Find Patents
A US patent is a property right granted to an inventor "to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling" the invention in the United States or "importing" the invention into the United States for a period of 20 years from the date of application. (USPTO)
United States Patents
Google Patent Search
US patents from 1790 to the present, excludes patents issued in the most recent months and published applications. Keyword and advanced searches. PDFs of documents.
United States Patent and Trademark Office
US patents from 1790 to present; published applications 2001 to present. Keyword and advanced searches from 1976 to present; prior to 1976, search by number, date and classification only. TIFF Viewer required to view or print patents.
International Patents
European Patent Office - 1836 to present for ~180 countries
Patent Lens
Search data from the World Intellectual Property Organization, European Patent Office, U.S. Patent Office, and the Australian Patent Office.
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) - A special United Nations agency formed in 1967 "to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world through cooperation among the states." Search international patent applications.
Free Patents Online - Fun for its lists of patents in various areas, including Crazy Patents
For more information about finding patents, see the Engineering Library's Patents guide.
Find Articles
These databases index scholarly journal and conference articles in engineering and technology subjects. Click the orange UC-eLinks button to link out to the full text of the article if Berkeley has a subscription, or to the catalog to find a print copy if there is no online copy. 
For more engineering-related indexes and subject-specific databases, see the Engineering Library's Article Databases guide.
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Compendex
All areas of engineering from 1884 to present.
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INSPEC
Electrical engineering, computer science, and physics from 1898 to present.
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PubMed
Medical and life sciences journals from 1947.
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SciFinder Scholar
Chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science and the biomedical sciences from 1970. In order to use SciFinder, you must first register using your @berkeley.edu email address at this site http://software.chem.ucla.edu/scifind/UCBwebSFS.html.
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Web of Science
Journals articles (not conferences) in all subject areas - from 1899 (Sciences), 1900 (Social Sciences), and 1945 (Humanities).
Find books and e-books
Use the OskiCat catalog to find library items at UC Berkeley.
Use the Melvyl catalog to look in all UC campuses.
You can refine your search to e-books and other online resources by using the Available Online limiter when you are in the OskiCat catalog.
Finding E-books
OskiCat: Find ebooks in the OskiCat catalog by changing the drop-down menu that defaults to Entire Collection to Available Online.
Full text searches of publisher collections of e-books like Safari Tech Books and Springer e-books can be done by searching the publisher's native interface. See a list of Berkeley subscribed publisher packages here.