The Patent Search


Patents are contracts between individuals or corprate entities and the government to restrict others from making or using an inventors or corporations idea for a specific length of time. In exchange for this protection, the government requires the filer of the patent to fully disclose the invention. Once the alloted protection period is over, the invention becomes public domain. Anyone may freely make or use this invention without restriction by the government.

The purpose of a patent search is to locate patented inventions similar to the one disclosed by the inventor. This serves two purposes. First it identifies competing ideas and alternate methods of structuring the disclosed invention. An inventor, using this information, may strengthen the inventions design and create a more effective artifact. Secondly, it provides patent attournies with enough information to apply for a patent to protect the inventor's design. A patent must not try to claim design features that have been claimed by other patents. A thurough search of the prior art will strengthen the invention and the resulting patent

As a patent researcher (or just "searcher"), your job is to locate the closest prior art to the invention disclosed by the inventor. With over six million patents cross-referenced multiple times, it is not a simple task. The following is the recomended method of researching an invention. It is used by successful private patent research firms to provide their clients with the most accurate prior art possible.

The information in this section is applicable for projects other than those of TCC315. The search method is given in its entirity. To facilitate this process, the initial steps of this process have been given as assignments. These assignments will be noted in the body of this text.

Steps to an accurate Patent Search

  1. Define the Invention

    In order to locate the invention, the patent researcher must have an understanding of the workings of the invention. This information is usually provided by the inventor in the form of an abstract assignment

  2. Conduct a Computerized Search

    Using the abstract, the patent researcher must try to define the area in which the relevent patents may be found.
Notes: 1)reclassification 2)missing patents

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