PATENT SEARCH
Why should you choose the Legal Convoy Patent Search service?
Patent is a license or permit authorized by the government conferring a legal right for a period of time. The main right is the sole ownership of the product and excluding others from making, using, selling or importing the patented product without the consent of the owner.
A patent gives its owner the right to prevent others from making, using, importing or selling his/her invention without approval. Before such a right is granted, a rigorous check is done on whether the process or product is inventive; or novel hasn't been anticipated in any published document; and industrially applicable (possesses utility). It involves a search of the intellectual property regulator of India’s database, to check whether there exists an object or invention that is the same as or similar to the applicant's invention.
A patent is granted to an invention if it meets the following criteria:
1. Novelty:The invention has to be new and cannot be a part of prior state of work, implying that it must not have been published, presented or revealed publicly.
2. Inventiveness:
This is a feature of invention that involves the advancement of the existing knowledge or state or work that is strikingly evident to any person
3. Utility:
An invention must be applied to or applicable in industrial process.
Therefore, an invention that can be manufactured, used and reproduced is granted patent.
Types of Patents:
1. Utility patents: -It is granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, the machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter or any new and useful improvement thereof.2. Design patents: -It is granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.
3. Plant patents: -It is granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.
Advantages of Patent Search:
1. Patent search provides clarity on the imitation or infringement of the invention, product or service that is under patentability process.br/> 2. It determines the novelty of the product to be patented.3. A patent search procedure estimates the scope of patent protection you will be granted by the Patent Office.
4. Patent search provides strength to the invention against issues of proof or validity from other applicants or patentees.
5. Patent search is not only applicable to the active patents but also searches for resembles or copies in the expired or inactive patents database.
6. It helps avoid unnecessary expenses in the field of innovation prior to investing.
Procedure for Patent Search:
1. Patent Search- This patentability search or novelty search is carried out to find out if the invention or product in question meets the novelty factor. This step of search is useful in providing clarity on whether the invention is new or simply an inventive step to an old process. It’ll help distinguish the merits of the invention from its counterparts and most importantly, if the invention is ready to be filed for patent.
2. Prior Art Search- Prior art search helps in identifying the resemblance in the current technology used and the technology used in prior art. It will also help the applicant in identifying the research and development areas, prospective problems that may arise, and possible solutions to these problems.
3. Freedom to Operate (FTO) search- FTO is a comprehensive search method where even the inactive patents as well as the active patents are considered along with the pending and unexpired patents.
4. Validity/Invalidity search- The validity or invalidity searches are two identical searches except that the results vary. These searches are carried out after the grant of the patent in order to determine the novelty of the patented invention at the time of patent application filing.
5. Patent Overview- It helps to get an overview of the invention with regards to its technology, its field of work, competitors, latest trends and research and development in the industry. It helps to identify the necessity, strength and weakness, strategies, etc., of the technology used, the positioning of the applicant along its competitors in its domain, and different portfolios of existing patents.