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Searching the Cited Assignee Field

Searches the Patent Assignee Name(s) and Code(s) field within a patent record. Finds patent records that have been cited by other patents.

Enter one or more assignee codes or assignee names connected with search operators. You can enter complete assignee codes or names or partial assignee codes or names using wildcards. For example, you can enter Harvard College (assignee name) or HARD-C (assignee code) or both to retrieve patent records that cite patents in which Harvard is the assignee.

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About Patent Assignee Names and Codes

To standardize company names, Derwent assigns a unique 4-letter code to approximately 21,000 companies worldwide. These companies are regarded as standard companies, and regularly file a large number of patent applications. Use of these codes retrieves subsidiaries and related holdings of the company. Other companies and individual patent assignees are given a non-standard 4-letter code, which is not unique. Patent codes appear as:

  • ABCD-C (Standard Company)
  • ABCD-N Nonstandard
  • ABCD-R Soviet Institute
  • ABCD-I Individual

Note that patentee names were limited to a maximum of 4 names, each having up to 24 characters up until 1992, when the limit was raised to 40 characters with no restriction on the total number of names. The name may be shortened or abbreviated to fit the restriction. Example: INT for International

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Search Example

Enter Unilever in the Cited Assignee field to find patent records that cite patents with an assignee name that starts with the word Unilever.

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Search Aid

Select the search aid to look for specific terms to add to your search.