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If you are looking for information on how to conduct your own patent prior art search, then you have come to the right place. The below information is probably the most comprehensive free patent searching guide on the Internet. We sincerely hope this guide helps you more properly research the patentability of your invention or right to use your product. Feel free to contact us if you need any help.

Patent Search Help Guide:

Prior-art Patent Searching
Why it is important to conduct a patent prior-art search
What Prior-Art Should be Searched?
Determining the Patent Search Engines to Use
Establishing Patent Search Parameters and Methods
Performing the Search- Search Tips
Define Your Invention
Searching the USPTO Patent Database
Evaluating a Patent Reference
Analyze the search results to optimize the search parameters
Amateur verses Professional Patent Searching

U.S. patent search
US and International patent search

Overview of our flat rate patent search practice
Why is a patent search important?
Why does it matter who does my patent search?
What to expect after you order the patent search
What our Patent Search Reports Generally Include
Current, Patent Search Special Offers

Find competing Prior-Art patents before investing much money in your idea.

 

To provide you a service commensurate with your financial situation and invention protection goals, we provide various levels of patent searching options, each providing different degrees of depth and breadth of our prior-art patent search. Our our most basic patent search, our goal is to determine, with some confidence, if the exact invention has been previously disclosed in a patent. Our most comprehensive level of patent search we search patents and published patent application.

Usually, our patent research is completed in about a week for most jobs. We realize many inventors/companies require fast turnaround times so we make sure to maintain adequate in-house staff to keep it faster (with no extra rush charge) than the industry-standard 2-4 weeks.

Regarding our patent research practice, generally, our search results and our patentability opinions (when ordered) shoot down a relatively high percentage of searched inventions, and we make sure that we have a high integrity about not having an "optimistic eye" that leads many other organizations to gloss over problematic prior-art just to get your future business.

US patentability search (1 week)

Covers United States (US) patents and published US patent application. It should be noted that given the US is the largest market in the world, it is very common that International patents are also filed in the US (especially for mass market or high tech inventions), whereby the US search generally discovers most, if not all, of the most relevant patent prior-art throughout the world. The "Basic US Search" level is usually adequate to achieve a basic confidence that your same invention has not been already patented in the US. The "Normal US Search" level is much more in-depth that the basic level, and usually adequate to achieve a good confidence that your same or highly similar invention has not been already patented in the US. See the next section for international searches for beyond the US. The "Normal" level is usually the best balance between cost and thoroughness. The "Advanced" level is our most comprehensive level of flat-fee patent research and seeks to determine with reasonably high confidence if the exact invention exist, or an analogous variation can be construed based on one or more prior-art reference separately or in combination.

For help deciding the right level of service for your situation please [Click Here].

 

Item	Service	Description	Cost	Order Now (click for more details)
SP01	Basic US Search	Basic level US Patent Search, by a patent search professional with an Engineering Bachelors degree.	$249
SP15	Normal US Search	Normal level US Patent Search, conducted by an Electrical / Computer Engineer with a Bachelors degree.	$400
SP19	Advanced US Search	Advanced level US Patent Search, conducted by an Electrical / Computer Engineer with a Bachelors degree.	$500
SP02	Basic US, Pro	Basic level US Patent Search, conducted by a Patent Agent and Masters Engineer.	$400
SP17	Normal US, Pro	Normal level US Patent Search, conducted by a registered Patent Agent and Masters in Electrical Engineering.	$550
SP21	Advanced US, Pro	Advanced level US Patent Search, conducted by a registered Patent Agent and Masters in Electrical /Computer Engineering.	$700
SP09	Patentability Opinion	Legal Patentability Analysis of the closest prior-art patents found (usually within a few days)	$150
SP11	Advanced Patentability Opinion	Advanced Legal Patentability Analysis of the closest prior-art patents found (for advanced level searches, usually within a few days)	$250
ICD3	Consultation	0.5 hr consultation to help you assess and plan your best course of action	$80

Current, limited time special offers

US and International patentability search (1 week)

Covers United States (US) and International (WIPO: WO/EU/UK/GB/JP- databases) patents and published application. The "Basic Search" level is usually adequate to achieve a basic confidence that your same invention has not been already patented in the US The "Normal Search" level is much more in-depth that the basic level, and usually adequate to achieve a good confidence that your same or highly similar invention has not been already patented. The "Normal" level is usually the best balance between cost and thoroughness. The "Advanced Search" level is our most comprehensive level of flat-fee patent research and seeks to determine with reasonably high confidence if the exact invention exist, or an analogous variation can be construed based on one or more prior-art reference separately or in combination.

