IIP Search Blogs

Patent invalidity searches are essential weapons in the toolboxes of any company that is involved in intellectual property litigation, licensing, or competitive planning. By discovering pre-existing art that has the potential to invalidate a granted patent, companies are able to defend themselves against legal risk, stay out of unnecessary royalty payments, and counter competitors' patents tactically. This tutorial takes you through the whole process of performing a patent invalidity search in the US, from step-by-step procedures to legal principles, tools, best practices, and examples. What Is a Patent Invalidity Search? A patent invalidity search is tasked with finding prior art that can be employed to attack the enforceability of a pending or granted patent. In contrast to a patentability search, which is carried out prior to filing for a patent, an invalidity search is conducted after a patent has been issued—typically in legal battles or IP dealmaking. In the U.S., a patent ...

For inventors, understanding whether an idea is truly "new" is foundational to the patenting process. The first step in this journey is often a novelty search, also known as a patentability search . This search aims to uncover prior art—previous patents, publications, or publicly available information—that might conflict with an inventor's proposed idea. But how reliable are these searches? Can they be trusted completely? What factors affect the quality of the results? And what are the real-world implications of faulty or incomplete searches? This article answers all these questions using real examples, tips and tricks, and FAQs to provide inventors with a clear, actionable insight into novelty search reliability. What Is a Novelty Search and Why Is It Important? A novelty search determines whether an invention is new under patent law. It aims to find any prior art that discloses elements of the invention. If a single document publicly available before the filing date rev...

In the economy of innovation today, the potential to unwittingly infringe on another party's patent exists. Launching a new product, expanding into a new market, or licensing technology is no exception. Knowing the landscape of patents is key. A patent infringement search ensures your product or technology doesn't depend on any patent rights that already exist. Let's spell it out in simple terms—what it is, how to do one, and why you need it. Introduction to Patent Infringement Patent infringement is the use, manufacture, or sale of a patented invention without authorization. The infringement is not necessary to be intentional; use even without intent can attract lawsuits. For instance, if a startup creates a wearable health monitor with a novel sensor that copies a patented pattern, the firm can be sued—even if they did not know about the patent. Patent infringement cases can be costly, time-consuming, and reputational damage. Others result in multimillion-dollar settleme...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing how businesses discover, evaluate, and adopt emerging technologies. In the past, technology scouting involved manually reviewing patents, research publications, startups, and news—often taking weeks or even months. Now, the AI compresses this timeline into days or even hours. AI enhances technology scouting by automating data analysis, identifying patterns, forecasting market movements, and delivering actionable insights. It empowers R&D, corporate strategy, and M&A teams with faster, data-backed decisions. Let’s explore how AI is redefining the technology scouting landscape, the specific benefits it brings, key tools in the market, and how enterprises are putting it into practice. What Is Technology Scouting? Technology scouting is the process of identifying and tracking emerging technologies that align with an organization’s strategic objectives. It connects companies with innovation opportunities—be it through par...

Chemical structure searching is a crucial part of patent research in industries like pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, chemicals, and materials science. Traditional keyword-based patent searches can miss subtle variations, isomers, or derivatives of a compound. In contrast, structure-based searches allow researchers to identify chemically relevant patents even when the compound names differ. In this guide, you'll learn how to search for patents using chemical structures, discover the best tools available, and follow a proven step-by-step method. We'll also cover best practices, common pitfalls, examples, and real-world use cases to help you master the process and avoid costly errors. Why Chemical Structure Search Matters in Patent Research Chemical structure searches enable the retrieval of patents that mention specific molecules, analogs, or derivatives—even when naming conventions differ. Many patents don't use IUPAC names consistently. Instead, they might: Use trivial nam...