US Pat-Pend

Google continues to provide relevant information, and does so for free.  Googles next step has just been realized and now provides free patent search tools:

http://www.google.com/patents 

http://www.google.com/googlepatents/about.html 

About Google Patent SearchAs part of Google’s mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful, we’re constantly working to expand the diversity of content we make available to our users. With Google Patent Search, you can now search the full text of the U.S. patent corpus and find patents that interest you. You can view images of original patents online, or save and print them for offline use. Frequently Asked Questions Q. Where does this patent data come from? A. All patents available through Google Patent Search come from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).Patents issued in the United States are public domain government information, and images of the entire database of U.S. patents are readily available online via the USPTO website. Q. What types of patents are available? A. Google Patent Search covers the entire collection of patents made available by the USPTO—from patents issued in the 1790s through those issued in the middle of 2006. We don’t currently include patent applications, international patents, or U.S. patents issued over the last few months, but we look forward to expanding our coverage in the future. Q. How many U.S. patents are there? A. To date, the USPTO has issued approximately 7 million patents.