Searching the patent register

You can search the patent register to see what patents have been granted in the past, and whether an invention is still protected. This might help you check whether your invention is likely to infringe an existing patent.

Note that if you get to the stage where you think you may want to apply for a patent, you should hire a Patent Attorney to undertake a full search of the prior art (including existing publications and patents on the register).

How to conduct a search

Each country’s patent office has designated tools to search the national database. In Australia, this tool is known as “AusPat” which is a comprehensive one-search system for Australian patent data and dates back to 1904.

1. Go to IP Australia’s website at https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/.
2. On the homepage, click ‘Patents’.
3. Click ‘search patents’ from the dropdown menu.
4. Once on the AusPat search page, you could either use one or a combination of as many as 25 search criteria to conduct a patent search. The search criteria could include:
   • Patent or application number
   • Invention title
   • Name of the Applicant(s)
   • Name of the Inventor(s)
   • Filing date; or
   • keyword(s). 

IP Australia has provided a video that gives an overview of how to search for a patent in Australia using the AusPat tool.

_{Please note: this video was not developed by, and is not the property of the ATN and is hosted on an external website.}

There are many online tools for searching for patents granted in other countries. For example, Google’s ‘Patent Search’ allows browsing through millions of published patent documents around the world.