I love delivering this news though. 1. In the below screenshot, for example, I search for everything that starts with tele but doesn’t end with a phone on all the fields. This is the most effective way to improve the quality of your … For example, nowadays, a smartphone is entertaining devices as well. It’s best to set expectations properly at the onset, so you’re not disappointed or confused when you are complete. What was already existing prior to this patent and what were their shortcomings? The patent database of Espacenet gets updated every day and offers special features like Global Dossier and Common Citation Document  (CCD) tool. Before we begin with learning patent lookup on various PTO databases and even on commercial databases, there are a few things that you must know. At Bold Patents we use an Invention Disclosure Document (IDD) form which goes through many questions about the invention itself, and gets the inventor thinking about alternative embodiments, or versions that may not now be implementable due to cost, but are certainly achievable, if money were no barrier. NOTE: Truncation does not work within quoted phrases. A quick note on Subject Matter Eligibility, as it is the threshold criteria, I have a great article on point for you to read up on to assure patent law will work for you. Untick the Stem box if you don’t want to search for variants of a term and rather want to search for an exact phrase/keyword/sentence. If you think you have a bad cite, is there any other info you can go on? To give you an example, I wanted to search all the patents by Steve Jobs. The objective of this guide was to get you started and not confuse you with a lot of advanced strategies. I wanted to show you the Advanced Google Patent Search as well. For example, US patent 123456 might need to be entered as 0123456 to make seven digits. To have success (and move the arrow upward to green), you should consider filing other patents such as design patents, or further developing your portfolio with continuation patents/divisional patents to shore up your legal rights/protection over your technology. In terms of the overall process, the entire patent search must be followed by analysis and if being done by a Patent Professional, then it should conclude with a legal opinion. To do this, we actually go to these websites and perform distinct searches for each key feature and functionality. Of course, this chart must be accompanied with solid analysis on the major areas of patentability (eligibility, novelty, and nonobviousness) as well as marketability (industry/size, competition, and barriers to entry) – all of which will be SO much more insightful than this rainbow chart. I know, right? After Advanced Search, the next feature you can explore is Field Combination. Visit the Patent and Trademark Resource Center Program 2. 1. Patents are expensive. Invention Disclosure. The way you use them dictates the direction of your patent search, hence having an understanding of them is important. Here is an exhaustive list of classes numbered 0-1000 at this link: https://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/selectnumwithtitle.htm. Example 3: I prepared the below string when I wanted to find all the granted patents by Google in which the keyword “wearable” appears at least anytime anywhere in a patent document: (AN/Google or AANM/Google) and (“wearable”). Importance of Prior Art searches Other than that, if you already know a patent number, you can use the Advanced Search and run a key string like below to open a granted patent. See the Country code table for a list of country codes. Google patent search allows users to keep their search restricted to only major fields like Title, Abstract, and Claims. Do you think they might have thought that their invention will be widely used to pack fragile items? Basically, the Expansion mode and Precision/Recall Scale are the options that could confuse you. 3. I say that because it’s true that every invention is a success in terms of technical improvement, as the inventor has in essence made us all smarter through their unique contribution (woot! This is the simple yet trickiest search strategy to find an existing prior art. An assignee is a person or a corporation a patent has been assigned to. A good Patent Attorney will tease out the entire invention (and then some) by asking questions, seeking more information about certain aspects, functionality, or applications. C’mon, you can do it!!! These field codes along with Boolean Operators will help you refine your search. 3. This step is the one that can take quite long for someone not familiar with the USPTO search tools or navigating in the classification systems. For example, I wanted to find all the patents filed by Sebastian Thrun where within the abstract autonomous or driverless appears. You can open and use the other three kinds of searches by clicking on Search Menu. Read a few patents, start creating a library of keywords, of phrases, and of general concepts that are related. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) “Patent Scope”. Advanced Google Patent Search. Tips for your patent application - What you have to submit with your patent application - What you need to know about the drawings - Example 1 - Example 2 - What you need the abstract for - Drawing for the abstract - What you need to know about the mention of the inventor - Mention of inventor/signature - How to phrase patent claims - Patent claims portalId: "1791848", How To Perform A Free Comprehensive Trademark Search? Much like patentability from above – no matter how much market research you compile, or read through, you’ll still be left with a seemingly endless pile…unless you hire a professional to give you their opinion on what that pile means for your potential success in that niche you’ve carved. To conduct a design patent search on WIPO, head over to this link: Click Here, and you will be presented with the below screen. They deserve to know it. (https://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/uspc083/defs083.htm). ‘SAME’ – The same operator is another proximity operator which searches within the next 200 words, in any order. On any free or paid patent database, you can conduct a patent search on the basis of: There are many other criteria, but for now, let’s stick to the basic ones. 7 . Citations are references cited by an applicant or a patent examiner during the prosecution stage of a patent. By the end of this exercise, you will have a repository of keywords to search. Similarly, the same variations could be found when you do an assignee based search. If state-of-the-art technology were implemented into the invention, could it solve new problems? Here is a list of field identifiers that you can use in Espacenet smart search: Smart Search Filed Identifier. Click the Search Patents button. There is an entire world of non-patent documents that must be considered as part of the broader “prior art” when you perform your comprehensive search. If there are only two variations of an inventor or an assignee, a quick search can come in handy. It’s an advanced version of USPTO’s quick search. A patent search is what it sounds like, a search for patent documents that might have import on your invention…but it stops there. The Precision/Recall scale helps you strike balance between most relevant and somewhat relevant results. Even if you are going to do a patent search for the first time and have only accumulated knowledge of patent searching from this guide, you will easily use Espacenet’s Advanced Search feature. The two New Jersey engineers invented bubble wrap in 1957 and protected it with a patent in 1959. Here your focus will be on how a feature functions. There are fair chances of some patent documents not using keywords like ‘smartphone’ anywhere. Related Application Areas – Where else a feature of a smartphone can be used other than the basic functionalities. While conducting a class-based search, you should find the relevant IPC/CPC class as every patent office is now classifying the patents as per the IPC/CPC. ‘PatFt: Patents’, is the section where you can search for the granted US patents since 1976. Get detailed information by checking the Glossary in the Reference Center. Search Tips: Hover your mouse over a field to get a brief description. Replace Bitcoin with the name of your technology. Being a powerful tool used by professional patent searchers, it can take a while to get used to, but it is usually worth the effort. Thus, if you are conducting a free search (on a national patent office website) and are ignoring Espacenet, you, no doubt, are making a mistake. Also, from the top right corner of the interface (boxed in red), you can change the language and country where you want to focus your search on. 1. Select supervised – you will be given an option to choose the domain – if you want to generate a query from a technical domain highly relevant to your query/keyword. Below is the screenshot of the results that I got: You can use the name field to search for an inventor, assignee, applicant, etc. Some examples of non-patent literature are: **NOTE** For simplicity’s sake, I use the term “patent search” throughout this article just because it’s the common phrase for it, and I’m trying to educate every inventor here – so I’m casting a wide net. The brutal truth: You can have the most patentable invention in the world, but it may be the worst idea commercially ever, and therefore, the inventor will not see success in the end. Once the invention has been sufficiently disclosed, it can be boiled down to a small set of key features. The goal of the patent search is to inform you, the inventor, about patentability. We recommend you consult a lawyer if you want legal advice for your particular situation. Thanks. Database search tips FREE PATENTS DATABASES - WITH SOME LEGAL & STATUS SITES . The goal is to guide the search, without directing it. If you understand the advanced search feature of WIPO, this will be a cakewalk. There is no doubt that inventions change over the course of representation with many clients, especially after an application is submitted, and customers finally are able to give their feedback on a device/system. 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