Inventors | SearchQuest Patent Search

December 16, 2020June 28, 2021

The Comprehensive Independent Patent Search: Part 3

Inventing is a colossal CHALLENGE and can become a colossal mistake if done poorly. On the other hand, inventing successfully is an AMAZING journey. What will define the type of experience you have is how many of the commonly encountered, and costly mistakes, you can avoid while trying to get to the ultimate finish line of your product going to market. And that experience should begin with the Comprehensive Independent Patent Search.

What is the First Thing an Inventor Should Pay For?

The first thing an inventor should pay for is a comprehensive, independent patent search. That’s Wise Investment #1.

The comprehensive, independent patent search needs three critical components to qualift as such. All three are necessary so the inventor has the all the information needed to make the next set of business decisions to the best of their ability.

As mentioned in the previous parts of this topic, using a classification search for the USPTO database search rather than a keyword search, and including a WIPO database search, are both critical as well. But there is one remaining component left to discuss. Both previous parts to this topic can be found in our blog archive: https://www.www.searchquestpatents.com/blog-archive/

What is the Third Critical Component of the Comprehensive Independent Patent Search?

The third component of a good search is that a Product Search needs to be done. After all, if the product is found in the marketplace, a new patent will not be granted. Also, keep in mind that there is about a two-year blind spot at the USPTO. A provisional patent application is never made public and lasts one year. Then a non-provisional is filed, but it is not published for about 18 months. That blind spot at the USPTO is a legitimate blind spot, but a blind spot nevertheless. However, many inventors will post a product on social media, start selling online or even put up a website. The product search is the only way to mitigate the blind spot.

What is the best way to do a product search? You guessed it: GOOGLE! http://www.google.com

When it comes to inventing, having information sooner rather than later protects inventors (and their wallet) from making bad business decisions. It is better to know more about what has been filed and/or manufactured before all the money is spent on a patent filing.

Too many service providers want to make money on the inventor so they prefer to offer less information. The independent comprehensive patent search should be done by someone who is independent of any attorney or intellectual property office and their only obligation is doing the best search possible. This guarantees that the report they generate will be unbiased.

Enjoy the challenge and the journey.

December 15, 2020June 29, 2021

The Comprehensive Independent Patent Search: Part 2

What is the First Thing an Inventor Should Pay For?

The first thing an inventor should pay for is a comprehensive, independent patent search. That’s Wise Investment #1. And that search needs to contain three important components. All three components must be present so the inventor has the necessary information to make the next set of business decisions.

The previous post discussed how a quality search is not limited to a keyword search in the USPTO database. Rather, the search is focused on classification. If you missed our previous post, you can find it here in our blog archive: https://www.www.searchquestpatents.com/blog-archive/

What Is the Second Critical Component of the Comprehensive Independent Patent Search?

The second critical component of the search is that it needs to encompass a seach of the World International Patent Office (WIPO). Why is that so important? Because the entire world makes claims on behalf of its citizens to “new and novel” intellectual property. More importantly, each country has agreed to honor the patenting process of each other by not granting similar patents.

What this means for an inventor in the US is that the USPTO examiner will search the WIPO database just as thoroughly as our own database. Consequently, if your invention has been done anywhere in the world, at any time in history, you will NOT be granted a US patent.

For more information on WIPO, check out their website at: https://www.wipo.int/portal/en/

When It Come to Inventing, Knowledge is Power

When it comes to inventing, having information sooner rather than later is critical to success. It protects inventors (and their wallet) from making bad business decisions. It is better to know more about what has been filed and/or manufactured before all the money is spent on a patent filing.

Enjoy the challenge and the journey and stay tuned for the third component of the Comprehensive, Independent Patent Search!

December 12, 2020June 29, 2021

The Comprehensive Independent Patent Search: Part 1

What Is the First Thing an Inventor Should Pay For?

The first thing an inventor should pay for is a comprehensive, independent patent search. That’s Wise Investment #1. The comprehensive, independent patent search includes three important components. And all three must be present in order for the inventor to have the necessary information to make the next set of business decisions.

