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Searching the Cited Assignee Code Field

Searches the Patent Assignee Name(s) and Code(s) field within a patent record. Finds patent records that have been cited by other patents.

Enter one or more assignee codes connected with search operators. You can enter complete assignee codes or partial assignee codes using wildcards. You can only enter assignee codes in this field. For example, enter HARD-C as the assignee code, but not Harvard College, which is the assignee name.

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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

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Search Example

Enter Unil in the Cited Assignee Code field to find patent records that cite patents with an assignee code of Unil.

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Search Aid

Select the search aid to look for specific terms to add to your search.