Patents are issued by a patent office on the basis of the explanation of the claims of the invention and their comparison with the closest referenced patents identified. The references are provided by the applicant to the patent office to help the examiner in the examination process. Once the examiner has considered the provided references, he/she makes a fresh search in the patent and non-patent databases to identify if there are other arts available to the near invention. After conducting the search, the examiner will either take the decision to reject the claims of the patent and force the applicant to make changes to claims of the patent or issue the patent if the invention satisfies all the requirement of patentability.

A patent validity search focuses on finding a reference or a piece of information which can be proved that a patent has been incorrectly issued. There are many reasons for conducting these searches. Just think of the situation when your product may face a threat from an active patent or you wish to purchase a license of another’s patent rights. In the case of violation of suits, where your product is in trouble because it violates the right of an active patent, one of the best ways to defend is to prove the patent in question is invalid.

Expert helping businesses with patent validity searches and patent filing in India follow a step to step procedure to make sure the search is done accurately.

Important patent validity searches steps

• Evaluate if the patent is active or not
• Review the file history of the patent which shows the complete protests and arguments between the applicants and the examiner at the patent’s office.
• Evaluation of patent and non-patent literature search to find out relevant references before the critical date of patent in question.
• Examine and compare the search results with the issued claims, and prepare a claim chart to show to what degree the claims in question match the scope of the uncovered reference.

Getting a patent validity search done is a daunting task and needs knowledge and experience of a professional. It is highly recommended to hire a service provider that has knowledge and experience in your specific industry and has a good understanding of the need of the validity search. They should have proficiency in searching patent and non-patent literature by using world leading databases to find out the closest matching references. Your patent expert should have the skills to prepare a well-informative report that helps you to judge the extent of the claims to be invalidated.

It has become important than ever today to capture full advantages of innovation by adopting patent landscaping. It is an effective innovation planning and management which is used to identify risks and opportunities. In easy words, a patent landscape is a competitive view of a technology area as seen through the lens of patent ownership or scope. Businesses can take help of this business strategy to design responsive techniques early in the innovation cycle.

There are many features of patent drafting. It streamlines technology in a particular area and maps patent assets to the organization so that clients can identify areas of interests. It also provides some accurate basis for the clients to choose a business course of action and correlate patent data with non-patent data to provide context.

Why businesses choose patent landscaping?

According to experts who operate in the field of patent landscape and patent drafting/preparation, patent landscapes are performed for any business operation. But the most common scenario is in the context of supporting a new development and release of a new product. It is highly recommended to perform a review before a product is developed or after the fact. It provides an initial analysis that helps to identify the competitors in the product field and identify areas in which the client may not be able to differentiate its product. Another use of patent landscaping and analysis is during product development, where the basic goal is likely to create and implement a successful defensive patent strategy. During product development stage, the review can help you identify and resolve threats. It is also used to identify potential prior art to be cited during prosecution. It is clear no patent landscape can completely eliminate risk from patent suits. However, it allows a business to identify and neutralize risks practically.

Apart from the advantages, there are also many reasons for performing a patent landscape. One good cause is known as notice risk, although recent case law as substantially reduced this risk. The second reason is the way a patent landscape is performed may not provide the expected or needed advantage. The second reason is stronger. Many patent landscapes are expensive. Some may cost you tens of thousands of dollars. And definitely, there should be some rate of return. Just as with any service provider, you should evaluate the services of the patent landscape providers and their products closely before choosing any one of them for your business needs.

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If you are seeking patent prosecution, it is important for you to understand the scope of the invention to be patented. Whether the scope of the invention is new or known or whether it has some economical benefit in comparison to available arts or not, it is important to conduct a search in order to have complete peace of mind.

A patent search is an important aspect of any technical innovation and progress today. The information contained within the patent document is highly technical and a professional patent search support provider can help you in understanding it. This analysis requires both technical information as well as the aptitude to read and understand the patent language in accordance with the laws in place.

A patent search is typically conducted in a suitable database. There are many databases in which patent searching can be done. Many are freely available while others are available on the basis of a subscription.  There are databases, especially the paid ones, which endeavor to make life easier for patent searchers. They help in spotting concepts, building a keyword list, classifying synonyms, generating a search and running the search.

It is has been noted by many patent search support professionals that searching in multiple databases is necessary to ensure the comprehensiveness of the search results. This makes search more accurate and specific.

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Patent prosecution is the procedure of preparing and filing a patent application and pursuing protection for the patent application with the patent office. Often this term is very confusing to people who are not familiar with patent industry. They mix it with the term litigation. But remember, it is quite different from litigation.

Patent prosecutors make a lot of mistakes while dealing with Patent Prosecution cases.  Let us see what common mistakes they make. This information will be quite helpful for you if you are applying for patent.

Making the patent application language complex  

It is obvious the patent application cannot cover up all the minute technical details that make up an invention. It should not be written in a way to pull the examiner into a coma-like condition. Don't assume that the application has to be imperceptive, complex and completely unreadable legal document. Nor it should be read like a will or a contract. It should just be a story of the invention.  The claim language should be clear and crisp. According to experts who deal in patent prosecution and patent infringement claim charts cases are often lost because there is so much mess in the claims. The lack of clear claim language can be a serious problem, create disputes and leave a patent susceptible to being invalidated. So the language of the patent claims should be simple and crisp.

Misjudging how inventions are used

Your patent attorney should have a solid grasp on how an invention is made and used in the marketplace before drafting and prosecuting patent claims. If your attorney fails to take the big picture, as a client you may end up with a patent whose steps are performed by more than one player. And also it would be tough to enforce a patent in a situation where infringement is divided among many parties.

Revealing an incomplete List of Prior Art

Many times, patent attorneys believe they have turned over all of the known prior art references to an examiner without keeping into account that their client is responsive to additional features that are similar to the patent application under review. It is important to note that everyone involved in the patent prosecution process is open with what they know about prior art.

Hopefully, you may have found the above information useful. There are many more patent prosecution mistakes that patent attorneys make. Make it a point of choosing a patent attorney who is not on the list of making these mistakes.

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Freedom to operate search also known as infringement searches, third party IP right searches or clearance searches helps in finding out whether a product or service may possibly infringe a current or third party patent right or not. Companies get these searches conducted before the launch of products and services for all their features to prevent any legal hassles of infringement after the launch. In simple terms, freedom to operate search is a risk management tool to review the infringement litigation linked with the new product or process in a known jurisdiction within a stipulated period of time.

Companies get the freedom to operate search studies conducted by service providers with vast experience in this field and other areas of patent filing including patent research/analytics and more. They provide a thorough understanding of freedom to operate assignments and detailed breakdown of the product into multiple key features making sure every minute feature is considered to be a potential infringement. They do the reporting of results in lucid, easy English language so that you can understand them better. They represent the results in a highly simplified manner to make sure clients can quickly derive meaningful information from complex analysis.

If you are a high-technology pharmaceutical company or are operating in any other field and want the freedom to operate search conducted, hire services of experts with relevant industry experience in your respective domain. This will give you complete peace of mind while launching your product in the market.

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You need to file a patent application at the United States Patent and Trademark office near you if you want a patent on a certain product or an invention. It can be difficult for you to get a patent for your product even though the invention might have been an easy success for you.  So, most of the investors opt to hire a patent attorney to help them streamline the entire process.

There are commonly three types of patents available in the Unites States. They are utility patent, plant patent, and design patent. Let’s discuss them in more details.

Utility Patent – The utility patent is normally issued when an individual applies for a specific process and/or product. For example – a new product, matter composition, method of manufacturing, a machine or any improvement of the already existing product or process. This type of patent permits the owner the ability to exclude other individuals from using or creating the invention. However, it should be noted that there is a timeframe on how long this patent is valid. Normally, the time period is 20 years from the original date the owner of an invention filed the patent application.  A utility patent is also called by another name, which is patent for invention.

Design Patent – A design patent covers the novel, ornamental or a new design that is included in or can be applied to a previous article that has been manufactured. Just as a utility patent, it also rules out anyone but the owner from using, selling or making the design. The owner has the right to hold this patent for fourteen years.

Plant Patent – As agriculture is the large part of United States, many endeavors to discover new plant species either by invention or discovery. Whether it is a hybrid or a seedling, a patent for this kind of discovery is called plant patent. Just like other patents, the owner of the invention or discovery is the sole owner. This means no one else can make it or use it for a period of twenty years.

You can get more information from an expert who deals with patent preparation. If you are interested in obtaining a patent, you should also conduct an exhaustive research about the location as many states may have other regulations or requirements. It is crucial that these regulations need to be met before applying and being approved for a patent.  A patent attorney with good experience in patent drafting/preparation would be a great help.

