<s>
Espacenet	B-Application
(	O
formerly	O
stylized	O
as	O
esp	B-Application
@cenet	I-Application
)	O
is	O
a	O
free	O
online	O
service	O
for	O
searching	O
patents	O
and	O
patent	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Espacenet	B-Application
was	O
developed	O
by	O
the	O
European	O
Patent	O
Office	O
(	O
EPO	O
)	O
together	O
with	O
the	O
member	O
states	O
of	O
the	O
European	O
Patent	O
Organisation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
member	O
states	O
have	O
an	O
Espacenet	B-Application
service	O
in	O
their	O
national	O
language	O
,	O
and	O
access	O
to	O
the	O
EPO	O
's	O
worldwide	O
database	O
,	O
most	O
of	O
which	O
is	O
in	O
English	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2022	O
,	O
the	O
Espacenet	B-Application
worldwide	O
service	O
claimed	O
to	O
have	O
records	O
on	O
more	O
than	O
140	O
million	O
patent	O
publications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
launching	O
Espacenet	B-Application
in	O
1998	O
,	O
the	O
EPO	O
is	O
said	O
to	O
have	O
"	O
revolutionized	O
public	O
access	O
to	O
international	O
patent	O
information	O
,	O
releasing	O
patent	O
data	O
from	O
its	O
paper	O
prisons	O
and	O
changing	O
forever	O
how	O
patents	O
are	O
disseminated	O
,	O
organized	O
,	O
searched	O
,	O
and	O
retrieved.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
in	O
the	O
early	O
years	O
of	O
Espacenet	B-Application
,	O
Nancy	O
Lambert	O
considered	O
that	O
,	O
although	O
free	O
,	O
Espacenet	B-Application
,	O
like	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
Patent	O
and	O
Trademark	O
Office	O
(	O
USPTO	O
)	O
database	O
of	O
US	O
patents	O
,	O
"	O
still	O
tend[ed]	O
to	O
have	O
primitive	O
search	O
engines	O
and	O
in	O
some	O
cases	O
rather	O
cumbersome	O
mechanisms	O
to	O
download	O
patents.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2009	O
,	O
Espacenet	B-Application
offered	O
the	O
so-called	O
SmartSearch	O
which	O
allows	O
a	O
query	O
to	O
be	O
composed	O
using	O
a	O
subset	O
of	O
Contextual	B-Language
Query	I-Language
Language	I-Language
(	O
CQL	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Created	O
in	O
partnership	O
with	O
Google	B-Application
,	O
the	O
translation	O
engine	O
was	O
"	O
specifically	O
built	O
to	O
handle	O
complex	O
and	O
technical	O
patent	O
vocabulary	O
"	O
,	O
using	O
"	O
millions	O
of	O
official	O
,	O
human-translated	O
patent	O
documents	O
"	O
to	O
train	O
the	O
translation	O
engine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
the	O
Patent	O
Information	O
News	O
 '	O
magazine	O
published	O
by	O
the	O
EPO	O
,	O
a	O
2013	O
independent	O
study	O
compared	O
Espacenet	B-Application
with	O
DepatisNet	O
,	O
Freepatentsonline	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
Patent	I-Application
and	O
the	O
public	O
search	O
facility	O
at	O
the	O
USPTO	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
that	O
study	O
,	O
Espacenet	B-Application
reportedly	O
obtained	O
the	O
highest	O
score	O
for	O
both	O
data	O
coverage	O
and	O
customer	O
support	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
best	O
overall	O
aggregated	O
score	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
March	O
2016	O
,	O
Espacenet	B-Application
began	O
offering	O
full-text	B-Application
search	I-Application
through	O
its	O
collection	O
of	O
English	O
,	O
French	O
and	O
German	O
patent	O
documents	O
.	O
</s>
