Searches patent and technical publications to evaluate the state of the art, validate the novelty of your invention and tailor the scope of your patent protection.
- Establishing the state of an art may inform research and development in that art.
- A patentability search which uncovers relevant references suggests filing a formal application may not be worthwhile. In such a case, it may be possible to, from the disclosures of the references, identify one or more work-arounds designed to avoid any protection afforded by the references and/or yield competing protection. A patentability search that does not uncover relevant references suggests filing a formal application may be worthwhile.
- Ideally, the scope of protection afforded by a patent should be as broad as the USPTO will allow. The results of a patent search guide claims preparation for a scope narrow enough that a patent application will be allowed as a patent but broad enough that others can be prevented from competing in the market for the invention.
