IPEngine provides customized prior art solutions with in-depth analyses of the technical information that existed prior to the development of a product, technology, or invention. Our deliverables include an assessment of relevant results (for both patent and non-patent literature) sorted by degree of relevancy, including excerpts where necessary to support the relevancy. IPEngine offers different types of prior art searches depending on the objective and scope of the study and client’s needs.

Patentability Assessment
The search is conducted to evaluate the patentability of an invention based on the statutory requirements from a patent office. These statutory requirements for utility patents include: novelty, non-obviousness, and usefulness. The search identifies prior art that can potentially render an invention unpatentable, thus saving expensive patenting costs. The study consists of searching patent and non-patent databases and literature including scientific publications and business materials. In addition to evaluating patentability, the assessment helps in defining and drafting patent for an invention.

AESD
IPEngine offers pre-examination searches in compliance with the USPTO accelerated examination program. As part of the program, an applicant will be required to provide additional information with their petition and follow the new outlined procedures during the prosecution process. Going through this process enables an applicant to receive the examiner’s final decision within 12 months from the filing date of patent application.

The new process involves performing pre-examination searches and providing the USPTO with an AESD along with the application and the petition. Our comprehensive AESD search solution includes the following as identified by the USPTO program.

• A classified search study of the US patents and published patent applications in the class(es) and subclass(es) with claimed inventions are categorized per the United States Patent Classification system (USPC).
• An extensive patent search for US and foreign jurisdictions, non-patent literature searches, and including searches for chemical structures.
• An Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) in compliance with USPTO rules. The IDS will include an analysis of limitations in the claims of the patent application which are disclosed in the cited references.
• A detail analysis of patentability of each claim over the cited references, and also specifying their limitation.

FTO/Clearance
The search evaluates the degrees of freedom to use or operate a technology or product in a given region with respect to existing patents. This study determines the possibility of an infringement by a product /invention upon any in-force patent claims.

Infringement
The search analyzes infringement litigation claims by determining the nature of overlap of a technology or product with a claim or a set of claims of existing patent(s) to the extent that it can be considered and proven as infringing the patent(s).

Invalidity
The study is conducted to determine whether an existing patent or claim(s) or set of claims of an existing patent can be cancelled and invalidated by other patent prior art and/or by non-patent prior art that existed before the date of priority of the existing patent.

Claims Mapping
The study maps key features of a new product or technology to the claims of a related patent to determine the nature and extent of overlap between them. The study is instrumental in analyzing potential infringement on any competitor’s patent(s).

State-of-the-Art
This search is conducted to identify the current research and patents being filed within a technology domain. A state-of-the-art search provides an update on the latest R&D and patenting activities in the given technology domain.

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