IP Clinic – 5. Prior Art Search 101 IP Clinic Posted by Jon Howell | 18/03/2019 Why and how to Patent Search by Donal O’Connell, Managing Director, Chawton Innovation Services Prior art: Prior art, or state of the art or background art, in most systems of patent law constitutes all information that has been made available to the public in any form before a given date that might be relevant to a patent’s claims of originality. If an invention has been described in the prior art, a patent on that invention is not valid. It is, therefore, of no surprise that prior art searching is a key offering by IP Firms and IP Service Providers and a key part of the work conducted by the Patent Examiner at the Patent Office. Patent prior art search: Search is a critical issue as far as the patenting process is concerned. It is important that the non-IP professional people involved, such as the inventor community, understand this and in many cases are provided with good professional help and support in this area. In general, a search is conducted on a specific date to help identify current technology status at that date, effective patents at that date, and publications available on or before that date. Public databases and search functionality: There are a number of very good public databases and associated search engines available which can be utilised by anyone, not just IP professionals … Some free patent search tools are listed here: USPTO – http://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/search-patents EPO – https://worldwide.espacenet.com UKIPO – https://www.gov.uk/search-for-patent WIPO PatentScope – http://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/search.jsf The Lens (previously known as PatentLens) – https://www.lens.org/lens/new-search Pat2Pdf – https://www.pat2pdf.org Google Patents – https://patents.google.com Others are more research focused, such as: ScienceDirect – http://www.sciencedirect.com Google Scholar – https://scholar.google.co.uk Other search locations also exist which provide better filtered results and, depending on the subject, can be more productive. These include IEEE, Google Scholar for thesis, technical forums, and institutions who hold conferences in the key art area of interest. The Wayback Machine is a website that enables anyone to see what a particular Web site looked like at some time in the past – from 1996 to the present. The ‘Wayback’ machine should also be considered. The Wayback Machine is a website that enables anyone to see what a particular Web site looked like at some time in the past – from 1996 to the present. This enormous archive of the Web’s past requires hundreds of terabytes of storage and contains almost 500 billion webpages at present. You can access it here: http://web.archive.org Also metadata search engines exist that are low cost but let you only enter the terms once. However, they can search a list of sub-search tools, and can be more focused. They often hold the results so that you can go back to them as often as you like. A key point to note is that one should never just save a web link when searching, as the web is always changing. Instead one should take a screen shot with ‘snagit’ or ‘snipit’ to pdf. Searching for existing products /services of interest: A search should be conducted of existing products /services of interest … with similar structure with similar benefits When similar products /services are found, then the searcher should maintain certain details, such as: data sheets brochures manuals describing the operation of the product While conducting product searching, it is useful to note the companies, product names, and keywords used in the industry. Search for non-patent literature of interest: A search should be conducted of published literature (research papers, thesis documents, articles, and papers) of interest. The searcher should log the title of the paper, the name of author(s), and the date of publication. Similarly, when searching through non-patent literature, it is useful to note the companies, authors, and keywords used in the industry. Searching for existing patents of interest: The searcher should conduct a search for similar existing published patent applications or granted patents. Including those… patents with similar structure patents with similar benefits When conducting a patent search, the searcher should utilize output from the product and non-patent literature searches, namely the company names, authors, product names, and keywords for the search. When a relevant patent is found, then further checks should be conducted per the inventor and company names. Further forward and background searches should be conducted using citation information. For many, the main reason for conducting a search will be to identify possible prior-art. Reasons for conducting searches: For many, the main reason for conducting a search will be to identify possible prior-art. However, it should be stressed that there are many reasons for conducting such searches … Prior-Art Search: Helps to identify prior art (if any) for the inventive idea. Also, helps in defining the scope of the claims before filing with the Patent Office Competitive Intelligence Patent data mining of competitor patent portfolio to assess strengths and weakness on IP landscape White Space Study Research on complete patent landscape in a defined area technology area, clustering of patents in technology areas and deriving insights. What has been protected (dense areas) and what is left further to explore (less dense or the white space) Freedom to operate Helps in mitigating risks by identifying the claims that can impact a product at launch. The study also helps in understanding the design around efforts Invalidation Search Helps in knocking off the claims of a patent, which is asserted against the company by others (such as Non Practicing Entities or competitors) Helps in mitigating risks by identifying the claims that can impact a product at launch. Summary: As stated earlier, a prior art search is conducted on a specific date to help identify current technology status at that date, effective patents at that date, and publications available on or before at that date. I trust that this simple overview is of interest and of value. Donal O’Connell is the Managing Director of Chawton Innovation Services, a firm which offers consultancy in the areas of innovation and intellectual property management, and also licenses a number of IP software solutions to clients. Previously he enjoyed a 21-year career at Nokia, where he had such roles as VP of R&D and a Director of IP. He’s an Adjunct Professor at Imperial College Business School in London, teaching about IP management. He is also the author of two books, “Inside the Patent Factory” and “Harvesting External Innovation”, along with hundreds of papers which have been published in magazines, websites, and blogs around the world.