How to Start a Patent Search

A patent allows you to protect your ideas.

Before you apply for a patent, it is important to find any prior art that exists. That is, you need to determine if someone else has already created and/or patented the same thing that you plan to patent. The first step is to look at patents that have already been granted. There is no point in submitting a patent application without checking to see if someone else has already patented the same idea. If you do, your patent will not be granted, and it will have cost you both time and application fees.

Things You'll Need

• Computer

Instructions

1. Perform a search on the United States Patent and Trademark (USPTO) website. This is the official, governmental database of patent applications and issued patents. Search using as many different terms as possible that you think might describe your invention. Even if you describe your invention in different terms than something that has already been granted a patent, you won't get a patent if it is the same idea.

2. Search Google Patents. Although Google uses the information in the USPTO database, Google provides a somewhat more friendly search interface, and the results are presented in a different way. You may find some patents that you overlooked when searching the USPTO directly.

3. Use the advanced search on Free Patents Online. Free Patents Online uses the same database as the USPTO, but their advanced search page makes it very easy to do more complex queries. For example, if you are interested in patents that were granted to an inventor in a specific city, there are blanks in the form to make it easy to find them.

Tips & Warnings

• Use all three of the resources described above. You may find something on one that you didn't notice on the others.

• Just because you have done a patent search there is no guarantee that you will be granted a patent.

• There may be patents on inventions like yours that use different terminology in their description.

• Previously published information about someone's invention can also be considered prior art, so you should not limit your searches to only issued patents and patent applications. Look for any similar inventions to yours described on any website or other publication.

References

• United States Patent and Trademark Office: Process for Obtaining a Utility Patent
• University of Texas: Guide to Patent Searching
• Pennsylvania State University: Patent Search Tutorial

Resources

• United States Patent and Trademark Office: Search for Patents
• Google: Google Patents Beta
• Free Patents Online: Advanced Search