A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. (WIPO)
Resources for Patents
esp@cenet International patent database (by European Patent Office) containing 100+ million patents from more than 90 national and regional patent offices. Online tutorials for esp@cenet searching are also available.
LexisNexis-Patents
This database contains U.S. patents from 1971 forward, searchable by keyword, patent number, classification number, lawyer, assignee, inventor or summary.