Guide to online searching of the patent register

Guidelines on searching for patent applications and registrations in New Zealand. Please note that this information is intended to be a guide only.

The Patent Search Form contains various fields where you may enter data to conduct a search of the patent database.
 

Go to Patent > Search for Patent(s) 

If you already know the patent title or case number then you can use the “keyword” search. Simply enter your word or words into the Keyword field or enter the IP case number.

Please note that this search will indicate whether a patent exists on the Register.

Advanced Search. 

More powerful search options are available under the Advanced Search option. This search allows you to construct complex search strings and search a wider range of parameters.

In the Title field use combinations of terms, common misspellings, text speak and combinations of stem words. There are a range of search operators and wild cards which will help provide a comprehensive search. The search operators (AND, OR, and AND NOT), quotation marks and wildcards (* and ?) can be used singularly or together to form complex search strings. You can enter up to 150 characters in this search field.

Examples of title searches
Example 1: PLASTERCOTE

• plast*c* OR plast*k* OR plast*q* OR pla?st*c* OR pla?st*k* OR pla?st*q*
• (plast* pla?st*) AND (*coat* *koat* *cot* *kot*)

Example 2: LEARNING MEDIA

• (*l?rnin* *learn*) AND ( *m?d?a* *me?d?a* *m?ed?a*)
• “learning media”
• “*learning media*”

Example 3: MILLENNIUM

• m?l?n*m* OR m?ll?n*m*
• *mil?n*m* OR *mill?n*m* OR *myl?n*m* OR *myll?n*m*

Example 4: JUICY ORANGE

• (*juic* OR *j??c*) AND *orang*
• Juic*
• *rang* AND NOT (*strang* *ranger*)

Example 5: ECO KIWI

• (*eco* *ecko* *ecco* *echo* *ekko*) AND (*kiwi* *k*w*)
• “ECO” OR “KIWI”
• Eco* AND NOT *ecologic*

Example 6: A

• “A”
• A* AND NOT “A?*”

2.5.1 The International Patent Classification System

The International Patent Classification system is a hierarchical classification system based mainly to classifying and search patent documents according to technical content of the document.

The classification system proceeds from the general to the particular details. For example:

A full list of terms classified according to the WIPO IPC system can be found on the WIPO website.

2.5.2 Searching for a patent using IPC Class

There are two ways to search by IPC documents:

• Select one or more IPC from the provided list by using the IPC Class field and select and enter the beginning of the IPC class. This will search the current version of IPC.

• Enter class description as a free form text for what you want to search by using the IPC Text field to conduct search in the same way as case Title searches, using AND, OR and AND NOT.  This will search all versions of IPC including expired versions.

You can search for publically available abstract by using the Abstract field to conduct the search in the same way as case Title searches, using AND, OR and AND NOT. 

IPONZ uses a structured database of client records which are linked to IP records on the register. To search for IP records by client, use the advance search, and click Select against either Applicant/Owner or Agent.

Applicant searching is identical to case title searching. Spaces are recognised as ORs and you can use quotation marks, brackets, OR, AND, * and ? to find your desired result. For more information about using these search tools please refer to Section 2.2.2 of this guide.
It is important to note that if a client name contains a comma or some other punctuation the system will recognise this as a character.

Examples of Applicant searches

Applicant 1: JOHN SMITH

• A search for “JOHN SMITH”, JOHN AND SMITH, “*JOHN SMITH*” or *JOHN* AND *SMITH* will return this client as a result. JOHN SMITH without speech marks or AND will return results where the client name contains either JOHN or SMITH

Applicant 2: JOHN SMITH, Inc

• The first two searches above will not return Applicant 2 as a result. This is due to the comma after SMITH being recognised as a character
• A search for “JOHN SMITH,” or JOHN AND SMITH,, “*JOHN SMITH*” or *JOHN* AND *SMITH* will return this client in the results
   

Select the client, or clients that you wish to search the register for. Note that there may be multiple records for the same organisation in some cases. Over time IPONZ will reduce these down to single records.

Those clients will now become a search criterion on the advanced search page.

• The PCT International Application Number field

You can search by the PCT International Application Number by entering your PCT International Application Number to the provided field. For example: PCT/GB99/03860, PCT/GB2001/123456.

• The PCT International Publication Number field

You can search by the PCT International Publication Number by entering your PCT International Publication Number to the provided field. For example: WO99/37573, WO2002/123456.

• The Reference field

You can search by your reference number by entering your reference number to the provided field.

• The Under Proceeding Cases field

You can search for all patents that are currently under a proceeding by ticking the Under Proceeding case field.