For help deciding the right level of service for your situation please [Click Here].

Item	Service	Description	Cost	Order Now
SP23	Basic US & Inter.	Basic level US & International Patent Search, conducted by an Electrical / Computer Engineer with a Bachelors degree.	$400
SP03	Normal US & Inter.	Normal level US & International Patent Search, conducted by an Electrical / Computer Engineer with a Bachelors degree.	$500
SP05	Advanced US/Intern.	Advanced level US & International Patent Search, conducted by an Electrical / Computer Engineer with a Bachelors degree.	$650
SP25	Basic US & Intern. Pro	Basic level US & International Patent Search, conducted by a registered Patent Agent and Masters in Electrical Engineering.	$500
SP04	Normal US & Intern. Pro	Normal level US & International Patent Search, conducted by a registered Patent Agent and Masters in Electrical Engineering.	$650
SP06	Advanced US/Intern. Pro	Advanced level US & International Patent Search, conducted by a registered Patent Agent and Masters in Electrical /Computer Engineering.	$900
SP09	Patentability Opinion	Basic/Normal level Legal Patentability Analysis of the closest prior-art patents found (for Basic/Normal level searches, usually within a few days)	$150
SP11	Advanced Patentability Opinion	Advanced Legal Patentability Analysis of the closest prior-art patents found (for advanced level searches, usually within a few days)	$250
ICD3	Consultation	0.5 hr Consultation to help you assess and plan your best course of action	$80

Prior-art Patent Searching

Before getting started, note that it is helpful to have a basic knowledge about novelty and obviousness (see our Inventor's Guide), to be in a much better situation to more accurately search for prior-art that may block the patentability or limit the scope of any patent based on your invention. For inventions that have significant marketing potential, you should procure a patentability opinion by a registered patent practitioner based on the prior-art you, or a professional searcher, finds. They can help you determine with a high degree of confidence whether the prior-art you, or a professional searcher, finds is problematic, and how you might design around them.

To carry out a reasonably effective search one must set the search parameters. The approach used in this chapter is as follows:

1. Identify what type of material will be search.
2. Determine the search engines to use.
3. Establish search strategy, parameters, and methods.
4. Perform the search.
5. Analyze the search results to optimize the search parameters.
6. Save potentially relevant prior-art and repeat the search at step 4, using the optimized search parameters.

A relatively useful search should take about 4-6 hours if you efficiently search and analyze the prior-art as set forth in the subsequent subsections. If the invention has significant commercial value, much more time should be productively spent. The following sections will set forth the motivation for performing a thorough search according to the above steps.

Why it is important to conduct a patent prior-art search

With over 6 million US patents, 40 million worldwide, and millions of printed publications, which are all potential prior-art against your application, there is a good chance that some reference, or combination of references, may render your invention anticipated or obvious, and therefore unpatentable. A prior-art search can help avoid losing your investment in a patent application if the search discovers prior references that would likely preclude patenting your invention. It will also often provide ideas of other important embodiments (i.e., versions) of you invention that you should describe in your application to expand your scope of patent coverage. Overall, the quality of any resulting patent on your invention tends to be significantly increased by a well-done prior-art search performed in support of the earliest priority date patent application (i.e., the provisional application).