Do NOT Limit Your Search to a Keyword Search

The first component of a good search of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database is that it CANNOT be limited to a keyword search. In other words, it has to be done by classification. Too many companies just do a keyword search, which only covers part of the patents filed and issued over time.

The USPTO has been in existence for more than 200 years! That’s a lot of patents and a keyword search can’t begin to cover them all. More information about the USPTO can be found on their website at: https://www.uspto.gov/

Inventors need to understand that a patent examiner from the USPTO goes all the way back to the beginning of patent filings to search. Thus, a comprehensive search for the inventor needs to cover the entire history of patent filings.

Above all, when it comes to inventing, having information sooner rather than later is paramount. It protects inventors (and their wallet) from making bad business decisions. It is better to know more about what has been filed and/or manufactured before all the money is spent on a patent filing.

Too many service providers want to make money on the inventor so they prefer to offer less information. The independent comprehensive patent search should be done by someone who is independent of any attorney or intellectual property office. That means their only obligation is doing the best search possible. As a result, the inventor is guaranteed a report that is unbiased.

Enjoy the challenge and the journey and stay tuned for the second and third components of the Comprehensive Independent Patent Search!

For more information, please visit our Inventor Issues blog at: https://www.www.searchquestpatents.com/blog-archive/

November 6, 2020June 28, 2021

The Importance of Using an Idependent Third Party to complete your Comprehensive Patent Search

The Importance of Using an Independent Third Party

In my previous article, closely related to this same topic, I stated that one of the most important steps for an Inventor is to get a Comprehensive Patent Search done. This step needs to occur at the very start of your journey. And finally, it needs to be done by an Independent Third Party.

We previously took a deeper look at what a Comprehensive Patent Search could be defined as in the case of inventors. You can read more about that here: https://www.www.searchquestpatents.com/2020/11/05/common-patent-search-mistakes-inventors-make-and-a-two-part-how-to-on-how-to-avoid-them/

This second article is going to focus on what I mean by an Independent Third Party. More importantly, who you should avoid hiring to complete your Comprehensive Patent Search.

Why a Patent Attorney is the Wrong Choice

One of the worst mistakes an Inventor can make is to hire a patent attorney to perform the patent search. At first glance, it seems like a patent attorney would be the best choice because, hello, they write patents. But let me explain why this is a conflict of interest for them and why you as the inventor deserve a better option.

Comprehensive patent search. Video

If you were in the market to buy a new car, would you take the car salesman at his word that a used vehicle had never been in an accident? Would you blindly accept any report he offered you about the car’s history? Of course not. You would take the time to get a history on your own from an independent third party. After all, the car salesman is there to make a sale, not necessarily look out for your best interests.

The same idea applies to getting a patent search done. Patent attorneys have a vested interest in NOT finding anything that will prevent you from moving on to the next step. For them the next step is to write your patent. They make their money off of an hourly rate they get to charge whether your patent is ever issued or not.

Now we can all wish that any attorney in the business would have your best interests at heart. But realistically, most of us know that’s just not the case.

Comprehensive Patent Search — We search the WORLD

Criteria of an Independent Third Party

So what can you do to protect yourself and make sure a quality search is done? Find someone who will complete the search who meets two essential criteria. The first is that he/she can offer an unbiased opinion as they have no concern whether you can proceed with writing a patent or not. The second is to make sure he/she specializes in understanding the complexities of patents filed on an international scale.

Most Patent Attorneys Skip the International Search

That’s another thing about patent attorneys, most won’t even look at the international database that exists for worldwide patents. They will limit their search to what is already on the public domain and what has been issued through the USPTO database.

The Importance of a Flat Rate Charge when Choosing the Independent Third Party

Finally, one additional aspect you should look for in the Independent Third Party is to find one that charges a flat rate. Why is that important? Well anytime you deal with an hourly charge, you don’t get a lot of control over the final costs. You are pretty much at the mercy of whoever is doing the looking and how long they take. So if you are unlucky enough to find someone who isn’t very familiar with the databases, that hourly charge can get out of control pretty fast.

