Patent Searching on the Wild Side

Practice makes perfect, as they say, and nowhere is that more a propos than in searching for patents Here’s a quick example …

Let’s pretend that we are interested in all the patents for which ExxonMobil is the assignee (i.e., the owner).

Searching the USPTO database (http://patft.uspto.gov/) using the search phrase AN/ExxonMobil results in 1760 hits.

Searching the USPTO database using the search phrase AN/Exxon results in 6449 hits.

Searching the USPTO using the search phrase AN/Exxon$ (where “$” is a wildcard) results in 8224 hits.

You’ll notice that the wild card (“$”) enables us to retrieve patents issued where Exxon is the assignee OR where ExxonMobil is the assignee. And you will also notice that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Add 1760 + 6449 = 8209. Yet, the final wild card search strategy retrieves 8244.

Time for a walk on the wild side.