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Patents: A How-To-Find Guide

Information on locating full-text of patents granted worldwide.

Iowa Patents

Iowa inventors database

Originally created and curated by the State Library of Iowa, and now operated by Davenport Public Library, this database covers Iowa inventors and inventions from 1843 to the present. The database is searchable by inventor's name, title of the invention, the inventor's residence (town or county), date the patent was granted, and patent number.

Finding Iowa patents

The USPTO's Patent Public Search can be used to find patents from Iowa by using the following highlighted search terms, including all punctuation:

  • IA.INST. will find patents where the Inventor's state is Iowa
  • IA.AAST. will find patents where the Applicant's state is Iowa
  • IA.ASST. will find patents where the Assignee's state is Iowa

Patent depository library in Iowa

Davenport Public Library (DPL) became an all-electronic Patent Depository Library in 2011. It is currently the only Patent Depository in Iowa.

DPL offers electronic access to patents via PUBWEST (Web based examiner tool), the system used by patent examiners. PUBWEST features more search options than the USPTO Web, allows for multiple-page printing and also includes EPO and JPO abstracts. Full-text searching availability is the same as that at the USPTO Web site. Additional limited full-text searching back to 1920 is available, but because of imperfect scanned images, this should not take the place of a classification search.

Davenport Public Library's archives continues to house print materials from prior to its USPTO designation:Patent Gazettes-1956-2002, Patent Indexes 1953-1965 and 1967-2002, Trademark Gazettes 1973-2003, and incomplete coverage of Trademark Indexes 1957-1997.

For more information, visit the Davenport Public Library webpage or contact their Reference Desk at 563-326-7845 or via e-mail.

Reference Department
Davenport Public Library
321 N. Main St.
Davenport, IA 52801

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