Prior-Art Search

1. Novelty/Patentability Search:

To obtain patent protection, a potential invention must be new (novel), useful, and non-obvious. The purpose of a patentability search is to find out if your invention may be new or novel by searching relevant prior-art. A patentability search is not a Product Clearance or Infringement Search, so a patentable invention is not necessarily safe from infringement. A patentability search helps guide the decision of whether to invest your financial resources to pursue a utility patent that may take years and tens of thousands of dollars.

A cost-effective patentability search would likely focus only on patent literature because that is what patent examiners primarily search. While it may be possible to broaden the search to existing products and any relevant non-patent information on the Internet, the additional cost may provide diminishing marginal returns. Patentability search can be performed much earlier during the development of an innovative ideas related to invention, it is more commonly performed prior to submitting a patent application to check the feasibility of the invention. It is not uncommon for examiners to locate prior-art references that were not found in a prior patentability search. Not only can experienced examiners find obscure prior art, they may also apply prior art references outside the field of your invention.

Keep in mind that patentability searches are not guarantees. The question of “Is my invention novel?” will seldom be completely answered by a patentability search. Tempered with realistic expectations, a patentability search can provide a highly practical and useful benefit. So, a patentability search cannot provide assurances, but may lead to relevant information on the issue of obviousness.

2. Patent Validity/Invalidity/Opposition Search:

A Patent Validity Search or Patent Invalidity Search is an exhaustive Prior-Art Search conducted after patent issuance. The purpose of the search is to identify patent and non-patent documents which may challenge the novelty and inventiveness of the claims of a specific patent. This can help block patents and establish solidity of a patent portfolio which may be useful for licensing or company acquisition. The reservoir of prior-art is vast. The most common sources of prior-art are patents, published patent applications, and non-patent literature, such as books, journals, academic work, product literature, and internet publications. Prior-art also includes physical embodiments of products and evidence of sale or public use. Each of these sources of prior-art requires a different search approach and are more or less applicable depending on the subject area of technology. Our patent validity/invalidity search services are customized and responsive to specific client needs. This includes:

We also provide a report for the search which includes relevant prior-arts, additional prior-arts (along with bibliographic details), search strategy, novel features, keywords, classes, key-assignees, key-inventors. Our color-coded Claim charts consisting of mapping of relevant prior-arts with respect to key-features of the claims which helps you to understand the validity or invalidity scope of the claims of the subject patent in the light of the prior-arts.

3. Clearance Search/Right-to-Use Search/Freedom-to-Operate(FTO) Search/Freedom-to-Practice Search:

Freedom-To-Operate (FTO) search identifies whether a product may possibly infringe on the claims of a valid patent. Before you begin the commercialization of your product/technology, it is essential to conduct FTO search to ensure that the desired product/technology can be safely launched in a specific market without infringing or violating third party intellectual property rights within that particular jurisdiction. The information gathered through FTO search helps in avoiding any legal hassles of infringement after the product launch. A well-researched FTO report could avoid costly infringement proceedings and delays in product release.

4. Patent Landscape Study:

An exhaustive study of the patents in a technology field to help you understand the current as well as future trends in technology and explore lucrative business opportunities. Patent landscapes are an important asset in the technology development that summarize the IP activities of competitors, market overview and whitespace analysis in the technology domain.

Our team will help you to identify the most useful visualizations of your patent landscape information. We provide high-quality, customized and cost-effective intellectual property research, business research and market research as per client requirements. Intensive Landscape Report consists of assignee-wide distribution of IP activity in a domain, relevant patents, key players in the market, Patent Classification distribution, and year-wise distribution. Our report consists combination of graphs including pie-charts, heat map, bubble charts and 2-D and 3-D charts, for clearer picture with detail explanation. We are using of rich databases for data mining, for not leaving anything behind. We provide support, even after report submissions, to further processes.

5. State-of-Art Search:

Designed to provide up-to-date information about progress in a specific technical field, a State-of-Art Patent Search is the broadest and most general of all the patent searches. It is essentially a market survey or a comprehensive search that provides a general idea about the prior-art in a particular technology domain. State-of-Art search is helpful for the client to make a proper decision who is contemplating entry into a particular field. For the client who currently active in a specific field, the State-of-Art Search results can lay out the path that must be followed to design around the current art. A State-of-Art Search is useful to learn about the technology already exists and then to build on it. A State-of-Art Search will also helpful to spot new competitors in market and to identify new technological trends. This information is very useful during market analysis which is perform by a company before entering into new technological domain. Our expert team provide the detail report which consists all the information including prior-arts of a specific technological domain along with graphical analysis of the technological trends.

6. Design Search

Design refers to the structure, pattern or shape of a specific product. A design patent generally describes the visual appearance of the product rather than the functionality/methodology. Our expert team is trained to use various databases such as WIPO, Designview, Orbit design, Patbase, Derwent Innovation, etc. A prior-art search before the registration of design is required to ensure that the design is unique and similar designs have not been registered already. We have worked on several design search projects of different domains including general utilities, ornamental products, mechanical design, construction field, medical devices, electronics etc.

Our search approach: