State-of-the-Art Searches

• State-of-the-Art searches provide a general overview of a technology area and a summary of the knowledge already in existence about past inventions before investing a great deal of time and money on what ultimately turns out to be “reinventing the wheel” which has already been patented by others.
• These searches encompass major patent databases over a 5-10 year period and can focus on particular applicants/inventors, countries or combinations thereof.
• They include the searching for references showing functionally equivalent means of accomplishing a similar end in a particular line or field of development.
• They usually yield prior art that is typically unexpired.
• Summary of references is provided.

  Collection Searches

• Collection searches show the history and evolution of a specific technology and involve the collecting of all patents relating to a particular product or field of development.
• Scope of these searches is very broad and not restricted to the state of the art: it typically includes both expired and unexpired patent references.
• They are used to establish new areas of R & D or to develop a specialist library.
• Detailed analysis of references is provided upon request.

Novelty/Patentability Searches

• Novelty and patentability searches are intended to provide a general overview of the art for a particular an idea or development for the purpose of establishing whether it is capable of being patented.
• Our novelty searches meet the requirements of 37 C.F.R. 1.56 ( "A complete patentability search must consider all prior art, including earlier patents, foreign patents and non-patent literature" -MPEP).
• These searches include reviewing the U.S. patents, trademarks, foreign prior art and literature (including materials from seminars, conferences or grant applications) relevant to the searched subject matter.
• Our novelty/patentability searches are adequate for providing patentability opinions and submitting invention disclosure statements when filing patent applications.
• Complete reports with detailed analysis prepared by experienced patent practitioner is provided.

Validity Searches

• Validity searches are used to establish the legality of an issued patent for an infringement defense, to attack the validity of a claimed invention on the grounds of novelty or obviousness, or to thoroughly evaluate a patent before assignment or license.
• These searches encompass all major patent databases and all relevant non-patent publications (including materials from seminars, conferences or grant applications and the references contained in the bibliographies of all relevant publications) published before the filing date of the subject patent.
• The claims of the subject patent are compared to prior art references published before the filing date and/or the priority date of the subject patent.
• We provide Validity Graphs and Claim Comparison Charts of pertinent claims and references that correspond to these claims.

Infringement Searches

• Infringement searches are used to determine if any unexpired patents would bar the manufacture, use, or sale of a specific product, process or service.
• These searches involve unexpired patents either containing claims which read or might read on the combination, device or process being searched, or having restrictive claims that would present a bar to manufacture, use, or sale or be of importance to the due diligence issue.

Combination Novelty/infringement Searches

• Novelty and infringement searches are a combination of an infringement search and a patentability/novelty search.
• These searches cover all unexpired art from both a novelty and infringement standpoint and expired art both from the novelty standpoint and from the point of view of its potential effect on the scope of the claims of unexpired patents.

Right-to-Use-Search

• Right-to-Use searches include an infringement search in addition to expired patents that may provide a “safe harbor” for a specific product, process, or service.
•  Right-to-Use searches address both infringement and patentability concerns. Includes an optional Dialog literature search (database costs not included).

Assignee and/or Name Searches

• Assignee and/or name searches look for all unexpired art from both a novelty and infringement standpoint and expired art both from the novelty standpoint and from the point of view of its potential effect on the scope of the claims of unexpired patents published in either a particular name or a particular assignee.
• We are searching on standard/original names and variations thereof caused mainly by translation or transliteration.