Any reference you find will also be very helpful when you prepare the utility application before the one year deadline. That is, in light of the seminal court decision (discussed in the "Claim Interpretation" section in our Inventor's Guide) referred to as "Festo" it is now practically mandatory to do an extensive prior-art patentability search to ensure that your patent will have maximal scope through the "Doctrine of Equivalence." In the worst case, Festo could reduce what would have otherwise been a broad patent to one that narrowly covers only your exact invention. This would make your patent of minimal value because potential licensees would simply design around the narrowly interpreted claims. Under Festo, you skip doing a prior-art search at your own risk. Because, if there is any prior-art that the patent examiner finds, which requires your patent practitioner to amend the claims around, you loose all equivalents related to the aspect he had to narrow.

If you expect to sell and/or license your invention or you ever plan to enforce your patent in court, you should have an extensive prior-art patentability search done as early in the process as possible. The prior-art found by such a search allows you or your patent practitioner to carefully craft the claims around the prior-art in the utility application, and more accurately determines what subject matter should, and should not, be in the provisional specification. Under Festo, getting it right the first time (i.e., upon filing the utility application) is critical. Another benefit of an extensive prior-art search, if done well, is that patent examiners will often rely on the references you provide as the basis for their examination. This tends to make the prosecution much cleaner and less costly, thereby resulting in a greater likelihood of a patent being awarded relatively quickly, if not on the first office action.

For at least the foregoing reasons, before preparing your provisional patent application it is highly recommended that you perform your own prior-art search as a starting point to seed a professional patentability search performed later when you prepare the follow-on utility application. Your search effort, in combination with a professional search prior to preparing the utility application, significantly increases the likelihood of finding all pertinent reference that an examiner or an opposing party might find.

What Prior-Art Should be Searched?

Generally, prior-art references that will be used as a basis to evidence prior public knowledge will be any printed publication that has a verifiable date when it was publicly available, which public availability date is before the earliest filing date that your application claims the benefit of (e.g., a provisional application filing date). The search should include expired patents, pending patent application publications, nonpatented inventions, and Statutory Invention Registration. You should be aware that there is a situation where you can also gain access to an abandoned or pending patent application that is normally confidential; that is, if subject matter in any application that was once held in confidence by the USPTO is referred to (i.e., incorporated by reference) or included in an issued US patent then it becomes available to the public upon request. It does not matter whether the application is currently abandoned or still pending, nor does it matter if it is a provisional or utility application. Therefore, if you see a patent containing a reference to an abandoned or pending application that you think would be important to consider, just call the USPTO, and request it be sent to you.

When determining the field of search, three reference sources must be considered- domestic patents, foreign patent documents, and non-patent literature (NPL). None of these sources should be eliminated from the search, unless time or resource constraints motivate otherwise. If you must limit your search, the prior-art sources should be prioritize, in descending order of priority, according to: domestic, foreign, followed by NPL.

Determining the Patent Search Engines to Use

For patent references, you can search the following databases at no charge:

1. USPTO (www.uspto.gov)

2. Delphion www.delphion.com

3. WIPO and European Patent Office (ep.espacenet.com)- over 30 million documents worldwide.

The marketplace is another place for you to begin looking to see if your invention or product already exists in the public domain and who is making similar products. Often, by using the Internet inventors can determine if their invention or product has been publicly disclosed or used. In addition, identifying competitors might later reveal patents they filed on similar inventions. Some useful search engines include:

1. Use web search engines like www.google.com, www.copernic.com, and www.dogpile.com.
2. www.industry.net (Product search)
3. www.thomasregister.com (Thomas Register- Product search, company information)
4. www.designinfo.com (Technical specification Search)
5. www.northernlight.com (Article search- small fee)
6. www.spi.org (Software Patent Institute).

In some hot fields, such as Internet software, patents may significantly lag what is publicly known and available on the Internet.

Establishing Patent Search Parameters and Methods

It is often helpful to perform a State-of-the-art search to get an idea of what devices or methods are already in existence (whether patented or not), what approaches others in your field are doing, and the specialized terms that they are using. Such a preliminary search helps determine:

• How industry achieves the function of the invention.
• Who is your competition.
• Other commercial devices or methods that perform a similar function, but in a different way.
• The nearest commercial product and/or method using something similar to your invention.
• What combination, if any, of existing commercial products or methods would be very similar to your invention.
• The relative performance of your invention compared to current or past commercial solutions.

