When someone develops a new product, process, or machine, they will often patent it to make sure no one else develops the same thing and takes credit for it.  Are you wondering whether someone has made a device similar to the one you want to make? You can see if the product has been patented by the following database:

Open access databases:

• Espacenet: preferred

• lens.org; preferred

• Google Patents

• United States Patent Public Search: Patent search tool provided by the US Patent Office

Paid databases:

• Derwent Innovations Index by Clarivate - Provides access to more than 14,800,00 patents with links to cited and citing patents, cited articles, and full-text patent data sources. Contains patent citation information.

• Total Patent One by LexisNexis

• SciFinder by ACS - A powerful database to identify chemistry and chemical related patents. It also includes citations to journal articles, patents, conference proceedings, dissertations, books, reviews, and technical reports. SciFinder: first time users registration.