Sources of IP Information:- Patent Literature Scientific Publications Marketing Materials Paid Databases Journal and World wide web

1. PATENT SEARCH
Ashok Ram Kumar
ram@ipmarkets.in
98496 74599

2.  Sources of IP Information:-
 Patent Literature
 Scientific Publications
 Marketing Materials
 Paid Databases
 Journal and
 World wide web
Sources

3.  Patent Information Resource
 Published Patent Applications
 Published Patent Search/ Examination
Reports
 Granted Patents
 Published Decisions (Courts and Appeals
Boards)
 Govt. Gazettes
Patent Information
Resources

4.  Why should we rely on patent
information
 They will be Up-to-date
 Uniformly structured
 Unique
 Well organized
 Concentrated
 Quickly and easily accessible
Why Rely

5.  Reasons for exploiting patent information
 Patent is territorial but disclosure is global
 To Know if patent is expired or pending
 Limits on the claims of subject matter
 Academic interests – i.e., learning from
patents

6. Why search?
 Helps determine if you want to file an
application
 To see if any Prior Art related to your
invention exists
 Helps to determine the appropriate
claim scope when drafting claims

7. Why search?
 To find out if the invention is
patentable?
 Does the invention infringe on any
patent? and
 Is the invention in the public domain
(Which every one has knowledge
about)?

8. When Patent search
to be conducted
 Conception and before R&D Stage
 At R&D Stage
 Prior Art Search for filing Patent
Application
 Invalidity Search for invalidating the
patents granted

9. When Patent search
to be conducted
 Freedom to Operate Search for avoiding potential
infringement situations while releasing the products in the
market.
 Technology Landscape Search for
 Discovering research ideas and solving problems
 Predicting hot-areas of research that can impact on current
products and those that are in the development stage
 Competitor Search for
 Monitoring the activities of players in the field to reveal future
plans
 Uncovering new market players
 Identifying patents owned and licensed by firms
 Litigation Search Patent Search at Litigation Stage to
uncover the possible infringement or to escape from the
possible liability.

10. Advantages of
search
 The inventors will be abreast with the
field of invention;
 Will helps interaction with patent
agents and others facilitating patent
easier.
 Reduces the time of filing and
subsequent maturity of patents; and
 Help not to enter others territory and
prevents infringements.

11. Where to conduct
Patent Search?
 Anywhere! and Everywhere!
 Look at places where you likely to find
relevant information.
 It need to targeted and focused
search.

12. Where to conduct
Patent Search?
 Technical journals, Patent Databases maintained
by patent offices around the world and private
companies.
 Indian Patents and Indian Published Applications
for patents
 Foreign Patent Documents
(e.g., USPTO, EPO and JPO)
 Non-Patent Literature (any published documents
publicly available other than Patents or Published
Patent Applications)
 Internet Searches (Google, Yahoo, etc.)
 Trade Publications and Databases (e.g., ACM, IEEE,
CHEMnetBASE, MechanicalEngineeringnetBASE)

13. Online and Offline
Search sources
 World Wide Web Search Engines
 USPTO (www.uspto.gov)
 EPO (http://ep.espacenet.com)
 JPO (http://www.jpo.go.jp)
 Google patents (http://www.google/patents)
 Commercially Available Patent Databases
 Private Patent Search Firms – like IP
Markets

14. Steps to
search
 Outline the invention;
 Think about most relevant information;
 Think its functionality:
 How does it work?
 Write the claims for your invention;
 That is to say what do you feel is your contribution to the
technology.
 Find all the relevant patent classifications related to
each claim;
 Search for patents anticipating your invention as a
whole; and
 Search for patents that combined would anticipate
your invention.

15. Keyword
Search
 List out all keywords for the invention;
 Also the synonyms for each keyword;
 However searching by keyword alone has
pit falls since different words can be used to
describe the same thing and
 The same word can be used to describe
different things.

16. Classification
Search
 The arrangement of patent literature in groups
according to its technical features is patent
classification.
 Almost every country has its own classification and
there is an agreement on International Patent
Classification too.
 Classification of the invention can be derived as
follows:
 1) by reading the manual of patent classification list and
conclude on relevant classes;
 2) based on the search results of keyword search you
may conclude on relevant classes.
 Classification Search brings the related “prior art” to
be grouped together and helps in TARGET a
search.

17. Combination Search
(Keyword & Classification)
 A combination of classification and keyword
search would result in accuracy of the
results.
 A classification search provides all patents
in that class and thereafter keyword search
in the results of the classification search
would provide patents close to the invention.
 Apart form patent literature the search
required to perform in technical journals and
general web literature for better results.

18. Good Text
Searching Tips
 Combination of the Following fields
Good Results:
 Use Synonyms
 Use Truncation
 Use Selected Fields/Indexes
 Use Manual of Classification
Class/Subclasses

19.  Searching by simple keywords can lead to
misinterpretations. Beware of :-
 Ambiguity
 Semantics
 Obfuscations
 Always search by classification for precision of a
search
 Search to be done in multiple databases and never
rely on one single database
 Recheck status information before finalizing the
search results.
Cautions and
caveats

20. Q&A
Ashok Ram Kumar
ram@ipmarkets.in
IP Markets
 No.6-2-47, Flat No.1D, 1st Floor, Yeturu
Towers,A.C.Guards, Hyderabad-500004
 +91-40-23305525 / +91-9700029123 / +91-
9849674599