In April 2006, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) upgraded its online database, PatentScope, so that over 1.2 million international applications filed under WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) from 1978 to the present are now available in fully searchable form for free consultation.

The information may be searched in several ways e.g. using keywords (such as 'biotechnology' or 'et/biotechnology' [i.e. with the word biotechnology in the english title]), names of applicants or dates and complete documents may be printed or downloaded.

Together with documents on each patent application (e.g. description, claims), the database gives access to information on the status of the application. PatentScope is a valuable technical resource as new technologies are often disclosed for the first time as international patent applications and the patent applications filed under the PCT system are typically those that inventors consider to be the most valuable and therefore worth patenting internationally.

See http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/ or contact publicinf@wipo.int for more information.

WIPO is one of the United Nations specialised agencies. It administers 23 international treaties dealing with different aspects of intellectual property protection and has 183 member nations.