The combination of this information and your existing knowledge of your invention can serve as a basis to building an initial list of keywords, concepts, and competitors to search for. The field of search should be prioritized, starting with the area(s) where the invention would most likely be found in the prior-art. The search should cover the subject matter you reasonably intend to claim in your application, as described to some detail in the next section.

Performing the Search- Search Tips

Having identifying the field of search; the search engine(s) to use, and determined the appropriate search parameters, you are ready to perform the search. Before diving into it though, what follows are some important tips you should review to get the most out of your efforts:

1. One concept to keep in mind is that all prior-art that is the equivalent (i.e., an insubstantial variation) to what your specification discloses should be part of your search, unless you have expressly excluded it in your specification.

2. Your search should include fields of prior-art that are analogous to the field of your invention. It is sometimes difficult to determine what arts are analogous (analogous art) to a particular invention. However, what is analogous art depends upon the necessary essential function or use of the subject matter in your specification. For example, for search purposes, a tea mixer and a concrete mixer may both be regarded as relating to the mixing art, this being the necessary function of each. Similarly, a brick-cutting machine and a biscuit cutting machine may be considered as having the same necessary function.

3. Use synonyms or similar keywords when searching. Prior-art patents tend to provide many new and/or similar keywords to search for; however, synonyms for common words should also be used. A good thesaurus can often be helpful. There are many available online, some excellent ones include: www.webster.com, and www.dictionary.com.

Define Your Invention

The scope of what you intend to claim should be as broad as possible. You should draft a "dummy claim" (i.e., an informal, plain English statement of what you regard as the gist of your invention that you wish to be protected. This will more clearly define the scope of what prior-art would fit within the claim scope. Even if you do not intend on drafting a broad dummy claim, you should have in mind what it would be, and conduct the search accordingly. Do not limit yourself to exactly what you have invented; instead, look for the most general form of your invention (i.e., the most abstract version having the least elements or constraints). You will be comparing your broadest dummy claim to the disclosure of the prior-art references you are searching through. Having a dummy claim of your invention in mind, you should strictly adhere to finding any reference that fits what the dummy claim does require, as well as what it does not. You should give your dummy claim the broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification, and look for implementation variations in the prior-art that fit under this broad scope.

Searching the USPTO Patent Database

You can begin your search by searching all the search engines for various combinations of words from the list of keywords, concepts, and competitors you compiled in the previous section. If you are getting too many results that are not relevant, then use more constraining keywords and Boolean operators (e.g., use 'All words' as in "A and B and C", instead of searching for 'Any word' as in "A or B"). If you are getting too few hits, relax the constraints, by reversing the previous suggestion.

To search for patents, go to the USPTO website and click on 'Patents' and then click on 'Search', and then 'Quick Search' (only advanced users should use the 'Advanced Search' option). You should search both issued patents and published patent applications. The USPTO website has additional search options to better focus your search. Next to the keyword text box is a pull-down menu to select what to entry fields of the patent to search. In particular, you should consider searching the Assignee field for the competitors you previously identified. If you know a particular inventor that invents related work to you, then search for his or her name by selecting the "Inventor Name" item in the pull-down menu. Search by US classifications are also a good way of finding relevant patents. If the patent search engine is taking too long to respond, you may try just searching the abstract or specification fields, which are searched much more quickly.

Evaluating a Patent Reference

Patents can seem very complex and unapproachable at first, and some are indeed so. However, most patents can be "sized up" quickly with a reasonable degree of confidence. You have to look past the legalese and zero in on the substance of what is being described and protected. When searching for prior-art, reference patents that can block the patentability of your patent application, only the disclosure of the prior-art (i.e., the specification) and not the claims is what can be held against you. Prior-art patent claims are only evaluated during litigation.

