Patent data for technology assessment, Part I: Applications, patent databases, and retrieval methods

Patents have a wide range of uses for the clients of science, technology and business librarians, beyond legal patentability. This article discusses uses of U.S. patent information and compares several patent information systems. Specifically, the article highlights the value of patent information for technology intelligence and management; examines features of five major U.S. patent database systems; discusses critical retrieval issues; and provides examples of the types of queries for which patent databases are helpful. The article is the first of a two-part series; the second uses patent data to examine trends in global positioning system (GPS) technology, in order to more fully illustrate methods for technology assessment. © 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc.