Most countries with a patent office have at least a presence on the Web, and many countries, including the US, have very complete and helpful sites. Law firms and other companies also put up very complete and helpful patent-related sites. They offer a very powerful search engine, and patents may be printed out, or, if a better quality is needed, purchased. Recently the site has added international patent search capabilities, including European and Japanese. Law firms and universities put up sites full of articles, essays and advice for patent searchers and inventors.
Literature searching for prior art is easier than ever because of the Internet.
Other help for inventors comes from the aforementioned national patent offices and company-sponsored sites, but inventors also use the Internet to help each other. One of the biggest changes in the patent scene is the subject of business method patents. While this was becoming an issue before the Internet really became a player, it has mushroomed in the past few years. Software, which used to be copyrighted, began to be patented in the mid-1980s, and, in the wake of software patents, automated methods of doing business have also begun to be patented. Many procedures which have been a part of business for decades, if not centuries, are being automated and patented.