index

Searching the Assignee Field

Searches the Patent Assignee Name(s) and Code(s) field within a patent record.

1. Enter one or more assignee codes and names, codes only, or names only. Connect with terms with search operators. You can enter complete assignee codes and names or partial codes and names using wildcards.

2. Click Search.

When searching this field, note that a four-character assignee code may also be a word in an assignee name. If you want to restrict your search to just assignee names or assignee codes, select the appropriate option above the search entry field.

To identify a code belonging to a specific company, click the search aid link to look for specific terms to add to your search.

index

About Patent Assignee Names and Codes

To standardize company names, Derwent assigns a unique 4-letter code to approximately 21,000 companies worldwide. These companies are regarded as standard companies, and regularly file a large number of patent applications. Use of these codes retrieves subsidiaries and related holdings of the company. Other companies and individual patent assignees are given a non-standard 4-letter code, which is not unique. Patent codes appear as:

• ABCD-C (Standard Company)
• ABCD-N Nonstandard
• ABCD-R Soviet Institute
• ABCD-I Individual

Note that patentee names were limited to a maximum of 4 names, each having up to 24 characters up until 1992, when the limit was raised to 40 characters with no restriction on the total number of names. The name may be shortened or abbreviated to fit the restriction. Example: INT for International

index

Search Examples

• Enter Unilever, and then select the Search name or code or Name only options to find patent records with an assignee name that starts with the word Unilever.

• Enter Unil, and then select the Code only option to find patent record s with an assignee code of Unil. Example: Unilever Ltd and Lever Bros Ltd

• Enter Iner-n OR Ryobi, and then select the Search name or code option to find patent records with assignee codes/names that start with either Iner-N (for example, Ind Ergonomics and Inertia Dynamics) or Ryobi (for example, Ryobi Outdoor Products and Ryobi Materline Ltd.).

• Enter Microsoft Corp OR MICT finds patent records that contains this assignee name in the Patent Assignee(s) and Codes(s) within the Full Record. Note that if you enter just Microsoft or just MICT, the search may return fewer patent records.