Patent searches
Patent searching and searching of other technical literature is an important step in obtaining strategic patent protection and minimising risks to your business.
Patents are a vast resource of technical information and can be searched for many different reasons, depending upon the knowledge you are seeking.
Patent novelty searches (aka pre-filing searches) are conducted to ascertain whether an invention is new and patentable.
Patent clearance searches (aka patent infringement searches) are conducted to assess whether a new product or process infringes earlier patents (i.e. to assess freedom to operate).
‘State of the art’ searches are conducted to gain an impression of the ‘patent landscape’ in a particular field of technology – for example, before deciding to develop a new product in that field of technology, it is useful to know if the field is heavily patented.
Other patent searches are conducted for strategic reasons. Millions of patents are stored in searchable international patent databases. A skilled patent searcher can mine these databases for valuable commercial intelligence – for example, a strong indication of a competitor’s R&D activities can be obtained by watching their patent filing activities.
BRM Patent Attorneys can advise you which patent searches will achieve your business objectives. Our searching expertise puts clients in a position of knowledge, allowing them to make informed decisions.
Strategic patent searches may be used to:
- assess if an invention is likely to be patentable
- identify if a product or process could infringe someone else’s patent
- map out the competitive landscape – investors are generally very interested in this type of analysis
- identify holes or opportunities in the patent landscape that may be capitalised on
- locate potential licensees for a patented technology
- identify the main players in terms of IP protection in a particular field of technology
- identify the latest technical developments in a specialist area
- highlight industry trends
- identify the key inventors in a particular field of technology
- identify competitor initiatives
- assess the value of a patent portfolio
- identify whether extensive patenting has taken place in a particular field of technology and so enable
you to assess the barriers to entry - identify potential infringers.
We can tailor a patent search to your commercial objectives.