Invalidity Search

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IPQuads award-winning Patent Invalidation/Invalidity Search service enables you to identify patent and non-patent documents that may impact the validity of claims of a patent. Our unique methodology not only helps you quickly identify relevant prior arts but also delivers the information you seek, structured as per your unique legal and technical requirements, enabling you to make quick IP decisions.

What is Invalidity Search?

A patent invalidity search (or validity search) is a focused prior art search for any type of article, data, publication, product, patent or non-patent literature made available to the public prior to the effective filing date (or priority date depending on the case requirements) of the patent in question.

The primary objective of an invalidation search is to identify any patent or non-patent document that affects claims of the subject patent and subsequently enable you to challenge the novelty aspect and the obviousness (or inventive step, i.e. finding if a claimed invention is obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art) of the patent in question. In this aspect, an invalidation search becomes similar to other prior art searches and especially Patentability or Novelty Search, however, it is distinguished in its scope for narrowness and aim for finding relevant prior art targeted at the claims of the patent in question.

Need for invalidity search - Typically, it is imperative for one to question the point of an invalidity search assuming that an issued patent would have been thoroughly scrutinized and that all relevant prior art would have been covered already. However, with large chunks of prior art which may be significantly older than the time at which the patent in question had been filed or prior art that was only available in a foreign language, there are chances that some relevant prior art might have been missed. This may be because some prior art had previously been missed by the examining authorities due to non-availability during the scrutiny. This acts as an opportunity to validate or invalidate a patent. Thus, with the advancement of technology and consequent availability of old literature or literature available in foreign languages, modern-day databases have made searching easier and you can find prior art to validate/invalidate a patent.

Get an invalidity search done - With successful invalidations delivered to clients from different backgrounds including inventors, law firms, manufacturers and organizations across various domains, IP & Market Research spares no effort in searching for relevant prior art through systematic and detailed invalidation study. Our structured and extensive searching includes:

– Thorough invention understanding We develop thorough invention understanding and make sure to include any prior litigation and post-grant associated claim construction, besides studying the prosecution history, to ascertain that the particular claim elements are searched keeping in mind their scope and possible interpretations. A thorough analysis of global dossier and/or file wrapper is our port of call after invention understanding.

– Inclusive Searching After having understood the invention and analyzing file wrappers, we make appropriate keyword, classification, combined searches of keywords & classes and logical searches with search strings made from all inclusive approaches of the invention to uncover any prior art across all sources such as but not limited to: Paid and Open source patent databases, Scientific Literature (NPL) & Research Article Search, e-commerce websites, product databases, videos, blogs, news etc.

– Second degree art searches To uncover relevant prior art that an examiner had previously missed, a searcher is expected to dig deeper and we do that by also unraveling through exhaustive citations analysis. Backward & forward citations of backward citations of the patent in question are analyzed, as well as the backward citations of the forward citations. As per case, a further level of analysis might also be carried out.

– Supplementary Search Our reports are further augmented by meticulous search for relevant competitors, assignees, inventors and similar patents. Besides, our searches include multi-lingual search queries for coverage of foreign language patents as well.

– Interim Reports Our reports are client-centric and the relevant records are provided on rolling basis, with updates from time to time as per client convenience. This ensures timely action if a relevant record found can be used for expedited office actions.

– Detailed Mapping We provide claim charting with color coded (or non-coded, as per client requirement) mapping of claims of patent in question with the relevant prior art. The report is accompanied by corresponding PDF’s of the relevant prior-arts wherein all the key features found are highlighted for the ease of client’s review.

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Patent Infringement Suit Patent Portfolio Assessment Clearing the Competitive Field

The alleged party (who is suspected of infringement) can utilise the invalidity search to invalidate or cancel the patent in issue, rendering the infringement charge unfounded. Invalidity searches can assist in invalidating patent claims by demonstrating that they are not innovative or obvious in nature, or that they fall under legislative exclusions, or by giving sufficient evidence of previous art, and the patent in issue will be revoked as a result.

In the case of a patent infringement claim, the accused party might utilise the invalidity search to prove that their invention is original and non-obvious in nature, and so does not infringe the patent.

Patent strength can also be determined by conducting an invalidity or validity search. The strength of a patent is established by an invalidity search report declaring that the claims of the invention are innovative, non-obvious, and do not fall under any legislative exception of patents. This increases the patent's value.

The greatest proof of a patent's strength is a patent grant certificate accompanied by an invalidity search report declaring that the invention's claims are innovative and non-obvious. A patent is more likely to provide more value through licencing if it is immune to infringement litigation and has a higher degree of originality and inventive step (non-obvious in nature), and it is less likely to be challenged after it is granted on the basis that it fits under the statutory exclusions.

When it comes to weakening rivals' patents, a patent invalidation search is a powerful tool. Invalidity searches determine not only whether the claims of a granted patent are non-novel and obvious in nature, but also whether the invention was already in use, available for sale, or exhibited to the public more than twelve months prior to filing the patent application, or whether the patent was obtained incorrectly or fraudulently.

The major goal here is to find previous arts and facts that were neglected by the patent office during the prosecution of the invention, which has the ability to destroy rivals' issued patents, clearing the competitive business field.