The most efficient way to determine if a patent reference has a disclosure that can be held against the patentability of your patent application is to begin by looking at the patent drawings. Most patent drawings will define the invention almost completely. The follow steps should be effective for most people to evaluate most patents:

1. After you have downloaded a patent you wish to evaluate, read the "Field of the Invention" section of the patent to understand the broadest scope that the patent disclosure is likely to be under.
2. Quickly read the Abstract of the invention, and determine if the invention is remotely related to your invention. The Abstract usually efficiently sets forth the "gist" or basic novelty of the invention. If both the field of the invention and the Abstract seem to have nothing, even remotely, to do with your invention, then discard these patents as unrelated. However, be sure to continue analyzing patents that are at all possibly within the field of your invention.
3. Access the drawings, or figures, of the patent (on the USPTO website they are called 'images' at the top of the displayed patent screen).
4. Analyze the figures for structural features or process steps that may correspond to similar ones in your invention. Do not spend much time on details. Look mainly for key aspects that are comparable to your invention.
5. If there seems to be some similarity, then further investigation is warranted; otherwise, there is no similarity, and disregard the prior-art patent.
6. If it is not very clear what features or steps the figures are showing, you should quickly:
1. Read the Figure's summary description in the 'brief description of the drawings' section of the patent.
2. Scan and read the 'detailed description' section of the patent for the corresponding figure number(s) and/or the numbered element(s) in the figure you believe are the most important aspects of the figure in determining whether it is similar to your invention. The description is usually written so that an average patent examiner can understand it. So, it should not get too technical or legally worded. Be careful not to be tricked by nonstandard use of terms, especially in software patents.
3. If the description that you have scanned is not at all similar to your invention in any way, then discard this patent as not relevant.
7. The next step is to read the last few sentences at the end of the 'Background of the Invention" section. This is where most patent drafters will summarize the problem(s) being solved and how their invention would solve it. This gives a very basic idea of the context and scope of the patent's disclosure. Even if it seems very different from the problem your invention is solving, the patent may still be a reference against you, so proceed to the next step in any case.
8. (Optional) As a final check, it is sometimes helpful to scan quickly the broadest independent claims of the patent to confirm the nature and scope of the patent. An independent claim is a root claim, which has no other claim referring back to it. The broadest, most general, claim is usually claim number one. You are looking for key elements and relationships between them that would take too much time to determine by reading the detailed description of the patent. Ignore all the fancy legalese as much as possible. If it just seems too confusing, then skip this step, as the information was largely gathered in the previous steps.
9. Having quickly ascertained the important details of the patent and the nature of the problem being solved, if the information taken as a whole seems close enough to your invention to questionable, then this patent should be saved as a prior-art reference to be evaluated by a professional. Otherwise, discard the patent as not relevant.

Analyze the search results to optimize the patent search parameters

Every time you analyze a prior-art reference, you should be looking for keywords and concepts that may be more generally used in the field of your search. Often, a patent that is rejected as not relevant may still provide useful keyword and ideas on how to improve the search. For example, if you are searching for combustion engines used in cars using the keywords "combustion and engine", you may find that some patents you reviewed refer to them also as 'motors'. You would then add such new key words to you search. New concepts to search for may likewise be found.

When search for patents, once you find a relevant patent, you can find other relevant prior-art by look through the 'References Cited' portion of the relevant patent, towards the top. These are usually very close in someway to the patent they were cited in, and are more likely to be relevant to your invention. Each cited patent should be evaluated as described in this and the previous subsection. Any new search parameters gleaned from this analysis should be added to your search.

Overall, the search should be iterated and optimized until you run out of allotted time or you find that you are not discovering anything else relevant. Generally, a reasonably good search will turn up at least 5-10 relevant prior-art patent references, and some nonpatent literature. These relevant references must be evaluated for their affect on the patentability of your invention, and/or any changes required to avoid the prior-art, and/or any additional embodiments (i.e., versions) of your invention that should be included to expand the scope of your disclosure to cover what is not disclosed or claimed by the prior-art. Sometimes, however, a relevant prior-art reference(s) will be "dead on" (i.e., exactly the same) and you may have to go back to the "drawing board" to either design around the reference(s), or invent something new.

