How to Search International Patents
In order to patent your invention, you will have to establish "novelty" and "inventiveness", both of which require that your invention has never been patented anywhere in the world. In order to establish this, you will need to conduct an international patent search. International patent searches can be performed online. They involve viewing abstracts of patent applications and comparing them with your own invention to find out if they are similar.
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Instructions
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Create a one-page abstract that succinctly and comprehensively describes the purpose of your invention and how it works. This will be useful not only for patent searches but also for your patent application. If finances permit, prepare a complete patent application at this stage.
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Create a list of keywords that you can use as search terms pertaining to your invention. These can be taken from the abstract or from other sources (including a completed patent application), as long as they are calculated to lead a search engine to patent applications for inventions that are similar to yours.
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Go to the World Intellectual Property Organization website and navigate to their international patent search engine page (see Resources section). This search engine will provide you with access to abstracts of granted and pending patents throughout the world.
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Punch in keywords or combinations of keywords into four of the available search parameters, one at a time--English Title, English Abstract, Description and Claims. In each case you will be granted access to a list of patent applications containing your keywords in the text of that particular parameter. You will be able to access the entire text of these patent applications.
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Search patent applications that you suspect may represent inventions similar to yours. You will need to read through enough of the patent applications to understand the inventions to a degree that a search engine cannot, so that you can determine whether or not they are similar enough to yours to prevent you from obtaining a patent.
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Continue this process until you either discover a patent application nearly identical to yours, or fail to do so and conclude that your search has been so exhaustive that there is probably no patent application on file that is similar enough to yours to pose a threat to your application. The entire process may take a week or more.
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Tips & Warnings
The most prudent attitude you can take during a patent search is to assume that someone has already invented your invention and that you just haven't found it yet. Make the search engine prove your assumption wrong.
U.S. patent law is based on a "first to invent" system, unique in world patent law (other countries use a "first to file" system). This means that even if your U.S. patent is secured first, someone could have your patent invalidated years down the road by proving that they invented it first, even if they never filed for patent protection.
