PRIOR ART SEARCH

Patents are only granted for inventions that are new and non-obvious. The term “prior art” refers the state of the art as it existed prior to the filing date (or priority date) of a patent. Performing a search of the prior art can be very important in many circumstances, and typically involves a search of patent databases and non-patent literature.

There are two main types of prior art searches:

1) Pre-Filing Prior Art Search: It is recommended to perform a prior art search before filing a patent application. This can help to determine if the invention is really novel and non-obvious. It can also provide valuable feedback to the inventors on what similar technologies exist, which may help the inventor refine their work. Prior art searching can also help in crafting solid claims that distinguish over the prior art, which will make convincing the patent office to grant the patent much easier.

2) Invalidation Prior Art Search: In some cases, a company desires to invalidate a certain patent. This most typically occurs when a company is accused of infringing a patent. The most solid defense in such a case is to invalidate the patent in question, and one of the ways to do so is to find prior art that destroys the novelty of the patent claims. In other cases, a company may be blocked from entering certain markets due to fear of infringing a patent. An invalidation prior art search can be undertaken to determine how solid the patent in question is.

In addition to performing prior-art searching, we can also provide a written analysis to explain the results that were found and their impact.

Please contact us if you would like to discuss how we can support your prior art search requirements.