Before you make any significant investment in the invention, whether to patent or develop or market it, or give up on something you believe has significant potential, you should have a registered patent practitioner evaluate the reference and set forth some options for your particular case. For other situations where the relevant references are not believed to be problematic, a nonpractitioner Applicant may proceed to implement helpful changes to his or her provisional application disclosure as mentioned above, and file it him or herself. However, it is highly recommended to have professional review the provisional application prior to filing. Please be aware that anyone in connection to your invention has a duty to disclose all relevant prior-art to the USPTO in the utility application. A breach of that duty could invalidate any patent that matures from the later filed utility application. Hence, the relevant references should be presented to the USPTO at or soon after filing the utility application, and to your patent practitioner preparing your utility application, if any, for a patentability opinion and optimal claims drafting.

Amateur verses Professional Patent Searching

It is our experience that a nonprofessional search almost always fails to find the most relevant prior-art patents/applications. That being said, an inventor should always do the best job they can in doing their own, initial patent search, and if more certainty is desired/required, then provide the professional searcher with what every you found. Unfortunately, however, no one can guarantee a patent search, even when done by a professional patent search firm, not even the USPTO. To provide you a service commensurate with your financial situation, some professional searchers provide various levels of searching options, each providing different degrees of depth and breadth of search. A basic search might search for the exact invention in prior-art patents. A comprehensive level of search might search patents and printed publications to determine, with reasonably high confidence, if the exact invention exist, or an obvious variation can be construed based on one or more prior-art reference in combination. A patentability opinion would then be rendered by a registered patent practitioner to advise you if you should proceed with a patent application. The corresponding cost often runs from around $400 to over a thousand dollars, or more. In some cases, especially for very simple patent applications, a patentability opinion could cost more than simply preparing and filing the patent application without a patentability search. For those on very limited budgets it often makes sense for them to do a preliminary online search, and then have a professional do a basic search combined with a patentability opinion as a basis for proceeding forward to draft and file a patent application.

Generally, when cost is not a top constraint the more time spent searching, up to some limit, and the broader the search scope, the more likely it is to find substantially the same or similar prior-art that the examiner (who has a very limited time to search) will find, thereby significantly increasing the likelihood of a patent being awarded with a relatively clean prosecution history. However, because patent classes and subclasses are used in some aspects of the search, it is entirely possible that some very pertinent patents have been misclassified, and hence potentially missed. An additional level of uncertainty stems from the fact that only issued patents and published patent applications are searchable outside a patent office. A secret (for at least 18 months, and sometimes all the way until issuance) pending application may exist that the examiner could assert against your application. Unless, an applicant makes a nonpublication request to the USPTO, a utility application is, generally, not published until 18 months after filing the application.

Other sources of missed references can arise from references (sometimes buried within hundreds) that are obscured by using nonstandard terms and/or generic (or misleading) titles, abstracts, or figures. Some other search limitations often arise from limitations in the USPTO database, which include the following:

1. Patents issued from 1790 through 1975 are searchable only by patent number and current US classifications.
2. Current US Patent Classification data in the Database may not necessarily match the classification data appearing in the original printed patent.
3. Changes to patent documents contained in Certificates of Correction and Reexaminations Certificates are not searchable.
4. Neither assignment changes nor address changes recorded at the USPTO are reflected in the patent database.

Thus, it should be clear that the effectiveness of any patentability search depends on many uncertain factors. A professional searcher's strong knowledge of patent practice and technology combined with excellent searching skills can significantly increase the accuracy and efficiency of the searching process. The exact choice of cost limits, search scope, and searching professional should be made on a case-by-case basis depending on your goals and risk tolerance level.

Legal Notice: None of the information provided in this website should be construed as or used as legal advice. The information provided here is for educational purposes only, in order to help inventors learn background information before consulting a practitioner. Since the best course of action in any specific matter will depend on the specific facts of the matter, NOTHING on this site can provide a substitute for the advice of competent legal counsel. Consult with a professional for specific advice regarding your particular situation.