Our Top 10 Patent Searching Tips & Tricks
Before you ideas-types come to The Patent Factory for a
professional patent search, we always suggest that you
have a good look yourself to see whether your next big
idea has been done before. We know what you ideas
people are like – another day, another idea! If you spend a
bit of time on each new brainwave, digging out any prior
art, it might help you to focus on those ideas with the
most potential.
And if you find something similar, or even the same, don’t
be disheartened! It is certainly not the end of the road.
Perhaps you can offer modifications or improvements over
those that you have found. You certainly don’t want to risk
infringing another’s rights – but we can help you to check
out the situation in more depth should you still wish to crack on with development.
So here goes, the tricks of the trade to help you to get going with patent searching. We have over
10 years of experience digging around the various patent search engines, and want you to have the
best bits in a nutshell, so you can become a patent searching master!
1. Go global!
We get lots of enquiries where people just want a UK patent search. But to achieve patent
protection one of the requirements from the UK Patents Act is that your idea is not in the public
domain anywhere in the world prior to filing. So there’s not much point just trying to sniff it out in
the UK, you need take into account the rest of the world too. Patent search engines such as
Esp@cenet allow you to do just that.
2. Think like a Roman...
OK, so you don’t need to be fluent in Latin, amo amas amat and all that. Just be clever with the
language that you use in a keyword search. If you’ve an idea for the next best buggy, think how
Julius Caesar might have chosen to describe it. You might now be venturing closer to the sort of
language Patent Attorneys use! A buggy is also a pushchair, pram, four-wheeled vehicle for an
infant, or there’s even a clue in the Oxford English Dictionary that defines it as a ‘baby carriage’.
Don’t just type in buggy and leap for joy when there are no results – you’ve got to try all the other
possible keywords too.
www.patentfactory.co.uk
Call us on (0208) 408 0659
[email protected]
©The Patent Factory 2011
3. Rule Britannia?
Bear in mind that people in other countries don’t call stuff the same things we do. Those across the
pond in the States would probably think a buggy was a cute name for a four legged creature.
Whereas they’d know exactly what you were after if you asked for a stroller! Other words include
perambulator, pram and pushchair. If in doubt, use a thesaurus to dig them out.
4. Bambino Motors...
So that’s the brand name you’ve dreamt up for your new range of luxury baby transportation – but
tapping that into the patent search engines isn’t going to do you much good! For the brand name
itself, you’ll need to do a trade mark search. We’ll do a blog post soon to tell you how to tackle
one of those. In the meantime, back to thinking like Julius – stick to words you’d find in the
dictionary.
5. Pretty as a Picture...
Your revised keyword strategy is working, and you’re managing to dig out lots of patents that may or
may not relate to your idea. We find the fastest way to get a good idea of what they disclose is to
take a quick squiz at the pictures. The mosaics, as they are known on Esp@cenet, will show you the
drawings that accompany the patent application. If it looks a bit similar to the scribbles in your
sketchbook, you know it’s worth taking time to read the rest of the details.
6. Boolean Operators...
Just when you thought you’d left them well and truly behind in those dreaded algebra lessons at
school, we’re making you jog your memory and put them to good use! Well just three of them...
‘AND’, ‘OR’, ‘NOT’. For an example entering ‘pushchair OR stroller OR perambulator’ in the keyword
in abstract field, will find those patents that match at least one of those words. AND is great to
narrow down your search. Whereas NOT allows you to exclude words from your search.
7. Google it!
Don’t forget to Google it too. As we said before, if your idea has been published anywhere in the
world, in any form, that forms prior art against you gaining patent protection. We don’t advise that
you think like Julius when searching on Google. You need to use the sort of language you would
use to advertise your idea. Or keywords that describe the problem you are seeking to solve. This
should help you to find out how other people are solving that very problem.
www.patentfactory.co.uk
Call us on (0208) 408 0659
[email protected]
©The Patent Factory 2011
8. Spell Check...
If in doubt, use a star*. For words that are spelt differently in other countries, just type the bit that
is the same and use the asterisk symbol to fill in the gaps. For an example, the word ‘colour’ is spelt
‘color’ in the US, so just type colo*. Or finish a singular word with an asterisk to be sure to search all
plural versions too.
9. Dig Deep...
Patent search engines such as Search4ip allow you to search the full text of the patent, not just the
abstract. Be sure that the description box is checked in the text files, then type in your keywords
and see what crops up. By searching the description as well as the abstract, you’ll find you end up
with far more results. But luckily this search engine lets you use more keywords.
10. If at first you don’t succeed...
Leave it to the professionals! We realise that is not quite how the saying goes, but if you’re not
finding much through your own searches, we’d suggest you call in the experts. It’s so rare not to
find any prior art at all. And even if you have found some stuff, you need some all important advice
on what to do next.
So by now you’ve probably had a good look for yourself to see whether there’s anything in the prior
art that might prevent you from achieving worthwhile patent protection for your latest venture.
Hopefully we’ve helped you to filter your own ideas, and pick out those that look as though they
have the most potential.
You’ve made a great start, but don’t stop there! Every new idea has its own journey, and you
don’t want someone to reach your destination before you do. Patent searching is what we do and
we’re here to help you take those all important first steps with your next big idea.
www.patentfactory.co.uk
Call us on (0208) 408 0659
[email protected]
©The Patent Factory 2011