How to conduct effective patent searches — and why they matter

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🔍 How to conduct effective patent searches — and why they matter

 

Before filing a patent application, it’s important to perform a patentability search. This helps determine whether your invention is novel and inventive — that is, whether it’s patentable — reducing the risk of investing time, money, and effort in trying to protect something that may already exist.

A good patentability search can also improve the quality of your patent application: patent attorneys can draft the claims and background sections with the most relevant prior art in mind, thus providing helpful context for patent examiners, and making it easier for them to assess your invention.

But patent searches aren’t only about patentability. They are also crucial to:

🚫 Assess the risks of infringing third-party patents before a product launch (freedom to operate search)

⚖️ Evaluate the validity of a granted patent, for example, to determine the chances of success in an opposition (validity search)

📊  Gain strategic insights into competitors’ activities and technology trends (landscape search)

 

🔧Key elements of a patent search

  • Keywords
  • Patent classifications (such as IPC or CPC) which are used by patent offices to categorize inventions
  • References cited by — or citing — relevant patents
  • Names of applicants and inventors
  • and more…

 

⚠️ Common mistakes to avoid

One common mistake is over-relying on a single search method. For instance, a keyword-only search may cause you to overlook important foreign patents due to unexpected terminology or translation differences.

Another frequent mistake is applying poor strategies to reduce the number of search results. It can be tempting to apply automatic filters to narrow large sets of results quickly, but this approach carries high risks of missing relevant documents, if not applied carefully.

Also remember: the right search strategy depends on your objective. What works well for a patentability search may not work for a freedom to operate search.

 

🧭 Where to begin

Free national and international databases, such as Espacenet, are a good starting point. Commercial databases offer the possibility to create more sophisticated and structured search queries, broader jurisdiction coverage, and often integrate AI tools that help identify conceptually similar documents that traditional search methods may miss.

Patent searches can be complex — they often require multiple iterations to identify the most effective criteria and refine results before landing on what truly matters to you. Moreover, to get the most value, results should be reviewed by professionals who can interpret them effectively and offer legal and strategic insight.

Need support with a patent search? Let’s explore how Calysta can help.🤝