Espacenet, Patentscope and Depatisnet: a comparison approach Jürgens, Björn Herrero Solana, Víctor Patents Patent database Open access Espacenet Patentscope Depatisnet Features Comparison Functionalities Free charge This article is based on a presentation given at the European Patent Office Patent Information Conference (EPOPIC) that was held during 4–6 November 2014 in Warsaw, Poland. Special thanks go to the organization team of the conference from the European Patent Office and to the CITPIA Patlib Centre Team without whom this study would never have been possible. Espacenet, Patentscope and Depatisnet are known as the main multinational patent databases offered by patent authorities which are available to the public free of charge. As all three systems have substantially improved in the last few years, a comparison of their functionalities and capabilities, as discussed herein, is useful for those unfamiliar with the recent developments. In order to present the comparison, the following aspects were analysed: data coverage, search functionality, result list, bibliographic view of records and patent data export options. Case studies are presented where the search systems were compared in the field of nanotechnology. The analysis concludes that Espacenet has the best features for searching, Patentscope the best for analysis and Depatisnet the best for complex search tasks. 2016-05-24T09:18:52Z 2016-05-24T09:18:52Z 2015-06-12 info:eu-repo/semantics/preprint Björn, J.; Herrero-Solana, V. Espacenet, Patentscope and Depatisnet: a comparison approach. World Patent Information, 42:4-12 (2015). [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/41389] 0172-2190 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/41389 10.1016/j.wpi.2015.05.004 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Elsevier