prefix before their patent number. They have a term of 15 years from the grant date (for applications filed on or after May 13, 2015) and do not require maintenance fees. Companies frequently use design patents to protect the distinctive look of their products, making them an important tool in consumer goods and industrial design.

Plant patents are the least common type and are granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces a distinct and new variety of plant. This includes cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids, and newly found seedlings, but excludes tuber-propagated plants and plants found in an uncultivated state. Plant patents have a term of 20 years from the filing date. Agricultural companies and plant breeders rely on plant patents to protect new varieties of roses, fruit trees, ornamental shrubs, and other horticultural innovations.

How Patent Data Is Collected

The collection of patent data begins when an inventor or their patent attorney files an application with the USPTO. The application must include a detailed written description of the invention, one or more claims defining the scope of the patent protection sought, and in most cases, formal drawings illustrating the invention. The inventor must also provide their full legal name, residence address, and citizenship.

Under current U.S. patent law, most patent applications are published 18 months after their earliest filing date, regardless of whether the patent has been granted. This publication makes the application available to the public through the USPTO's online databases. If and when the patent is eventually granted, the final version with any amendments made during examination is published as a granted patent. Some applicants, particularly those who do not intend to file corresponding foreign applications, may request that their application not be published before grant, but this option is relatively rarely used.

The USPTO maintains comprehensive electronic databases of all patent documents. The Patent Full-Text and Image Database (PatFT) contains the full text of all granted patents from 1976 to the present, along with scanned images of patents dating back to 1790. The Patent Application Full-Text and Image Database (AppFT) contains published patent applications from 2001 to the present. The USPTO also provides bulk data downloads in XML format through its Patent Examination Data System (PEDS) and the PatentsView platform, which enables large-scale analysis of patent trends across inventors, assignees, and technology areas.

Understanding Patent Record Fields

When reviewing patent inventor records, several key fields provide important context for understanding the patent and its significance.

The application number is the serial number assigned by the USPTO when the application is initially filed. It consists of a two-digit series code and a six-digit serial number (e.g., 16/123,456). This number is used to track the application throughout the examination process and can be used to look up the prosecution history, including all communications between the applicant and the patent examiner.

The grant date is the date on which the USPTO officially issues the patent, marking the beginning of the patent's enforceable term. For utility and plant patents, the 20-year term is measured from the filing date, not the grant date. However, the patent holder cannot enforce the patent (i.e., sue for infringement) until the grant date. The time between filing and grant is often referred to as "patent pendency" and averages approximately 23 months, though it can vary widely depending on the technology area.

The CPC classification provides a standardized way to categorize patents by technology area. The system has nine main sections: A (Human Necessities), B (Performing Operations/Transporting), C (Chemistry/Metallurgy), D (Textiles/Paper), E (Fixed Constructions), F (Mechanical Engineering), G (Physics), H (Electricity), and Y (General Tagging of New Technological Developments). Each patent may have multiple classification codes, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of many inventions.

The claims section defines the legal boundaries of the patent protection. Claims are numbered statements that precisely describe what the inventor considers to be their invention. Independent claims stand on their own, while dependent claims refer back to and narrow the scope of an independent claim. The number and scope of claims can indicate the breadth of protection the patent holder has secured. A patent with many broad independent claims generally provides stronger protection than one with few narrow claims.

How to Use Patent Data

Patent data serves a wide range of practical purposes across business, legal, and research contexts. One of the most common uses is prior art research, where inventors and patent examiners search existing patents to determine whether a proposed invention is truly novel. Before filing a patent application, conducting a thorough prior art search can save thousands of dollars in legal fees by identifying potential obstacles early in the process.

Businesses use patent data for competitive intelligence, tracking the filing activities of competitors to understand their research and development priorities. By analyzing the patent portfolios of rival companies, businesses can identify emerging technology trends, anticipate new product launches, and make informed decisions about their own innovation strategies. Patent landscape analyses, which map the patent filings across an entire technology area, are regularly used by corporate strategy teams and venture capital firms.

Patent records also serve as a valuable tool for inventor background research. Because patent filings include the inventor's name and address, they can be used to verify claims of inventorship, trace an inventor's career through their patent history, and identify subject matter experts in specific technology areas. Academic researchers, recruiters, and due diligence investigators frequently use patent databases to assess an individual's technical contributions and innovation track record.

In legal settings, patent data is essential for freedom-to-operate analyses, where a company evaluates whether its proposed product or process might infringe on existing patents held by others. Patent litigation relies heavily on the public patent record, and the detailed prosecution histories available through the USPTO provide critical evidence for claim construction and infringement determinations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are patent inventor records public information?

Yes. Patent records are inherently public documents. The entire purpose of the patent system is to encourage public disclosure of inventions in exchange for a limited period of exclusive rights. When a patent application is published or a patent is granted, all information in the document, including the names, cities, and states of all listed inventors, becomes part of the permanent public record maintained by the USPTO. This transparency is a fundamental requirement of patent law under 35 U.S.C.

How current is the patent data?

The USPTO publishes new patent grants every Tuesday and new patent application publications every Thursday. Our records are updated regularly to reflect the latest publications from the USPTO database. However, there is an inherent delay in the patent system itself: applications are typically published 18 months after filing, so the most recently filed applications may not yet be available in any public database. Granted patents appear in the public record on their issue date.

Can a person appear as an inventor on multiple patents?

Absolutely. Prolific inventors may be named on dozens or even hundreds of patents over the course of their careers. For example, some researchers at major technology companies and pharmaceutical firms accumulate extensive patent portfolios. Each patent listing is a separate record linked to the individual inventor, and our database allows you to see the full range of patents associated with a particular person.

What is the difference between a patent inventor and a patent assignee?

The inventor is the person (or persons) who actually conceived of the invention. Under U.S. patent law, only natural persons can be named as inventors. The assignee is the entity that owns the patent rights. In most cases, employees assign their patent rights to their employer as a condition of employment, so the assignee is typically a corporation, university, or research institution. An inventor may also be the assignee if they retain ownership of their own patents.

Do patent records include the inventor's home address?

Patent records include the inventor's city, state (or province), and country of residence at the time of filing. Historically, full street addresses were included in patent documents, but current USPTO practice typically only requires city-level location information. Older patents in the database may contain more detailed address information, reflecting the practices that were in place when those applications were filed.

What does it mean if a patent has expired?

A patent expires when its term has ended or when the patent holder fails to pay required maintenance fees. Utility and plant patents expire 20 years from the filing date, while design patents expire 15 years from the grant date. Once expired, the invention enters the public domain and anyone may use it without permission or payment. Approximately 50% of all issued utility patents lapse before their full term due to non-payment of maintenance fees, often because the patent holder determines the invention is no longer commercially valuable enough to justify the fees.

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