Patents
5. Some Simple Patent Searches
Last updated: 17 Aug 2015
- If your invention is not new then it is not patentable. Before you spend money on patenting advice do some simple internet searches including searching on publicly available patent databases using key terms from the notes you have made.
- Bear in mind that searches are not definitive. This is because not all patents are open to public inspection.
- This means that no matter how hard you search you will not be able to find every patent. Therefore use patent searches only as a guide. The results will help identify ‘prior art’ patents that are already on the public record or at least on the major patent databases before the date of your patent.
- These searches will also assist in identifying if your invention is in a crowded area of technology. The more crowded the space the narrower your area of monopoly and the more likely it is that there may be at least some relevant prior art to take into consideration when preparing your patent specification.
- Knowledge is good. It is best to know about prior art before starting out.
- Another useful exercise is to:
- summarise any relevant patents found on your searches in a few high level bullet points;
- compare those bullet points with the bullet points for your own invention;
- describe the differences (again bullet points are good). For example ‘Patent 1 describes an invention with features A, B and C which does X. Patent 2 has features A, B and D and does Y but cannot do X. My invention has features A and B only but it can do both X and Y.’
- This exercise is very useful for teasing out new and inventive features and can be used to guide drafting of a patent specification. The more background work you can do to assist the patent attorney the better the outcome.
- Before launching a product in the marketplace it is advisable to understand whether there may be a risk of infringing an existing patent. A patent attorney can check this for you.
- If another person claims that you have infringed their patent then a patent attorney can perform a ‘validity and interpretation analysis’ to assess whether or not the claim of infringement has any basis and to identify support for the position that you are not infringing an existing patent.
- Some links to publicly available patent databases include:
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