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We can carry out searches for both patents and design registrations. Note, however, that we cannot search copyright and unregistered design rights because no central register of these rights is kept. When bringing out a new product, there are two reasons why you might want to commission a search:-
- As a check to make sure that you will not infringe anyone else's patent or registered design. This type of search is known as an infringement search.
- To find out whether the new product might be protectable as a patent or registered design. This type of search is known as a novelty search.
Infringement searches generally go back just 20 years - the likely maximum duration of any patents you might infringe (25 years for registered designs). A novelty search should in theory go back much further since there is no limit to the age of prior art documents which can be cited against a patent application. In practice, however, a judgment has to be made as to the likelihood of finding relevant material earlier than a particular date. New products in advanced areas of new technology might, for example, only be searched back 10 or 20 years. For practical purposes most novelty searches will be limited to the last 50 years or so.
There are two basic methods of searching: by subject matter and by name. Searches by subject matter are in theory the best type of search because they will extract all prior art relative to particular subject matter. The problem with subject matter searches is that, due to the vagaries of the various subject matter classification systems in use, they are prone to error, and cannot therefore be relied upon. Furthermore, because many more specifications are likely to have to be considered, they are expensive, particularly if an international search is contemplated. Searching by name, on the other hands tends to be cheaper and more reliable, but is more limited in scope. In a name search, we search through the indexes for a particular name or names which you give us, and can produce a list of all patents in that name(s). Even these searches are not 100% reliable since mistakes do occur in the indexes which we search, but they are a lot more reliable than the more general subject matter searches.
Searches can be limited to just one country, or can cover several countries. An "international" search which in theory covers all countries, in fact only covers a selection of a dozen or so of the more important industrialised countries. Even with this limitation, international searches are very expensive.
For more information about patent and design searches, contact Chris Boydell in our London office, or Stephen Wilkinson in our Bristol office.