How can patent search results help you protect your intellectual property?

Some people spend thousands on an exhaustive patent search by a third-party, and during prosecution, they are faced with a grounds for rejey ction by a patent never exposed. Why? Because that patent was pending and not yet publicly disclosed, so only patent examiners could see it. Don't spend lots of time and money on search. Look for glaringly obvious patents/publications that can "read" on the claims.

A patent search is the process of examining existing patents and related references to determine the novelty and inventiveness of a specific invention or idea. The search aims to evaluate the possibility of obtaining a patent for the invention. It involves searching through various databases, including patent databases, scientific literature, technical publications, and other sources, to find similar prior art. The results of a patent search provide valuable information for inventors and patent applicants. They can help determine whether it is worth pursuing a patent application, identify potential obstacles or prior art that need to be addressed, and guide the drafting of patent claims to maximize the chances of obtaining a granted patent

The first question that I asked my senior when I was about to start my first patentability search was: "Why is a patent search important?" The answer was very crisp and I want to share it with you all: First, to know if there are any existing patents already present in the field, and if there are, how is your invention different. Second, if you know well about the existing patents, you can present your invention better by identifying the need for it and how it is better than the prior art.

Without some degree of searching, one is essentially flying blind. I saved a recent client a lot of money by finding (on Amazon) a product that looked exactly like theirs. Did the search presume that the other product would sue for infringement? No. It simply meant that any competent examiner would find it, quickly, and reject the novelty criterion right off the bat. A initial patent search on USPTO, Google Patents, and Google can turn up patents, patent publications, and existing products. If you know ahead of time that you are very likely facing strong potential prior-art references, you can opt to not file for a patent, or try to redesign the invention so as to avoid the claim/specifications umbrella posed by a found patent.

When it comes to protecting your intellectual property (IP), a thorough patent search is required. Analyzing patent search results allows you to guarantee that your invention or concept is new and has not already been patented by someone else. Using patent search results for IP protection entails finding any existing patents that are related to your idea. This phase is critical in identifying your invention's uniqueness and assessing its patent eligibility.

Patent search is important for individuals and businesses to ensure that their inventions or ideas are unique and do not infringe on existing patents. By conducting a patent search, one can identify prior art, assess the novelty of their invention, and make informed decisions about the patentability and potential commercial viability of their idea.

Patent search can be used in different stages of IP protection, before registration, search results can help in assessing the IP type, to navigate between patent, utility model, industrial design, and/or copyright to ensure the best IP protection regime. Inventive step challenges can help with insights to develop your invention and think of better ways to avoid prior art problems. Also before filing search results also can help in drafting the application, with prior art documents that allow you to highlight the advantages of the invention, write down the background section and write more accurate patent claims. During the examination process, it can be used to refine patent claims and defend your stance for patent requirements.

In the area of product innovation, using patent search results can be a game-changer. Companies that investigate existing patents can gain useful information to boost their research and development activities. These search results not only help to uncover market gaps but also serve as inspiration for new products and improvements. Companies can utilize this information to get around current patents, resulting in novel solutions that distinguish them from competitors.

To use patent search results for intellectual property (IP) protection, you should: 1. **Analyze Results:** Review the patent search results to understand the existing patents related to your invention or idea. 2. **Assess Novelty:** Determine if your invention is novel and non-obvious compared to the existing patents found in the search results. 3. **Identify White Space:** Identify areas where your invention differs from existing patents, potentially leading to a unique selling point. 4. **Strategize:** Develop an IP protection strategy based on the search results, such as applying for a patent, considering licensing opportunities, or making modifications to differentiate your invention.

In my experience, an effective Patent search needs a clearly defined methodology before execution. Apart from doing keyword/citations/assignee/ inventor searches, there are a few pointers to keep in mind for executing a successful search: • Searching in non-patent prior art and collecting keywords and potential competitors and their work from articles, news and also from YouTube videos. (This step many times helps in building a clear understanding of the topic and also sometimes retrieves bang-on references) • While searching patents for invalidity searches consider the examiner’s strategy and file wrapper analysis to identify novel aspects of the claim.

Patent search provides some insight into what has already been claimed, allowed and issued. But, it will not find an unpatented product that may have the same structures/function/methods of a prospective ienvention. I always do a search using Google for products that may or not be patented. The fact that no one else has claimed those structures/functions/methods as novel, useful and tangible does not mean it cannot be used to reject an application's claim(s).

I will explain this point with a small story: Years back we were doing an invalidity search of a life sciences patent. After doing an exhaustive search we decided to do an inventor search of all the inventors. And as we reached the third inventor, we located a research paper disclosing the novel aspects, that the inventor published years back. Bingo! Point is an effective search is all about presence of mind of an analyst and how he/she strategize based on tools in hand/ time and again the presence of mind. 👍