Inventing is a colossal CHALLENGE and can become a colossal mistake if done poorly.  On the other hand, inventing successfully is an AMAZING journey.  What will define the type of experience you have is how many of the commonly encountered, and costly mistakes, you can avoid while trying to get to the ultimate finish line of your product going to market. And that experience should begin with the Comprehensive Independent Patent Search.

What is the First Thing an Inventor Should Pay For?

The first thing an inventor should pay for is a comprehensive, independent patent search. That’s Wise Investment #1.  And that search needs to contain three important components. All three components must be present so the inventor has the necessary information to make the next set of business decisions.

The previous post discussed how a quality search is not limited to a keyword search in the USPTO database. Rather, the search is focused on classification. If you missed our previous post, you can find it here in our blog archive: https://www.www.searchquestpatents.com/blog-archive/

What Is the Second Critical Component of the Comprehensive Independent Patent Search?

The second critical component of the search is that it needs to encompass a seach of the World International Patent Office (WIPO). Why is that so important? Because the entire world makes claims on behalf of its citizens to “new and novel” intellectual property. More importantly, each country has agreed to honor the patenting process of each other by not granting similar patents.

What this means for an inventor in the US is that the USPTO examiner will search the WIPO database just as thoroughly as our own database. Consequently, if your invention has been done anywhere in the world, at any time in history, you will NOT be granted a US patent.

For more information on WIPO, check out their website at: https://www.wipo.int/portal/en/

When It Come to Inventing, Knowledge is Power

When it comes to inventing, having information sooner rather than later is critical to success. It protects inventors (and their wallet) from making bad business decisions.  It is better to know more about what has been filed and/or manufactured before all the money is spent on a patent filing. 

Too many service providers want to make money on the inventor so they prefer to offer less information.  The independent comprehensive patent search should be done by someone who is independent of any attorney or intellectual property office and their only obligation is doing the best search possible.  This guarantees that the report they generate will be unbiased.

Enjoy the challenge and the journey and stay tuned for the third component of the Comprehensive, Independent Patent Search!