Posts Tagged: "patent search"

Patent Search 101: Why US Patent Searches are Critically Important

Patents are expensive to obtain. The last thing you want to do is spend a lot of money if there are easy to find references a US patent search could locate… If you hire a professional patent search firm you may want to also consider adding an international patent search. Some search firms may already include an international patent search in the price, or at least a search of certain foreign databases. While US patent searches are essential, international patent searches are preferable if you can afford the extra cost.

Patent Searches: A Great Opportunity for Inventors to Focus on What is Unique

Patent searches are excellent learning tools because they give you an opportunity to discover which aspects of your invention are most likely to contribute to patentability, thereby allowing the description in any filed patent application to focus on those aspects most likely to contribute to patentability. Without a patent search you would just be describing all the various aspects of your invention as if they are equally important, which we know won’t be the case… Not only do patent searches allow for focus to be placed on what is different and most likely patentable, but if knock-out prior art is found then the expensive a patent application has been saved.

Invention to Patent 101 – Everything You Need to Know to Get Started

This page and website contain contain detailed information to help inventors on the road from invention to patent… Below are a sampling of inventor help links to specific patent and invention related information throughout our website. As you read these articles you will invariably come across links to other articles of interest, which you can and really should read. While I believe inventors should take the time to read all of the pages throughout IPWatchdog.com, I have gone through the IPWatchdog.com archives and created several “reading assignments,” which will hopefully make the task of figuring out where to start more manageable, and which will help get you started. I recommend you do them in this order (i.e., starting with Reading Assignment 1), but if you find something that you just need to know then by all means jump ahead. You can also visit our Inventor Education Archive as well.

From filing to challenge, modern patent practice is all about prior art

The patent process can be expensive, so the last thing you want to do is spend a lot of money preparing and filing an application when there is easy to find knock-out prior art that will prevent a patent, or at the very least make any patent that is obtained extremely narrow. For this reason many choose to begin the patent process with a patent search, but many others will forego a patent search and simply file a patent application. The problem, however, is that everything winds up being described as equally important when experience teaches that will not be the case. Proceeding without a search is particularly problematic today given the likelihood that any valuable patent will be challenged in a post grant proceeding at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Getting rights you have confidence in has to be the name of the game.

The Patent Process on a Tight but Realistic Budget

The patent process can be overwhelming and quite costly for an inventor who wishes to secure patent protection on their invention. But there are certain steps of the process that should not be neglected because of financial constraints, otherwise your efforts could actually be counterproductive and work against you in the end… In other words, even if you qualify as a micro entity, which entitles you to pay 25% of the regular USPTO fees, the fees due just to the federal government will more than eat up a $600 budget and that is if you represent yourself, which can be quite risky.