Patent Search Report

A patent search report, or what is sometimes referred to as a preliminary patentability search.  Because one of the requirments for a patent applicaiton to become a patent is that the invention, which is the subject of the patent application, must be new.  To determine if an invention disclosed in a patent application is new, the inventor (or their attorney) should conduct a search for prior art.

Prior Art

Prior art (also sometimes state of the art) is a term describing information about prior attempts to address the same problem as the invention. Prior art can include other patents, articles from scholarly or trade publications, presentations at conferences, existing products on the market, and other types of information disclosure. The purpose of a prior art search is to unearth all of this pre-disclosed information for the purpose of determining whether the invention in the patent applicaiton is new and thus patentable.

A patent application will be compared to the prior art to determine whether it actually describes a new invention, and whether or not a patent should be granted. Although this is only one factor in determining patentability of an invention, an inventor or entrepreneur should conduct a thorough prior art search before filing a patent application. Typically, in a patent search you simply look for a patent which may include the claimed novelty of the present invention.  A patent search is typically less expensive than a patent opinion.

Inventors can conduct their own patent search using various online patent databases and resources. This initial search may provide them information about the existing patent landscape. However, because a patent is a legal document it is advisable to seek professional assistance to review the results and if necessary conduct a more comprehensive and reliable search.

Patent Search is Good for Business

Three things you should know before beginning any business:  What it is that you do, what it is that your competition does and how do you differentiate between them.  The same rationale applies to patents.  Before applying for a patent, you should know what others have done, what you are doing and how are you going to differentiate between them.  A professional patentability search can help with that.  Initially, you may want to preform a patent search using the patent search feature from our website or other internet sites freely available.   In addition, a professional patentability report can help determine the probability of success in obtaining a patent and if the invention meets some of the basic patent requirements, namely that the invention is new and non-obvious. In order to conduct a search, a patent attorney may need a concise description of the invention, various alternative embodiments, the invention’s perceived novelty and its functionality.    A large portion of this information may be obtained through the use of an invention disclosure document.  After the patent attorney conducts a search of relevant patent records within the Patent Office, we can prepare a patentability search report summarizing the results and the outlining the scope of potential patent protection available based on the results of the patent search.

Unless specifically requested, foreign patents, periodicals and textbooks are typically not searched for the Patent Search Report since they are not typically classified or as accessible as the United States Patents. As a result of the patentability search report, the inventor should have a better understanding of the potentially patentable aspects of the invention and be able to identify alternative embodiments of the invention.

Scope of Report

A patent Search Report generally provides a summary of relevant prior art—existing patents, published applications, and other technical literature—that is uncovered during the investigation and which may affect the novelty and non-obviousness of the invention. The report aims to inform inventors about the existing state of the art and help them evaluate the potential patentability of their idea.  A patentability search and report is different from an infringement opinion analysis, the scope is different and the results of a patentability report should not be considered as responsive to the issue of infringement because infringement and patentability are two separate issues.

Contact us to discuss preparing a patent search report with one of our patent attorneys or continue reviewing more information on our website related to patents and the patenting process.