What is Patent-ability Search? How Patentability Search (Novelty Search) helps to determine patent-ability of your invention?
We at Patracode perform Patentability Searches to help determine whether your inventions are eligible for a patent, and we also provide a detailed overview of any required modifications to make your invention eligible for a Patent.
It is always recommended to go for a Patentability Search as it helps in saving financials as well as effort. We at Patracode have a highly skilled Patent Analysis Team who perform well researched searches using both paid and free patent databases. Our IP Analysts have more than 10,000 hours of experience in patent searches pertaining to different technology domains which include mechanical, chemical, electrical,electronics, telecommunication, civil, metallurgy, computer science, IT, Software, Aeronautical, etc.
What is Patentability Search (aka Novelty Search)?
A Novelty Search or Patentability Search is conducted in the early stages of Research & Development. This search is conducted when an inventor is interested in applying for a patent, and wants to determine whether a similar or identical invention already exists. The main aspects that are targeted in a patent search is to provide opinions on Novelty/Uniqueness, Inventive Step and Industrial Applicability of the invention.
Novelty searches have no date constraints on prior art, in other words any form of relevant reference which is found, even if it dates back to 50 to 100 years ago, is still subject of an anticipatory document and shall be novelty hitting. The anticipatory documents and prior art references includes both patent literature and non-patent literature.
Non-patent literature includes wide variety of documents like newspaper, scientific journals, thesis, comic strips, documented traditional practices and know-hows, and many such publicly available and documented subject matters. A enhanced for of Novelty search which further moves to establish patentability of claims is referred to Patentability search, and focuses not only on anticipation rather on obviousness criteria too of patent claims. Sometimes, Novelty searches and Patentability searches are referred to as Prior-Art search.
Steps involved in Patentability Searches:
A detailed Novelty Search executed by us involves the assessment of understanding each and every element of the invention and co-relating each of these elements to the prior art that is identified. In a novelty search we provide a detailed report based on the different forms of disclosure of the matching elements with respect to the invention in question.
In international search reports, some prior art documents are categorized as “X” documents. These documents are of highest relevance to the invention in question, and as mentioned above, such documents match each of the elements of the invention. For novelty searches conducted by us, we use similar categorization to bring out “X” documents which may directly affect the novelty aspect of the invention
Strategies we adopt in Patentability Searches:
For a Patentability search we incorporate different set of strategies which also involves the process of combing a set of prior arts to match the elements or aspects of the present invention.
Each prior art reference may contain the mention of one or two elements of the invention, and by combining these references we give a detailed understanding of how a set of prior art documents are related to the invention in question. With respect to international search report, another category that is relevant for this type of search is the “Y” Category where the prior art is partially related to the invention in question and combing these documents with other “Y” documents may show the absence or presence of novelty and inventive step.
In Patentability search reports we provide documents that match both X and Y Categories.
How we prepare Novelty Search Reports:
As per the international searching reports, the prior art documents or reference documents are categorized into ten different categories based on the type and level of relevancy to the invention in question.
In our search reports we provide mostly “X” and “Y” category documents and in specialized cases we also provide documents which fall under other categories. A Patentability/Novelty Search report will also help in drafting a patent specification in an efficient manner as we are aware of the available patent/Non-patent literature which mentions specific aspects that may be relevant to the invention in question.
It may also help to identify and define the inventive and novelty aspect of the invention of the new product or process over the prior art available in public domain. As understood by the above description, having the right sources to conduct these searches are an essential aspect. We conduct patent searches using both paid and non-paid sources, depending on the strategy and type of search being conducted.
Non-paid sources provide ample prior art documents from all sources but organizing the data in a manner that is understandable may be challenging. Therefore the use of paid sources are always beneficial as a single platform will give you access to a large amount of countrywide data, which also gives several searching, analyzing, organizing and viewing options. We are well versed in using paid databases to generate specialized and qualified search analysis and reports.
Let’s explain with an Example:
A famous example to understand the different aspects of patentability is the Bulb and Filament Example. In the example, an invention of electric bulb with a metal filament had received a patent, hereby referred as Patent A. In the forthcoming years ?B? applies for a grant of patent for use of a tungsten filament in electric lamp/bulb.
In such a situation a Patentability search would be conducted in a strategic way to concentrate on aspects of inventive step, as the other two aspects of novelty and industrial applicability is satisfied. Documents which prove for or against the presence of inventive step will be the main objective of the Patent Report. The process that we follow for our Patent search projects involves a searching team of 3 to 4 people discussing each case in detail, to strategic a plan of action for the search. The search is then conducted on both paid and unpaid sources to get the closest matching prior art document.
We then review and analyze the results to categorize the relevance and then provide a detailed report. This report is then assessed by our analysts to check for the quality and relevance and a viable conclusion is presented in the report
