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Searching atypical U.S. patent number

How do I search U.S. patent numbers for atypical patents such as design patents, plant patents, statutory invention registrations, defensive publications, reissue patents, or NTIS patent applications?

Simply search the patent number in the STN standard format, i.e., the country code US followed by the patent number. No special letters or codes need to be included with the number.

If you are not sure which file to search, use INDEX PATENTS to determine which patent databases cover the patent. Then, you can quickly and efficiently search and display only in the files that contain answers.

Finally, look at bibliographic information such as the patent kind code or the document type to verify the type of patent document.