The completely new edition of this well respected reference work is aimed at information specialists and librarians as well as anyone needing to know where and how patent information can be found. The author discusses patent information within the context of the current legal framework for patents both from a national and international perspective. It also includes a chapter on future developments and their likely effect on patent information. In order to make successful use of patent information sources, it is essential that the reader fully understands the three major patent systems. The author therefore provides detailed descriptions of The European Patent System, The Unites States Patent System and The Japanese Patent System. He carefully explains the way patents are documented within these regions and the idiosyncrasies and similarities between the systems. Having explained the different patent regions, the author moves on to provide details of information sources on different media paper, disk, online and the internet. He includes alerting searches, patentability, portfolio and legal status searches and commercial intelligence which includes a discussion on patent analysis tools. Patent information needs within different subject fields varies and the author has included detailed information on the specialist techniques required in the engineering, chemical and life sciences sectors. In addition there is a glossary of patenting terms, a contact list for major databases and an index of abbreviations. This is an essential reference tool for academic libraries and for anyone requiring information about patents.