Knievel

Knievel is a web-based patent search platform that was first introduced in the mid‑2000s. It is named after the online service “Knievel.com,” which was established by Michael Knievel and his team to provide academic and industry users with a cost‑effective alternative to more expensive databases. The service allows free access to patent publications from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as well as many international patent offices. The platform has been adopted by universities, law firms and small‑business innovation managers for preliminary patent research and for monitoring competitive technology developments.

The core technology of Knievel relies on a web crawler that retrieves public patent data directly from USPTO servers and indexes it in a search‑friendly format. Users can query the database by keyword, publication number, inventor, assignee, classification or combinations of these fields. The interface is designed to be lightweight and works in most modern browsers without the need for proprietary software. Because only a subset of the full patent text is stored locally, the platform can be updated rapidly, keeping the data relatively current compared to static print collections.

Knievel has been praised for democratizing access to patent information, especially for researchers operating with limited budgets. However, critics have pointed out that the free service provides a narrower search scope than commercial products, and that the interface does not support advanced retrieval features such as Boolean search operators or backward citation links. In 2010, the service was acquired by LexisNexis, after which its functionality was integrated into the LexisNexis Patent & Trademark database offering, providing customers with a more comprehensive, though fee‑based, solution.