State of the Art Search
A State of the art search uncovers patents that relate generally to your invention.
Specific issues of patentability and product clearance (freedom-to-operate) are
not considered. This type of search is often used by inventors and small companies
to obtain a picture of the patent landscape that would show among other things,
how crowded a given technology area may be. See below Disclaimer.
Patentability Search
A patentability search uncovers patents that might prevent you from obtaining
a patent for your invention. The question of product clearance (freedom-to-operate)
is not considered. This type of search is often conducted before incurring the expenses
of preparing and filing a complete utility patent application. The domain of prior
art includes much more than issued U.S. patents. Prior art generally includes any
printed publication that has been disclosed to the public anywhere in the world prior to the filing date of the patent application.
To conduct an exhaustive patent search of the records at the USPTO would far exceed
the cost of procuring a utility patent application. To conduct an exhaustive patent
search of the records at every patent office in the world and other public sources
would bankrupt most inventors and small companies. A search of the relevant classes
and subclasses at the USPTO is a reasonable step prior to incurring the costs of preparing and
filing an U.S. utility patent application. Further searching should be considered after
the preliminary Patent Search. See below Disclaimer.
Clearance Search
A clearance search uncovers patents that might be infringed by the manufacture
and/or sale of your new product. This type of search is often used to uncover any
potential infringement problems prior to spending significant financial resources,
such as design, testing, tooling, and/ or prototyping of a new product. The question of
patentability is not considered. It is often prudent to have a preliminary clearance search
conducted at the same time or shortly after the Patentability Search if the invention
appears patentable in view of the patents uncovered by the patent search. A final
clearance search is often conducted because of changes to the product during the
design and/or fabrication process. See below Disclaimer.
Invalidity Search
An Invalidity Search uncovers one or more patents that would invalidate the
claims of an issued patent. These types of searches are often used by a defendant
charged with patent infringement. A defendant facing a judgement of a million dollars
or more has a significant need to locate a patent that would invalidate the claims
of the patent. Invalidity searches can extend to the USPTO or any foreign patent
office or to any printed publication that was publically available prior to the
filing date of the patent. Invalidity searches can be very expensive but small compared
to the cost of not finding invalidating prior art. See below Disclaimer.
Disclaimer:
For many reasons, we cannot guarantee the results of any patent search. For example,
the records of the Patent Offices may not be complete and patents are often mis-classified.
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