InventionIP

Patent litigation can bankrupt a company. Litigation tends to cost millions of dollars in attorney fees, months or years of prep work, and enormous uncertainty. One of the tools that can provide companies with clarity before entering a courtroom is a patent invalidity search . The process reveals prior art that can make a current patent unenforceable. Whether you're fending off an infringement allegation or about to assert your own patent, an invalidity search can radically change the result of the case. We'll describe in this article why one is so important before litigation, how it is conducted, typical errors to steer clear of, and actual examples whereby it was decisive. What Is a Patent Invalidity Search? A patent invalidity search explores earlier art to see whether an issued patent must be invalidated. Prior art encompasses anything that is available to the public prior to the filing date of the patent—like prior patents, published applications, research reports, technic...

As soon as an inventor has a new idea, the question at the forefront of everyone's mind is whether it can be patented.  A patentability search exists to provide an answer to that question by screening whether an invention is novel and non-obvious relative to what currently exists.  The process entails searching prior patents, applications, and technical publications to decide if filing a patent application is the worth pursuing. A good patentability search will save inventors time, money, and effort.  It can also make a patent application stronger by identifying what exactly is novel about an invention.  In this article, we will discuss the process of conducting a patentability search, include examples, mention typical pitfalls, and cover frequently asked questions. What Is a Patentability Search? A patentability search is an organized probe into published patents, pending patents, and non-patent literature to find out whether an invention is novel.  Patent of...