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Patents: Searching Patents

Why Do a Patent Search?

There are various reasons why people search for patents.

1. To check for patentability and avoid Infringement:

The most common reason to conduct a comprehensive prior art patent search is to ensure that no other similar invention already exists, since patents are granted to inventions that are novel and non-obvious. Inventors want to make sure that their inventions have not already been made public.

 

2.  To search for unique technical information:

  • About 70-90% of technical information can only be found in patents
  • Find out how others have solved a particular design problem
  • Explore new state-of-the-art technology
  • Avoid duplication of research efforts

3.  For market research

  • Track the intellectual property of competitors
  • Find out what competitors are developing
  • Identify possible licensing opportunities
  • Find out who the leading inventors in a field are
 

 

Source: Patent Searching for SEAS Students https://guides.library.harvard.edu/patents/why. 2019

Database Supplier Tutorials and Guides

Strategies for Searching

By Number: Great way to search if you already have a patent number or patent application number.

By Keyword: Good for doing exploratory searching. This is not as comprehensive or as strategic as doing a classification search. Great for searching Google Patents.

By Classification: A more strategic approach to searching; recommended by patent examiners. The major patent databases like Espacenet and the USPTO offer guidance on this approach. 

Guides on Patent Searching

Patent Classification