|
Search Type
|
Purpose
|
Coverage
|
Comments
|
|
· State-of-the-Art
|
Identify general and background art for a
particular technology
|
Patents and non-patent literature. Not exhaustive.
|
Gives a broad picture to help guide research
|
|
· Patentability,
Novelty
|
Identify art which may affect the patentability
of an invention
|
Patents and non-patent literature. Multiple data sources.
|
Narrower in scope than State-of-Art. Recommended before writing patent
application
|
|
· Invalidity,
Opposition
|
Identify prior art which may impact the claims of
a specific patent
|
Patents and non-patent literature. Employ creative strategies to elucidate
previously undiscovered art before filing date of patent.
|
Helps remove blocking patents by anticipating
claims of an invention. Establishes
solidity of patent portfolio, e.g. for licensing or company acquisition
|
|
· Infringement,
Freedom-to-Operate, Right-to-Use, Domination
|
Identify patents or applications which may cover
a proposed product or process
|
Covers patents only and which are still in
force. Include both narrow and broad
concepts
|
Often country specific. Analysis of claims.
|
|
· Patent
Watch
|
Monitor new patent activity or status changes to
existing patents
|
Patents only
|
Updates at regular intervals or rapid-alerting
when activity occurs
|
|
· Technology
Update
|
Monitor latest technology developments by subject
|
Patents and/or non-patent literature
|
Regular updates, weekly, monthly or other chosen
frequency
|
|
· Non-Patent
Literature Reference Query; Biomedical Information
|
Research into specific questions asked by biomedical
staff regarding safety, clinical, regulatory areas, or by Research Scientists, etc.
|
Biomedical databases or other databases
as appropriate
|
A quick turnaround on these types of searches
can normally be accommodated
|
|
· Inventor,
Author or Assignee
|
Identify references to a particular inventor,
author, assignee or affiliate
|
Patents and/or non-patent literature
|
A quick turnaround on these types of searches can
normally be accommodated
|
|
· Legal
Status
|
Determine whether a patent is in force,
abandoned, etc.
|
Specialist legal status online databases (e.g.
‘INPADOC’) and/or patent office registers
|
A quick turnaround on these types of searches can
normally be accommodated
|
|
· Patent
Family
|
Identify the first or ‘basic’ patent and
subsequent ones claiming the same priority
|
Patent databases such as ‘World Patents Index’,
‘INPADOC’ and ‘Chemical Abstracts’
|
A quick turnaround on these types of searches can
normally be accommodated
|
|
· Cited
or Citing References
|
Identify references
|
Patent databases, e.g. ‘Derwent Patents Citation
Index’ and non-patent literature, e.g. Science Citation Index
|
An alternative method useful in identifying
additional state-of-the-art or invalidating prior art
|
|
· Collections
|
‘Collect’ prior art in a particular area of
technology
|
Patents only.
Often conducted within selected patent classifications
|
Useful for directing research or identifying gaps
for patenting strategies
|
|
· Patent
Map
|
Show patent landscape to uncover trends, gaps or
overlap in patent coverage and links between patents
|
Patents only
|
Useful for directing research or identifying gaps
for patenting strategies
|
|
· Scientific
Business
|
Identify financial, organizational, statistical,
commercial and other information for technology based organizations
|
Business, news and other sources
|
Supply of raw data and/or overall analysis
|
