Search Patent
Search patent is one of the most basic thing an inventor has to do when applying for patent. Search patent enables the inventor to know if his invention is already patented or not. Search patent can determine if the proposed invention merits the patentability as set by the statutory conditions.
The most basic place to do search patent is accessing database of the US Patent and Trademark Office worldwide. There are designated patent libraries which one can use too. During search patent, an inventor should compare a collection of prior patents, printed publications, journals or other technical articles with the invention. These references serve as basis for determining the patentability of an invention. But before doing so, he or she must examine each of these "references" in order to ensure that they are valid.
Purposes in Conducting Search Patent
1. Find out if invention is patentable.
Search patent helps determine if the invention can be patented or somebody has made a prior claim on the invention before. This way, search patent can prevent you from investing valuable time, energy and money on unpatentable invention.
2. Avoid patent infringement.
Search patent will enable the inventor to prevent costly lawsuits due to patent infringement on someone else's patent.
3. Find similar patents.
Search patent will help you generate ideas on similar products on how to improve your existing design. You may have little idea on what are the recent innovations pertaining to your invention or what other experts in the field have already developed. Search patent will bring you up to date on the state of the art.
4. Protect your patent.
When writing a patent application, the search patent can aid the attorney in knowing what the most similar patents cover. If you file a patent without using comprehensive search patent you risk another previous inventor coming forward and invalidating your invention.
5. Marketing your invention.
If you don't yet have a patent, the best way to sell a license is a strong patentability opinion from a patent attorney. Search patent may help show that the idea can be patented and licensed.
Search patent may also enable the inventor to apply for a patent despite prior art claims. In some instances, certain elements of the proposed invention (embodiments), but not all, will be patentable. A prior Search patent and Opinion allows the inventor to identify the patentable elements and file a patent application which avoids the prior art and prevents any patent infringement.
Patents
U.S. Patent And Trademark Office
Sample Provisional Patent Applications
Patents
... chemical nature and properties of a barrier cuff in disposable diapers. Court patent verdicts ruled in favor of Tyco/Kendall on every claim issue. Alcide Corp. v. Ecolab Another one of the patent verdicts occurred in October, 1999 when Fish & Richardson successfully defended Ecolab of St. Paul, Minnesota ...
... Senator John Ruggles as the inventor of a locomotive steam engine. By 1871, over 100,000 had been issued. It follows then that patent number 1 was NOT the first U.S. patent. Regular patent numbers system that began in 1836. If there are no special letters before the number (or if the letters are only ...
... entities. You are also required to pay an examination fee of $100. This examination fee is taken by the examiner who carefully examines your application to ensure that the invention is indeed a new one. Therefore if you want to successfully launch your patent application then the total fee then you have ...
... Free patent searches documents your idea and serves as a record of invention date. 2) Free patent searches prevent you wasting time on developing an idea that already exists. To conduct free patent searches one can start searching at the U.S. Patent Office Database at http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html ...
... either electronic or print format. A reasonably priced law firm charges around $1000 to conduct a basic patent analysis. The patent searches and analysis comes with discussion with a patent attorney, and electronic copies of the pertinent patents discovered during the patent search. More extensive patent ...