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Searching the Cited Inventor Field

Searches the Inventor Name(s) field within a patent record.

Enter one or more inventor names connected with search operators. Enter full names or partial names using wildcards (* $ ?).

Alternatively, click the search aid link to look for specific inventors to add to your search.

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Inventor Search Examples

• Smith finds Smith A, Smith R, Smith J E, and so on.

• Smith A finds Smith A, Smith A J, Smith A L, and so on.

• Smith AJ OR Smith A J finds Smith A J.

• Smith AND Jones finds Smith and Jones.

• Smith NOT Smith A finds Smith R, Smith J E, Smith R W, and so on, but it does not find Smith A.

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Search Tips

• When searching for an inventor with more than one initial, enter the initials without spaces between them (for example, Becker SC) even though the name may display with a space between the initials.

• Enter full names or partial names using wildcards.

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About Cited Inventors

In many records, inventors whose names contain non-alphanumeric characters are listed twice within the inventor field: one listing contains the non-alphanumeric character, and one does not (no space is included for apostrophes, but a space is included for hyphens). When searching for these inventors, only the occurrences of the name that match the search term are highlighted in the results.