Google Patent Search only has US stuff at present but can be a hugely usefull tool to track the intended products of your local industry.
From the Googleblurb:
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.
Q. How does it work?
A. Using the same technology that powers Google Book Search,
Google has converted the entire image database of U.S. patents into a format that’s easy
to search. You can search the full text of U.S. patents from the Google Patent Search
homepage, or visit the Advanced Patent Search page to search by
criteria like patent number, inventor, and filing date.
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