Professional patent researchers do exist. They have the skill and experience to charge a flat rate. Why? Because they have done enough searches to be familiar with the databases and the nuances of searching patents completed in different languages.

They don’t haggle over hourly rates because regardless of the complexity of the product, they are confident enough in their own abilities to know how long it will take them to perform the Comprehensive Patent Search.

SearchQuest Has It ALL

The answer you are looking for to obtain a Comprehensive Patent Search completed by an Independent Third Part is SearchQuest Patents.

Their motto is “We search the world”. That’s an important distinction that all Inventors need to be concerned with. So if you are an Inventor who is looking to get an idea from your mind to the marketplace, take the time to start the process off right. Do yourself a favor and trust the research professionals at SearchQuest Patents to provide you with the report you need to keep your train of success on the right track!

This article is sponsored by SearchQuest Patents, a company that works with Inventors to guarantee a Comprehensive Patent Search Report is generated for all submissions. The report is always generated at a flat rate cost. And, it is always completed by an unbiased professional researcher who specializes in understanding both the USPTO database and the WIPO database.

For more information, please check out the website at www.SearchQuestPatents.com

November 5, 2020June 28, 2021

The Comprehensive Patent Search: How It Can Be a Costly Mistake if Done Incorrectly

The Comprehensive Patent Search

As an Inventor, you know that the first and foremost task is coming up with a great idea! An idea that has the potential to impress the world and make you some money. But beyond coming up with that idea, no easy task mind you, the remainder of the process of getting an idea from mind to market can seem a bit daunting. It is also a process that can be riddled with challenges and is ripe with opportunity to make costly mistakes.

Avoiding a Costly Mistake

So how do you avoid those costly mistakes that have the potential to completely derail your success? One of the most important steps, and a step that should occur at the very start of your journey, is to get a Comprehensive Patent Search done by an Independent Third Party.

I want to stress the importance of both components of this statement as both are equally critical.

I have written a sister article called “The Importance of Using an Idependent Third Party to complete your Comprehensive Patent Search”. The use of an independent third party is also a critical element of the patent search process being done correctly. Please check it out at: https://www.www.searchquestpatents.com/2020/11/06/common-patent-search-mistakes-inventors-make-choose-an-independent-third-party/

What is a Comprehensive Patent Search?

What do I mean by Comprehensive? In this specific case I am referring to the need to get a patent search done for existing patents on an international scale, not just a domestic one. The search needs to cover not only what is on the market, but what is part of the public domain. And finally, it needs to address the time gap that exists for patents that have been applied for, but not yet granted.

That sounds like a lot more to cover than just a google search, huh? It is. It’s also the reason that using a reputable patent search company is so necessary. Your decision to move forward with getting your idea to market will be based on two concepts. The first is whether or not you have grounds for a good patent moving forward. The second is whether or not one can be written that won’t infringe on anything existing in the world.

Domestic Versus International Searches

Unfortunately a common mistake many inventors make deals with the international versus domestic search. The erroneously belive that if they only want to sell their idea in the United States, then they only need to research what has been done domestically. But that is not how the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) sees it. Nor is it what they consider when determining if a patent is issued.

The USPTO will always look on an international scale for patent infringement before issuing a new patent. That’s why an important component of any Comprehensive Patent Search is to completely research at the international level and report back anything that may exist in other countries.

Chose Your Patent Searcher Wisely

So what does this mean for you as an inventor? Y need to be wary of who you use to complete the Comprehensive Patent Search! It is a complicated research process that should only be done by someone familiar with both the USPTO database and the sister international database maintained by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The best option for getting a Comprehensive Patent Search done will always be to have it completed by an Independent Third Party, which will be discussed in the next article.

This article is sponsored by SearchQuest Patents, a company that works with Inventors to guarantee a Comprehensive Patent Search Report is generated for all submissions. Each report is always generated at a flat rate cost. An unbiased professional researcher who specializes in understanding both the USPTO database and the WIPO database conducts every search purchased.

For more information, please check out the website at www.SearchQuestPatents.com.