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Are you developing a new product in your market? If yes, you will definitely think about performing a patent landscaping. It is a type of research that develops an overview of the patents that are in place or are pending in any particular area.  For example, if you are creating a new drug for fighting a dreadful disease like cancer, a patent landscape report will let you know what other drugs are already patented or are pending patent approval for curing this dreadful disease.  The information obtained from the patent landscape report is used by the individuals and companies to plan and research business strategies for future growth.

The patent landscape help companies to identify or understand the intellectual property threats involved in research, that is, the chances that another company will claim ownership of the same technology. Through this report, you will come to know whether your competitors are patenting in the same business as your company or not. It also turns up information on any new participants in the market and whether there are any patents similar to your application or not. Remember this report not only includes an exhaustive list of patents but instead contains a snapshot of the patent circumstances at a specific time.

Generating these reports and conducting activities such as patent validity searchis the job of professionals who have the good hold in the patent industry. You should hire a reputed service provider to help you with accurate patent landscaping.

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A patent specification is a complex techno-legal document and drafting a patent is a critical function which helps you to protect your invention. It is the most critical document which protects your invention and thus needs to be drafted to perfection. Drafting a patent specification requires a deep understanding of technology as well as complete knowledge of relevant procedure and laws. Patent attorneys tend to use the phrase Patent Drafting/Preparation to indicate the process where they write the patent description and claim. This is a very creative and bespoke process in which they transform the inventor’s idea into a document to get the best possible patent.

While drafting a patent, you will require a patent attorney who truly understands your invention from a technical perspective and can translate the insights into a strong patent application which provides your business with a strong protection for your innovation. Now, there are certain situations when patent needs to be enforced depending upon the industries. Sometimes you need to know whether a patent is valid or invalid.

A patent validity search or invalidity search is an analysis for understanding the strength of patent claims. It can be used in determining the viability of an invalidity defense while facing a patent infringement suit. These patent validity searches can also be used to pro-actively assess the validity of a patent prior to enforcing it.

When to use a patent validity search?

• To invalidate patent when threatened with infringement
• Prior to patent licensing
• To prepare for patent enforcement
• 
  

What are the things that need to be provided for a patent validity search?

• Patent number and the specific claim which you need to invalidate
• Target priority date
• Any known prior arts that is not listed
• 
  

When to conduct a patent invalidity search?

• Upon receiving a patent infringement complaint from a patent owner
• Upon receiving a cease and desist notice from a patent owner
• Prior to enforcing your own patents to determine invalidity risks
• For pre-issuance submissions, post grant review(PGR) proceedings

Lastly, before you sue someone for patent infringement always carry a validity search to confirm the strength of your legal claims. And, if someone has sued you for infringing a patent then you can use a patent validity search to invalidate that patent. So, ensure to choose a trusted and highly skilled patent attorney who can meet all your specific needs and provide you with the best protection and patent to your inventions.

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The patent prosecution process is a process in which the examiners at the various patent offices assess your application for patentability. The examination is considered the most important stage of this process. The patent examiner studies the application and searches the prior art. The examiner can raise an objection and it is necessary to respond to any objection raised by the examiner.

It is very difficult to determine or predict the costs and the timing of the cost associated with patent prosecution. Also, it is difficult to say how long the entire process will take to get completed. So it is important to hire the services of an expert with good hands-on experience in various areas of the patent including patent prosecution and patent infringement claim charts.

While filing for patent prosecution, many organizations want to know about the cost associated with this process. There are many factors that influence the cost of prosecuting a patent application to the final stage of grant. It is not that easy or possible to predict an objection that a patent examiner may raise against the patentability of your invention. To some extent, it may depend on the number and relevance of prior published documents quoted against your application. But, it may also rely on a large extent on the level and skills of the patent examiner.

The cost may also depend on how realistic you are about the scope of your patent claims. A very common scenario can be like this – the examiner will raise a very relevant document against your patent application. In order to overcome the objection, the claims will need to be narrowed somewhat. It may also happen that the examiner may raise a fairly irrelevant document and in that case, you would wish to maintain the scope of your claims. In that case, it will become necessary to commit further funds to drafting a response to that document in order to point out mistakes in the examiner’s objection.

Another factor that will predict the cost associated with patent prosecution process is how well your patent specification has been drafted.  For instance, if the patent examiner objects that the claims are unclear, then significant redrafting may be required. And about the timing of the cost, it will depend on when a formal request for patent prosecution process is made. It is also not predictable when the examiner will assess your application and generate a report. It entirely depends on the national patent office under consideration.

You definitely need a professional patent prosecution support  . So hire a professional to help you through the entire process of patent prosecution.

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