Prior Art Search
IPEngine’s Prior Art solutions provide in-depth
analyses regarding technical information that existed
prior to the development of a product, technology, or
invention. IPEngine customizes different types of
prior art searches depending on the study’s objective
and scope.
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.
FTO
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.
Invalidation
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.
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).
Accelerated Examination Search
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.
