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Technology Transfer
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Entrepreneur's Toolkit - Patent Research

Why Conduct Patent Research?

Because seeking patent protection can be costly, many recommend conducting research to determine what has been done before ("prior art"). Research into what has been done before helps you evaluate questions of novelty and nonobviousness, which are two requirements for patentability. These requirements ensure that the monopoly of a patent isn't granted for something that has been done before or would be obvious to do based on what has been done before. You (or your patent agent or attorney) can use information located in a patentability search to evaluate the chances of obtaining a patent for your idea. Additionally, you might discover that moving forward with your plans put you at risk for infringing someone else's patent(s).

No Guarantees

Be aware that conducting patent research is only an informative tool. The results of a search cannot guarantee patentability. For one thing, no search can be perfect; as an entrepreneur, you're probably going to have limited time and funds to invest in patent searching. In contrast, in multi-million dollar patent infringement litigation after a patent issues, the accused infringer might be able to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in conducting in-depth worldwide searches for invalidating prior art. Another limitation of even the best, most costly, patent search is that patent applications are only published eighteen months after filing. Near-simultaneous invention is a well-known phenomenon; if someone else invented something identical or similar shortly before you and filed a patent application, there's simply no way to find it for eighteen months.

When?

Patent research can be conducted at any time. Typically, however, research is conducted at a time intended to inform cost-based decision-making. One common time to conduct research is therefore prior to filing any patent application at all. Another common time to conduct research is prior to having a patent attorney or agent prepare a formal patent application (e.g., you filed a provisional application yourself and now it's time to prepare a nonprovisional application or PCT application). Another potential time to conduct research is prior to incurring the cost of nationalizing a PCT application in many countries worldwide.

How?

Initially, you can probably get a good initial idea of what's been done before for yourself at little to no cost (see the patent research tools below, for example). The USPTO provides a helpful page and a tutorial that can help you conduct a search on your own as well as a page with a number of helpful links to additional search options. After that (or if you don't want to do the research yourself), you can contact your patent agent or attorney, and she can conduct a search or knows a specialized searcher who can conduct the search for you. Costs for conducting such research will probably run from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. It will usually take a few days to a few weeks to get professional search results back.

A Few Things to Note

  • As mentioned above, no patent search can guarantee patentability.
  • Be careful of time - patent searches do take some time, and you should be careful to balance time for patent searching with establishing your place in line at the Patent Office by filing an application.
  • There is no affirmative duty to conduct any patentability search; however, anything you discover must be disclosed to the Patent Office. Keep records of your research results accordingly.

Patent Research Tools

  • WIPO Publication - Guide to Technology Databases - A place to help you identify the best database and how to search
  • Google
    A surprisingly good place to start is just to see what you can find on Google or your Internet search engine of choice. Prior art includes both patents and non-patent literature (basically any publicly available information that is not a patent document).
  • Google Patents
    Google Patents is a good place for most amateurs to start, as it uses a familiar interface. Also provides helpful information such as estimated patent expiration dates.
  • USPTO Public Patent Search Tool
    The USPTO search page has recently been updated to improve the interface. Will be the most up-to-date reference for U.S. patents and patent publications.
  • Espacenet
    Provided by the European Patent Office, this tool searches patents from many countries in one place. Once you find one patent, you can use links to see corresponding patents in other countries.
  • PQAI
    This AI-assisted, open-source platform allows searching by describing an invention in layman's terms.
  • Patentscope by WIPO
    This tool from the World Intellectual Property Organization (a UN agency) includes simple and advanced search options. The advance search allows use of proximity operators and stemming (root words are expandable).
  • Lens.org
    This site searches more than just patents, including non-patent scholarly literature.
  • Patent Assignment Database
    If you know someone active in your field, this database can help you find patents they own (also see Google Patents above).
  • Paid Databases
    There are numerous paid search databases and services available, including Derwent, PatBase, Patseer, Ambercite, Drug Patent Watch, Patsnap, and others. However, if you are going to pay to do patent research, you're probably going to hire someone to do the research for you rather than access a paid search database, as a paid provider will have the experience to get you the best results.
  • Scholarly Databases
    Scholarly databases are a good place to look for non-patent literature. In particular, focus on databases in your field of use.